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Year 4

Welcome to Year 4

We hope you have all had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas holiday and are ready to tackle the next part of your journey through Year 4. Here you will find all the information you need about Year 4 during our spring term. 

Our topic this term is rooted in both our local history and a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean for a geographical comparison between our local area and the Americas.  

During the first half of the term we will concentrate on finding out what living in Sandhurst was like for children when Queen Victoria was still on the throne and comparing school life at that time for pupils of Scotland Hill to our experiences in 2025. We will focus on charting the development of our school from its original site to its present location. This will be done through: 

  • Exploring primary sources of evidence such as the school logbooks, admission register, newspaper articles, memories of past pupils. 

  • Interpreting maps of the local area to show how Sandhurst has developed over the years and the reasons behind development.  

  • Using census records and old photographs to compare changes in building styles and usage over the last 100 years. 

After the February half-term, we will focus on finding out about the features and climate of North and South America, compare it to our own local area and seek to find out why they are so different and if there are indeed similarities. This will be done through: 

  • Using maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied in the context of North and South America.   

  • Developing an understanding of what geographical terms such as latitude and longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle mean and how they can be used to explain differences in features between locations 

  • Look at photographs and maps of our local area and compare them to a specific area in either North or South America. 

  • Some of our cross – curricular activities will involve finding out about key artists from North and South America and experimenting with creating art and DT work based on their influences.  These include North American artists:  

John Singer Sargent (Half/portraits), Ansel Adams (Landscapes) and Helen Frankenthaler (Body abstracts).  

 South American artists: 

 Leonara Carrington (Dream catchers), Frida Kahlo (Clay monkeys) and Carlos Paez Vdaro (Pattern drum making)    

 Throughout our learning, we will be considering key enquiry questions (listed below) and using our research and newly acquired knowledge to answer them. 

 Why has our school moved site once and building three times? 

Why did Sandhurst multiply in size during the twentieth century? 

Why are the physical features and the climate so different in North America compared to South America and to our local area? 

 

For additional curriculum information about our topic please click here. 

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The science focus until half-term will be ‘Sound’, which follows on from our Autumn Term topic, ‘States of Matter’. This links our understanding of particles to vibration within the context of sound. Following this, we will move on to learning about electricity. We will find out which appliances use electricity to function, how to be safe around electricity and create our own electrical circuits.

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      Our English units of work for this half-term will be based on the following texts: 

  • Winter’s Child by Angela McAllister 

  • The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman. 

Both books encourage children to explore how authors develop themes and messages through their stories. 

  • The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell, (This will be our class storybook and is a children’s novel which is set in the 1920s New York and links to our topic on the Americas later in the term) 

For details about curriculum coverage of our English units please click here. 

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We continue to follow the White Rose curriculum in maths and the Year 4 topic overview can be found on the Maths Curriculum page by clicking here.  

In preparation for the Year 4 Multiplication Check, the children will be continuing to develop their understanding of the structure of multiplicative expressions. They will strive to learn all their times table facts in our Going For Gold challenge. 

   For a more detailed breakdown of curriculum coverage during the autumn term, please click here. 

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PE takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays. Please remember to come to school wearing your PE kit on these days. 

Please ensure you bring your reading diary and reading book to school every day. 

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Our working week is as follows: 

  

Mrs Robinson (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), class teacher.   

Mrs McCormick (Thursday and Friday), class teacher. 

Mrs Eastwood (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings). 

Mrs Everitt (Monday, Tuesday (AM), Wednesday, Thursday (AM) and Friday). 

Mrs Masters (Tuesday). 

Mrs Boese (Wednesday (PM) and Thursday (PM). 

 

 
  

For general things, e.g. lost jumper, wearing trainers because shoes are too small, etc, please contact the class teacher using the updated messaging function on Seesaw. 

For more significant concerns or worries, please email secretary@nshprimary.co.uk 

with FAO Mrs Robinson/ Mrs McCormick Class Teacher in the subject. 

Any changes to school pick up should go through the school office, as we may not check our e-mails or Seesaw throughout the school day. 

   

Many thanks, 

  

Mrs McCormick and Mrs Robinson 

  

Year 4 English Curriculum coverage

Year 4 Maths Curriculum coverage

Year 4 Topic Curriculum coverage

Spellings Year 3 & 4

Shape Properties Sheets