Year 4 have had a fantastic spring term with a range of rich learning experiences within our overarching topic: Water, Water Everywhere! Much of our learning has been cross curricular, enabling us to really understand river features and why rivers are important. We also took our learning outside and went on our first ever trip to Selborne river to complete a range of field studies. As well our geographical learning, Year 4 also took part in the SLS Information Book Award to celebrate a range of new and exciting texts and authors! 

English highlights:

Linking with our overarching theme ‘Water, Water Everywhere’ the children delved into a range of water-themed texts which included The Water Horse, The Explorer and a film narrative exploring landscapes suffering from water poverty. During our writing learning journeys, we have written Rags to Riches tales, persuasive writing, instructional texts, question and answer poetry and recounts. In all of these we have developed our use of conjunctions and sentence structures.

Maths highlights:

Within maths, Year 4 worked hard to master formal written methods for multiplication and division. We then applied our knowledge of these methods to find the area of shapes and calculating with fractions. Linking in closely with fractions, the children explored the relationship between fractions and decimals and used place value counters and grids to understand how these link together.

Foundation subject highlights

As we approached the Easter holidays, Year 4 worked hard within Design and Technology lessons to research, plan, design and sew their very own Easter tree decorations. From Easter egg and hatching chicks, the children were creative with their ideas and developed their running stitch as we as back stitch!

Developing our scientific enquiring skills has been a focus throughout the Spring Term within our learning. The children explored the different states of matter and how temperature impacts on particles. Following on from this, we have explored how sounds travel and how to make different pitches.

Linking in with our rivers study, in art we explore water art from different cultures. From Monet’s garden to Hokusai’s great wave, we have created some beautiful art pieces!

Extended curriculum

As well as our learning inside the classroom we have also had the opportunity to get out and about. To consolidate our learning on rivers, we completed a range of fieldwork studies at Gilbert White’s Filed Study Centre at Selborne River. During our visit, we learnt about erosion, river wildlife, water velocity and river features.

Introduction to Year 4:
Wow! What a term it has been… As we reflect on our Autumn adventures, it brings immense joy to recount the varied learning experiences that we have shared. The first week saw the beginning of a new chapter as our Year 4 children settled into routines and built relationships with their class teachers and LSAs.  Diving deep into our learning journeys, Year 4 embraced the wonders of ancient history with our captivating topic on the “Groovy Greeks.” From unravelling the tales of ancient Gods to exploring the Greek culture, we delved into a world rich with myths, traditions, and the legacy of this fascinating civilization. Following on from this, we celebrated the importance of reading during our Reading Matters week, where we explored the benefits of reading for pleasure.

Curriculum Highlights:

A highlight of our term was the Year 4 Greek Creative Day! From savouring delicious Greek foods to mastering the intricacies of the Greek alphabet, our students immersed themselves in the Greek culture. Our action-packed day included practicing Greek plays, designing Greek vases and exploring the origins of the Olympics.

This term, 4VH took to centre stage as they dazzled us with their fantastic Class Assembly linked to our Greek learning. 4MP also showcased their creativity in a Class Radio show that captivated all.

Year 4 have worked hard this term on developing their multiplication tables fluency through a range of activities including chanting, singing, problem solving and use of technology such as TTRockstars and Blooket. We are looking forward to continuing to improve this over the Spring Term ready for our Multiplication Tables Check in June!

Our DT project in the Autumn linked with our history learning of the Greeks as we explore and then made our very own Greek salads. We learnt how to cut safely and applied this learning to creating delicious Greek salads.

During our shared reading time, one of the books explored by all classes in Year 4 has been Last Bear by Hannah Gold. We were really lucky to take part in a video call with her where she described her inspirations for writing and talked us through her writing process. We are looking forward to reading the sequel, Finding Bear soon!

Festive Fun!

Towards the end of the Autumn term Year 4 immersed themselves in the Christmas fun. Our reading lessons focused around the book ‘The Snowman’ by Michael Morpurgo as well as ‘A Night at the Frost Fair’ by Emma Carroll which really got us into the Christmas mood! We must also mention our fantastic Christmas hoops which were displayed in the hall and the Christmas games that we created and shared for our annual Christmas Extravaganza.

What a way to finish the year! After the Easter Break, the children came back to school ready and raring to go! Our topic for this term was ‘Italy: Old and New’ and this was a theme throughout much of our learning. In English, we read the fantastic story of Pinocchio and in Guided Reading, we delved deep into the antics of this wooden puppet! After this exploration, we wrote a story using the short film ‘Powerless’ which is a film with a fresh take on the Pinocchio story involving a robot! The children loved the dark and mysterious take on this story as well as creating their own! Over the past few weeks, children have been exploring newspaper reports. They wrote a fantastic piece based on the destruction of Mount Vesuvius after reading ‘Escape from Pompeii’.

In our topic work, we have been comparing Hampshire with Campania! We used our geographical and map work skills to compare human and physical features of the two places. Most recently, we have explored the Roman Empire, why it became such a powerful civilisation and their impact on life in Roman Britain.

Linking to our Science learning on Electricity and our learning about Mount Vesuvius, children designed, created and evaluated volcano warning systems in their DT lessons. Children needed to use cardboard boxes, nets of 3d shapes and electrical circuits of their own design to create a useful warning system!

Ufton Court was a hugely successful residential trip and everyone had such a fantastic time which you will see from the photographs below. As soon as we stepped off the coach, we were greeted by our Roman hosts who introduced us to the context of our trip: we were Roman soldiers ready to learn how to fight and subdue the Celts of Britain. Our first activities included fire lighting, military manoeuvres and an augury trail. The military manoeuvres is worth a particular mention as children formed various Roman battle formations using shields – practical history in action! After such a strenuous and tiring first day, the children ate a hearty vegetable curry with rice and naan bread and after a woodland walk, settled in for the night!

The following day proved to be equally exciting as the children had an opportunity to try archery, explore Roman artefacts and create Roman soap balls which were scented using various herbs from the garden. This was particularly interesting as the children were able to find out what medicinal properties the Romans and Celts believed certain herbs and flowers had and some children added certain herbs into their soaps that helped with coughs and colds!
Later in the day came the preparation for the highly anticipated Roman Banquet. The children loved dressing up as Romans and enjoyed the banquet where they really got to experience the lifestyle of real Romans.

On our last day, the children re-enacted the revolt of Boudicca in Britain. Children acted out the key moments of the rebellion incorporating the strategies and skills learnt over the past two days!

It was an absolutely fantastic trip and we have no doubt children will remember their experience at Ufton Court for many years to come!

All in all, it has been a jam packed Term and we hope all of the children enjoyed their final term in Year 4.

Well what another great term it has been! After the Christmas holidays, children came with raring to go with their new topic of ‘Water, water everywhere!’. We experienced a range of exciting and unique learning opportunities throughout the term and below are some of our favourites!

Dapdune Wharf – Our first trip in Year 4 for quite some time, we travelled to Dapdune Wharf in Guildford. The children learned all about life at the wharf, what it was used for and how goods were transported to and from London via barges. Every child experienced a detailed site tour of Dapdune where they learned about integral elements to a life working with barges, including experiencing how pulleys and levers work. They even got to go into a barge that was built at Dapdune in the early 1900s. Whilst on our visit, children also got to explore a range of ‘mysterious’ historical artefacts that were commonly found in areas that were used for transporting goods. Children needed to use their historical detective skills to analyse and deduce what certain objects were. The horse blinkers caused some problems for our historical detectives – many of who thought it was a belt for people who worked on a barge! Finally, the children were able to use their observational and geographical skills exploring why water travels faster down the centre of the river using oranges, metre sticks and stop watches! All in all, it was a fantastic trip made all the better by the beautiful weather!

Hampshire Book Awards – Year 4 classes up and down the county are in a very fortunate position as they get to take part in the Hampshire Book Awards. This is a competition run by the Schools Library Service where Year 4 children are given 6 non-fiction books to explore in great detail at the end of which they vote to chose which was the best. We used our guided reading sessions this term to look at these books and the children were truly fascinated by them! The books really did range in terms of content this year from books about how to become a vet to books that included in depth facts about particular mountain ranges across the globe. The winner for this year was Ocean Life by Anita Ganeri. The children loved this book and thought it was absolutely fascinating – it is really worth picking up!

Story Time – As always reading is an integral element to our Westfields Curriculum. Our topic about Water has allowed us to explore some wonderful texts linked with this topic. In our English lesson we read ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell. All of the children in Year 4 loved reading this book about a group of children who get lost in the Amazon. From this, the children created some fantastic creative writing pieces that we are looking forward to sharing at our Celebration Evening next term.

Easter Decorations – The children in Year 4 have also had the opportunity to put their sewing skills to the test by creating an Easter decoration! They explored similar designs available in shops, considered different audiences and evaluated designs. Following this, they learned what fabrics and textiles could be used to make various kinds of decorations. After making initial designs children sewed together their own designs and created some outstanding outcomes!  We have no doubt your child’s was sitting pride of place in your home over the holidays!

Poetry Slam – Finally, the Poetry Slam is certainly worth a mention! Every class learned a different poem and shared them in our Whole School Poetry Slam! Special mention must go to 4BD as the lower school winners who performed a beautiful and unique poem all about our wonderful school!

It’s been a jam-packed term filled with lots of learning and great experiences. Please take a look at the photos to see just a few of them! We are all looking forward to what is in store for the Summer Term….

The first term in Year 4 has been jam-packed with a range of learning experiences that have been thoroughly enjoyed by all! We began our learning by getting to know each other better, setting expectations and introducing our overarching topic, Groovy Greeks. Reading Matters week was the first exciting extra-curricular event of the year and we all absolutely loved exploring our reading habits and sharing our first ‘Remarkable Read’ as a class! As part of our Groovy Greeks learning journey, all of Year 4 enjoyed a Greek Creative Day. During this special event, we had the opportunity to taste and evaluate foods that have come from the Ancient Greeks, learn where our alphabet originated from, act in our very own Greek plays and even experience what it might have been like to take part in the first ever Olympics! Also linked to our learning about the Ancient Greeks, 4MP created and performed a fabulous Greek Class Assembly and 4VH wrote and recorded their Radio Show. Both of these were absolutely fantastic and consolidate the children’s learning of what life was like for the Ancient Greeks! In addition to these, Year 4 have also developed their understanding of how to stay safe this term as well as understand differences through events such as Friendship Week, Road Safety Week and Time to Shine. Our particular highlight was spending time with the infant school during Friendship Week and teaching the infant all about our school and learning.

Curriculum Highlights:
Within our English learning journeys this term, Year 4 have immersed themselves in texts either linked to our ‘Groovy Greeks’ topic or to Christmas. We have written adventure stories based on the epic tale of Odysseus, created non-chronological reports about newly identified mythical beasts, advertised our very own visit to Winter Wonderland based on the Winter’s Child and even written our own Ode poems to share a love of Christmas!

Year 4 have worked particularly hard throughout the Autumn Term to develop their use of formal methods and learn their multiplication tables within our Maths lessons. All classes have been singing, chanting, repeating, matching and spending time on TTRockstars to make sure that they know their all-important multiplication facts!

Science has been a particular highlight during the Autumn term as the children have had the opportunity to get out and about in our school grounds to identify and classify invertebrates during their first unit, ‘Living things and their habitats’. They have also put their investigative skills to the test to learn about the digestive system and which types of drinks impact on the enamel of our teeth within our learning about ‘Animals including humans’.

Linking closely with our Groovy Greeks topic the children designed their own Greek salad recipes within DT. They had the opportunity to develop their cutting skills using plasticine and then put this knowledge to the test by planning, taste-testing, designing, making and evaluating their Greek-themed salad.

Festive Fun!
We also cannot forget our festive fun in the lead up to Christmas; our hoop decorations and becoming entrepreneurs for Christmas Extravaganza were both huge highlights! In preparation for the Extravaganza, Year 4 worked in teams to plan, design and make their very own games for the children and parents to play. From ‘Find Santa’ to ‘Christmas Hoopla’, the children had a great deal of fun in letting their entrepreneurial skills shine through!

Well what a great term it has been! After the Summer holidays, the children in Year 4 hit the ground running! Keen and eager to get started, Year 4 had a fun-filled return to school.  Let’s take a look at some of their highlights…

Creative Day – Our topic this term was the Ancient Greeks. We clearly have some budding historians in the year group as the children have been fascinated in finding out about life in Ancient Greece and how they have impacted our lives today. The children had a great time taking part in our Ancient Greek Creative Day, where they got to dress up in Ancient Greek attire and also had the opportunity to take part in a range of Ancient Greek-themed creative tasks. These activities included acting out Ancient Greek stories, creating olive leaf crowns and making and eating hand-made pitta bread! In addition to this, the children enjoyed a rendition of Theseus and the Minotaur performed by the teachers while eating their pitta bread.  Overall, the children (and adults) had a fantastic day!

Harvest Assembly – Our Harvest Assembly this year needed to be virtual! However, this didn’t stop Year 4 creating some amazing offerings, including a collaborative vegetable themed super hero movie from 4RM, a retelling of Supertato and a West African Harvest dance!

Story Time – Like every year, reading is an integral element to the Westfields Curriculum. Our Ancient Greek topic has allowed us to explore a range of iconic stories which the children have enjoyed enormously. Some of our favourites this half term have included ‘Hercules and his 12 Labours’ – a choose your own destiny book, as well as Icarus and Daedalus, a children’s version of Troy and the Odyssey!

Greek Salad – In the Autumn Term we created our own Greek salads! Children evaluated the ingredients in a classic Greek salad – they were extremely keen to try flavours they had never eaten before! After this evaluation, children designed their own version of a Greek salad, learning the key cutting skills they would need in order to be successful and safe. They then made, ate and evaluated their own versions of a Greek Salad which were a great success and the children loved them!

Class Assembly – 4RM were the first out of the three classes to perform their Class Assembly this year! It was a roaring success and combined lots of their learning from the Autumn Term! They went back in time to Ancient Greece, retelling Ancient Greek stories. It was also jam packed full of Greek facts. They finished their performance with a rendition of ‘It’s all Greek to me’ – a song they have been learning in their music lessons!

It’s been a jam-packed term filled with lots of learning and great experiences. Take a look at the photos to see just a few of them! We are all looking forward to what is in store for the Spring Term!

Poetry Slam 2021

Harvest Assembly – Our Harvest Assembly this year needed to be virtual! However, this didn’t stop Year 4 creating some amazing offerings, including a collaborative vegetable themed super hero movie trailer and some lovely poetry!

(the other class Harvest Celebrations can be found under latest news)

For the following trips and events, further details will be communicated to parents in due course.

September 2022

01.09.22               Inset Day

02.09.22               Inset Day

05.09.22               First day of term

12.09.22               Whole School Reading Matters Week

13.09.22               Year 4 Meet the Teacher Meeting (2.45pm)

15.09.22               Individual School Photographs (AM)

19.09.22               First week of clubs

21.09.22               PAWS Welcome Meeting & AGM (7.00pm)

23.09.22               Firework Competition Deadline

27.09.22               Blue Sky Thinking – opportunity to meet with Headteacher (8.45-9.45am, 2.15-3.15pm, 6.30-7.30pm)

29.09.22               Yateley School Open Evening

30.09.22               Christmas Card Designs home (with leaflet)

October 2022                    

11.10.22               WJS Open Morning – prospective Year 2 parents and children (9.00-11.30am)

13.10.22               Year 4 Greek Creative Day

14.10.22               Christmas Card Design Deadline

20.10.22               PAWS Film Night (3.15-5.00pm)

20.10.22               PAWS Mufti Day

20.10.22               PAWS Fundraising Pizza Making Kits to go home

21.10.22               Inset Day

November 2022                               

01.11.22               WJS Open Morning – prospective Year 2 parents and children (6.00-7.30pm)

03.11.22               Race for Life (postponed)

04.11.22               PAWS Bags2School Collection

05.11.22               WJS/Lions Yateley Fireworks Fiesta – volunteers required

08.11.22               English Parent Workshop (6.30-7.30pm)

09.11.22               PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

11.11.22               4MP Class Assembly (Refreshments from 9.40am)

11.11.22               4VH Radio Show

13.11.22               WJS attending Remembrance Parade

15-19.11.22         Anti-Bullying Week (Monday 14th Odd Sock Day – commences week with ‘what makes us unique’)

15-19.11.22         Road Safety Week (Friday 18th Time to Shine)

18.11.22               PAWS Quiz Night at WJS

23.11.22               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

24.11.22               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

25.11.22               Whole School Flu Immunisation

26.11.22               Yateley Christmas Market

29.11.22               Year 4 Ufton Court Parents Information Meeting

December 2022                

01.12.22               PAWS Christmas Pop-up Shop

09.12.22               Christmas Extravaganza (afterschool)

13.12.22               School Carol Concert at St Swithun’s Church (10.30-12.00 parents welcome)

14.12.22               School Disco (Year 3 & 4 5.00- 6.15pm/Year 5 & 6 6.30- 7.45pm) 

15.12.22               Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas Lunch

15.12.22               End of term (3.15pm finish)

January 2023                     

03.01.23               Inset Day

04.01.23               First day of term

10.01.23               Ufton Residential Information Meeting for Parents (6.30-7.30pm)

16.01.23               World Religion Day

17.01.23               Year 4 Fantastic Finish Learning Exhibition (2.15pm)

19.01.23               Maths Parent Workshop (6.30-7.30pm)

23-27.01.23          Westfields Has Talent Auditions Week (lunchtime)

25.01.23               PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

February 2023                   

02.02.23               PAWS Film Night (afterschool) 

03.02.23               4VH Class Assembly

03.02.23               4LL Radio Show

06-10.02.23          Wellbeing Week

08.02.23               Safer Internet Day

10.02.23               Westfields Has Talent Showcase

13-17.02.23         Half Term

24.02.23               PAWS Bags2School Collection

28.02.23               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

March 2023                        

01.03.23               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

03.03.22               World Book Day

13-17.03.23         Science Week

17.03.23               Mufti Day – Red Nose Day

24.03.23               Whole School Poetry Slam

28.03.23               Potted Sports Afternoon

31.03.23               Last Day of Term (3.15pm finish)

April 2023                           

17.04.23               First day of Term

19.04.23               PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

21.04.23               World Earth Day

May 2023                            

01.05.23               Bank Holiday

03-05.05.23         Year 4 Ufton Court Residential Visit

19.05.23               4LL Class Assembly

19.05.23               4MP Radio Show

19.05.23              Year 5 Fiver Challenge (afterschool – whole school welcome)

22-26.05.23         Walk to School Week

25.05.23               PAWS Film Night (afterschool)

26.05.23               Inset Day

29.05.23-
02.06.23               Half Term

June 2023         

09.06.23               PAWS Bags2School Collection

08.06.23               Class photographs and Year 6 Photograph

13.06.23               PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

16.06.23               Pay It Forward Day

July 2023                             

03.07.23               New Entrants Welcome Evening

05.07.23               Celebration Evening (3.30-5.00pm – all welcome)

07.07.23               Sports Day

11.07.23               District Sports

12.07.23               Year 4 Musical Performance to Parents (2.45pm)

14.07.23               Reserve Sports Day

18.07.23               School Disco (Year 3 & 4 5.00- 6.15pm/Year 5 & 6 6.30- 7.45pm)

21.07.22               Last day of term

For the following trips and events, further details will be communicated to parents in due course.

September

06.09.21               First day of term

13.09.21               Whole School Reading Matters Week

16.09.21               Individual School Photographs (AM)

20.09.21               First week of clubs

21.09.21               Year 4 Meet the Teacher Meeting (2.45pm)

22.09.21               PAWS Welcome Meeting & AGM (7.00pm)

29.09.21               Blue Sky Thinking – opportunity to meet with Headteacher (8.45-9.45am, 2.25-3.15pm, 6.30-7.30pm)

October 2021                    

01.10.21               Christmas Card Designs home (with leaflet)

04-08.10.21         Walk to School Week

12.10.21               PAWS Film Night (3.15-5.00pm) postponed to Spring Term

14.10.21               Year 4 Greek Creative Day

15.10.21               Christmas Card Order Deadline

20.10.21               WJS Open Evening – prospective Year 2 parents and children (6.00-7.30pm)

21.10.21               PAWS Mufti Day

21.10.21               4RP Radio Show

21.10.21               PAWS Fundraising Pizza Making Kits to go home

22.10.21               Inset Day

November 2021                               

06.11.21               WJS/Lions Yateley Fireworks Fiesta – volunteers required

10.11.21               PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

11.11.21               Whole School Fun Run

14.11.21               WJS attending Remembrance Parade

15-19.11.21         Anti-Bullying Week (Monday 15th Odd Sock Day – commences week with ‘what makes us unique’)

15-19.11.21         Road Safety Week (Friday 19th Time to Shine)

19.11.21               English Parents Workshop available online

24.11.21               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

25.11.21               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

27.11.21               Yateley Christmas Market

30.11.21               Whole School Flu Immunisations

December 2021                

02.12.21               PAWS Christmas Pop-up Shop

03.12.21               4RM Class Assembly (10.00am)

10.12.21               Christmas Extravaganza (afterschool – all welcome)

14.12.21               School Carol Concert at St Swithun’s Church (10.30-12.00 parents welcome)

15.12.21               School Disco (Year 3 & 4 5.00- 6.15pm/Year 5 & 6 6.30- 7.45pm) – postponed

16.12.21               Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas Lunch

17.12.21               End of term (1.15pm finish)

January 2022                     

04.01.22               Inset Day

05.01.22               First day of term

11.01.22               Year 4 Ufton Court Parents Information Meeting (6.00pm)

14.01.22               World Religion Day

February 2022                   

02.02.22               Year 4 Westfields Has Talent Auditions (lunchtime)

03.02.22               PAWS Film Night (afterschool) postponed

08.02.22               Safer Internet Day

11.02.22               Westfields Has Talent Showcase

18.02.22               PAWS Mufti Day & Pizza and Cookie Fundraising Event

March 2022                        

02.03.22               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

03.03.22               World Book Day

04.03.22               4BD Class Assembly (10.00am)

03.03.22               Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

14-18.03.22         Science Week

25.03.22               Whole School Poetry Slam (World Poetry Day – 21st March)

25.03.22               PAWS Quiz Night

April 2022                           

01.04.22               4RM Radio Show

05.04.22               Potted Sports Afternoon

06.04.22               School Disco (Year 3 & 4 5.00- 6.15pm/Year 5 & 6 6.30- 7.45pm)

08.04.22               Easter Raffle and Last Day of Spring Term (1.15pm finish)

25.04.22               First day of term

27.04.22               PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

May 2022                            

02.05.22               Bank Holiday

13.05.22               Year 5 Fiver Challenge (afterschool – whole school welcome)

20.05.22               4RP Class Assembly (10.00am)

24.05.22               PAWS Film Night (afterschool)

25.05.22               The Great Debate Event

26.05.22               Westfields Jubilee Celebration Day – Dress to Impress for a party fit for the Queen!

27.05.22               Inset Day

June 2022                           

14.06.22               Class photographs and Year 6 Photograph

17.06.22              4BD Radio Show

27-29.06.22         Year 4 Ufton Court Residential Visit

July 2022                             

05.07.22               Sports Day

06.07.22               Celebration Evening (3.30-5.00pm – all welcome)

08.07.22               PAWS Mufti Day

12.07.22               Reserve Sports Day

13.07.22               Year4 Boomwhackers Performance to Parents (2.45-3.15pm)

21.07.22               Last day of term