On this page you can find the curriculum notes for Year 4, for the Autumn , Spring and Summer Terms. Or click here to download a pdf version. Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term

Autumn Term

English

Within the English curriculum there is constant graded development of the following which underpin all of the English courses:

• Grammatical knowledge
• Handwriting
• Vocabulary development
• Phonic awareness
• Sentence building
• Punctuation skills
• Essay planning, editing, presenting
• Reading skills
• Skills of listening and speaking
• Writing book reviews

• Poetry
• Reading aloud to an audience
• Describing & exploring story characters, their feelings and dilemmas
• Newspaper reports
• Instruction writing
• Describing people we know well
• Class debate
• Using evidence to justify opinions

Maths

• Number work and Place Value

  Ordering integers

  Doubling / halving

  Bonds to 100

• Properties of triangles
• Symmetry
• Measuring and drawing lines
• Recognising perpendicular and parallel lines
• Multiply / divide by 10 and 100
• Addition using informal methods

Science

Keeping Warm
Knowledge that air is a good insulator.  Examples of trapped air being used as insulation.  Understanding that insulation can keep things warm or cool.
Solids, liquids and gases
The properties of solids, liquids and gases. Knowledge that all materials are made from tiny particles. How the particles are arranged in solids, liquids and gases. Gases in the air. Changes of state. Dissolving.

French

Topics

• Greetings
• Describing oneself
• Describing others
• Saying what one has
• Asking for things politely
• Using numbers 1 to 10

History

The 1940s

• What was World War II?  Why and how did it start?
• When and where did it take place?
• Who was involved?
• How can we find out information about World War II?
• Evidence from photographs – what can a photograph of VE day tell us about life right at the end of the war?
• A timeline of key events
• Evacuees – What was Operation Pied Piper?
• What was it like to be an evacuee?  How did these children feel?
• What was the “Blitz”?  Why were cities bombed in World War II?
• What was the “Blackout”?  How could bombers be stopped?
• How did ordinary people protect themselves from the bombing?
• Preparing for an air raid – what would need to be kept in the shelter?

Geography

In this term we focus on physical geography.  This is the first time the pupils will have encountered geography in a designated lesson, so we spend time talking about what the subject is about.
Before we begin our thematic study (weather), we will learn about (and in some cases, revise) the following:

The Solar System

• The concept on the enormity of the universe – in terms of our ‘address’ in space.
• The birth of our planet.  The inside of the earth
• The orbit of the earth – night and day
• Latitude and the seasons (with supporting curricular links)
• Earth on the map – the global jigsaw, continents, land/sea ratio, hemispheres, poles.
• Introduction of the world’s major cities.
• Mapping the world.  Latitude and longitude.  What is it?  Why do we need it?
• Locality Study:  Europe – relief, rivers and capitals.

Weather (with supporting curricular links)

• Seasonal weather patterns and how weather affects our lives
  The elements of the weather – precipitation, wind, temperature
• The water cycle and rainfall patterns
  Wind and the Beaufort Scale
  Forecasting, recording and measuring - keeping a weather record (usually for half a term)
• Weather sayings and folklore
• Temperature and climate
• Weather extremes

R.S.

• Introduction to the New Testament

• Background to Jesus’ life. 
• Profile on Jesus
• The life of Jesus 1 - Annunciation, birth and early childhood.
• The life of Jesus 2 - Jesus’ baptism and the call of the disciples
• The life of Jesus 3 - Jesus’ teaching – Parables, The Lord’s Prayer

Music

• Writing simple three-note melodies on paper and playing them on percussion instruments
• Clapping printed rhythms individually and as a group Recorder lessons – technique, using more advanced staff notation, playing together as a group
• Correct singing techniques – singing together as a group
  Preparation of material for the Harvest Festival
• Preparation of material for the Spring Term Middle School Concert

Drama

• ‘A Sailing Boat in The Sky’
• ‘The Mousehole Cat’
• ‘The Selfish Giant’

P.E.

• Swimming – 4 weeks.  Life-saving skills – safety jumps, surface dives, treading water, diving.  Treatment of conscious and unconscious patient.  Breast stroke and life-saving breast stroke.

• Tennis – 2 weeks.  Agility,  balance, co-ordination exercises.  Forehands and backhands on orange outdoor court.  Overarm serve.  Points.

• Gymnastics – 7 weeks.  Balances and bridges.  Spinning and turning.  Rolling.  Use of apparatus.  Evaluation of performance.  Developing partner sequences.

Boys' Games

• Football - Skill acquisition furthered 
  Dribbling, left/right foot, pace and control, direction, pass and control.  2-touch shooting: left and right.  Heading the ball.  Set plays such as corners, throw-ins, free kicks, penalties.  Goal keeping developed.  6-a-side game – small sides, small pitches
• Rugby – Contact introduced.
  Tackling, mauling and rucking - RFU syllabus.  3 man uncontested scrum.  9-a-side game – rules. Positions - skills developed               
• Cross Country
  Junior course undertook once every week.

Girls' Games

• Netball – Size 4 balls, 9’ posts.  Wednesday matches.  Passing and catching.  Moving into space.  Positional play.  Building defence.  Set passes.  Move from 5 to 7-a-side.

• Cross Country – Once a week on junior course.  Frequently timed.

• Hockey – last 2-3 weeks of term.  Passing, dribbling, tackling, hitting.  Positional play.  Small sided games.

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Spring Term

English

Within the English curriculum there is constant graded development of:

• Grammatical knowledge
• Handwriting
• Vocabulary development
• Phonic awareness
• Sentence building
• Punctuation skills
• Essay planning, editing, presenting
• Reading skills
• Skills of listening and speaking
• Writing book reviews

These underpin all of the English courses.

• Descriptive writing
• Story setting
• Story structure
• Narrative styles
• Story genre
• Science fiction
• Fairy tales
• Myths and legends
• Organisation of information texts
• Ways of reading for information

Maths

• Estimation of large numbers
• Addition using standard method
• Number investigations
• Addition and subtraction mentally
• Area
• Multiples, Squares, Factors
• Fractions
• Mode and Median

Science

Moving & Growing
Role of the skeleton in providing protection, support & movement.  Name & locate skull, backbone, rib cage, pelvis, collar bone, shoulder blade.Types of joint. How muscles move joints.

Friction
Knowledge of friction as a force that opposes motion.  Understanding that rough surfaces create more friction than smooth ones. That friction causes heat and wear. Ways of reducing friction.

French

• Identifying oneself
• Using numbers 1-20
• Asking someone’s name and age
• More numbers
• Seeking and giving information
• Expressing likes and dislikes
• Naming selected countries

History

• Where is Greece? How do we know about the ancient Greeks?
  Greek pottery as evidence.
• When did the ancient Greeks live? Timelines – an explanation of “BC” and “AD”, ordering events on the timeline. Introduction to the “Classical” period.
• Who did the ancient Greeks worship and why?
• Mount Olympus and the gods
• Greek creation myths – Prometheus, Pandora’s Box
• Research a god!
• The city states- Athens and Sparta – similarities and differences
• Beware Bias – Athenian views about Spartans
• How did ancient Greeks enjoy themselves? Greek theatre – comedy and tragedy- the link with religion
• Triremes and hoplites – Greek military and naval power
• Greeks versus Persians – was the battle of Marathon a great victory for the ancient Greeks? – storyboarding events. Points of view – retelling events from the Athenian viewpoint, retelling events from the Persian viewpoint
• Classical architecture – Greek influence all around us
• Greek influence on our language today
• Greek thinkers and scholars
• The Olympic games – then and now. Why were the games so important to ancient Greeks?The legacy of ancient Greece.

Geography

Maps and Mapping

• Discuss maps and mappingLearn to identify and locate features.  Physical (for example landscape and vegetation) and Human (for example Industry and transport)
• The significance of location and how places got their names
• Learn to recognise and interpret symbols, make their own and use keys.
• Use maps to locate places, to answer questions and to carry out geographical enquiries
• Transport/location field work – data collection, representation and interpretation
• Understanding play and oblique view (contours)

R.S.

• The life of Jesus 4 - Miracles
• The life of Jesus 5 - Holy week and Easter

Music

• Introduction to Sibelius software –  typing and printing simple three-note melodies
• Typing and printing simple three-note melodies
• Performance – Spring term Concert (Instrumental and vocal items)
• Clapping printed rhythms, keys, scales and dynamics
• Music Appreciation linked with stories of the boyhood of Felix Mendelssohn
• Singing a variety of songs from the 18th to the 20th centuries

Drama

• The Victorian Cotton Mill

P.E.

• Dance - Wimbledon Dance – Develop motif using speed and action. Pair work. Capture mood and gesture. These shoes are made for walking. Combine character and humour. Jazz Dance to selected modern tune.

Boys' Games

• Rugby – U9 rugby developed. 
  Tackling, mauling and rucking furthered. RFU syllabus. 3 man uncontested scrum. 9-a-side game – rules.  Set plays. Team play and fixtures. Skills furthered.

• Football / Hockey: Skill acquisition furthered
  Basic skills of football and hockey introduced and developed. Dribbling, passing, shooting on the move. Control reverse stick. (hockey) Tackling and goalkeeping. Mini-games

Girls' Games

• Netball – Dodging, marking. Attacking and defending principles. Getting free, changing direction. Matches teamwork.
• Tennis – Orange mini outside. Over arm serve. Consistency, tactics. Matches.

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Summer Term

English

Within the English curriculum there is constant graded development of:

• Grammatical knowledge
• HandwritingVocabulary development
• Phonic awareness
• Sentence building
• Punctuation skills
• Essay planning, editing, presenting
• Reading skills
• Skills of listening and speaking
• Writing book reviews

These underpin all of the English courses.

Presenting information to an audience

• Giving and receiving positive criticism
• Non chronological report writing
• Stories from other cultures
• Comparing texts by the same author
• Identifying themes within stories
• Describing and exploring story characters, their feelings and dilemmas
• Letter writing
• Play scripts
• Newspaper reports
• Persuasive writing
• Writing and appreciation of different forms of poetry

Maths

• Decimals
• Addition of multiples of 10
• Fractions of a number
• Shape investigations
• Word problems using the four operations
• Perimeter
• Time
• Percentage
• Rounding

Science

Circuits & Conductors
Knowledge that metals and carbon (graphite) are conductors of electricity and most other materials are electrical insulators.  Need for a complete circuit for devices to work.  Experience of making simple series circuits.  Symbols for cell, lamp and switch.

Earth, Sun & Moon

Use of models to show the relationship between the Earth, Sun & Moon.  Exploration of how day & night arise.  Knowledge that the earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours and orbits the Sun once a year.  Motion of the Moon around the Earth.

French

• Saying which country one comes from
• The French alphabet
• Giving commands
• Parts of the bodyExpressing simple needs
• Asking where things art
• Describing simple actions one can do
• Describing clothing

History

Geography

• Contrasting locality studies.  Geographical location, relief, climate, settlements, lifestyles and how they are similar/different from our own.  Comparisons between GB and countries with different climates.
• Contrasting Location – comparing GB with Mediterranean Spain, Tropical, Grenada, Desert USA and Arctic Lapland
• Introduce the British Isles – what countries does it comprise
  Physical features of the British Isles – relief, major rivers, Landscape Climate and Weather, temperature rainfall graphs, relief rainfall
  Agriculture and industry, patterns throughout Britain – local knowledge
  Lifestyles, consider their own ways of life, school, activities, sports, holidays
  Introduce other countries and compare and contrast with all of the aboveExtremes of nature.  Hurricanes – The changing Earth – Volcanoes

R.S.

• Early Christianity
• St Paul’s conversion
• His missionary journeys

Music

• Revision – typing and printing simple three-note melodies using Sibelius software
• Staff notation – minims and semibreves
• Revise and consolidate keys and scales
• Music Appreciation linked with stories of the boyhood of
  Singing a variety of songs from the 18th to the 20th centuries
• Introduction to the “Groovy Music” educational software

Drama

Bullying

P.E.

• Swimming – Revise good body position. Floating/Sculling. Front Crawl and Back Crawl. Introduce Breast stroke. Diving from the Deep end. Time trials/ Relays.

Boys' Games

• Cricket – Basic skill acquisition developed - Fielding positions taught. 11-a-side game & laws introduced, wides, no balls, run outs etc. Wicket keeping basics taught.  Bowling – the bound and action, run-up, line and length, batting – straight bat drives, cuts, and pulls. Running between wickets.  Calling.
• Athletics - Basic Sprints/ Long Distance. Throwing and jumping events developed.
• Tennis - Skill acquisition furthered - Forehand and backhand ground strokes. Volley/Serve. Competitive rallies. Match play and rules – scoring.

Girls' Games

• Rounders – Incrediball and normal bat. Bowling and batting technique. Tactics for matches.
• Mini Tennis Orange – Matches on ¾ Court. Serving and singles tactics.
• Athletics – Develop Skill in the following events. Sprinting, 300m, Long Jump, High Jump, Javelin, Throwing.

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