Year Four Curriculum NewsletterSpring 2025
Joy Excellence Service
For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
Song of Solomon 2:11-12
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
During the spring term, Year 4 will be focusing on three topics. The first is entitled 'Community', where the children will look at the different roles people can take on in the parish and how this supports our church community as a whole. Next, we will move on to 'Relating', where the class will look at different elements of the Mass, considering the significance of each part and thinking about the impact these have throughout the week. The final topic, 'Giving' will look at what actions Catholics can take to grow spiritually during Lent, as well as the significance of the Easter Triduum. The class will visit the church during the term to reflect on Jesus's journey to the cross.
RSHE
Our RSHE work this term, focuses on healthy bodies and minds. As part of this, there will be discussions on how to look after the bodies God has given us, exploring diet, exercise, hygiene and safety. Puberty is taught, considering the changes that take place in male and female bodies. This includes physical changes, giving children an understanding of what will change as they transition into adulthood. Hormonal changes and the effect that these may have on mood will also be discussed, teaching the children that emotions are complex and changeable, giving them different techniques to cope if they feel overwhelmed. We will continue to find strategies that support positive mental health, recognising that different methods will be right for different people.
ENGLISH
Our focus text this term is 'The Boy at the Back of the Class’ by Onjali Q. Raúf. We will discuss issues the book raises, including how the characters behave towards each other and what it is like to belong. Our writing will be based on the book, exploring genres such as letters, information texts, stories and persuasive writing. Our spelling lessons will teach children about spelling patterns and rules for adding suffixes. The grammar lessons will look at conjunctions, adverbials, prepositions and pronouns and the impact they have on a sentence. We will continue to have our reading skills lessons, to support children in their comprehension of a text, looking at the meaning of vocabulary, finding information in a text and evaluating word choice.
MATHS
At the beginning of the Spring Term, Year 4 will look at different methods for multiplication and division. These include formal written methods for multiplying and dividing by a 1- digit number. Following this, the class will look at perimeter and length, including calculating the perimeter of rectilinear shapes. After this, we will begin our fractions topic. This will include adding and subtracting fractions, finding equivalent fractions and converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers. Finally this term, we will look at decimals, gaining an understanding of what tenths and hundredths are. Times tables will continue to be a focus throughout the spring term, as they support understanding across the maths curriculum. Having rapid recall of multiplication and division facts will really benefit the children across the mathematical learning.
SCIENCE
This term, Year 4 will study sound in science. This will build upon their knowledge of particles learnt last term in the states of matter topic. They will consider how the vibrations of particles allow us to hear sounds, exploring volume and pitch and learning how these can be changed. They will learn about how sounds travel to the ear and what can affect this ability to hear sounds.
During this topic, we will investigate what makes sounds change. This topic allows for lots of opportunities to set up investigations and to increase their understanding of to think like a scientist. We will be making musical instruments from recycled materials in the second half term to bring together all the knowledge the children have gained across the term.
HISTORY
This term, Year 4 will begin the first of their history topics for the year - The Ancient Greeks. We will look at the legacy that this ancient civilization still has today, including the Olympic Games, democracy and theatre. We will find out about what everyday life was like in Athens and Sparta, including the different ways children were taught in their schools. The class will compare the beliefs of the Ancient Greeks with Christianity today, including understanding the role of the gods in their lives. We will look at significant events, such as the Trojan War, and how the events were recorded and retold.
One of the themes we will explore in more detail is the impact of trade on the civilization.
ART/DT
Year 4's art learning this term focuses on the work of Jean Michel Basquiat. We will be studying the graffiti style art of Basquiat, his techniques, and his inspiration for this. We will spend time practising our skills, including improving our understanding of shading, texture and tone. We will learn how to combine mixed media, such as pastels, pencils and pen to create different textures and effects and will create a piece of art work representing Basquiat’s style. Through this topic, we will gain an understanding of how to communicate what is important to us through art.
MUSIC
For the first half term, we will be looking at an anti-bullying song, 'Stop'. After learning about the timing and rhythm of the rap song, the children will perfect their performances. Next, they will write their own lyrics to verses that could be included in the song, in line with the antibullying theme. After half term, we will be moving on to learn more about Soul and Gospel music, using the song 'Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers as a key stimulus. We will look at similarities between this song and others in the same genre. The class will learn to perform this, both through singing and by using instruments.
MFL
In their Spanish lessons this term, the children will be looking at days of the week and months of the year. They will be focusing on speaking and listening before writing these down independently. Next, they will learn to ask about how others are feeling and will learn how to express their own emotions in Spanish. The children will learn how to do this in conversations and will extend this to writing, learning the grammatically correct way to express their feelings in a full sentence.
P.E.
This half term, we will continue our swimming lessons and working on lifesaving. Our outdoor PE will focus on hockey. We will work on controlling the ball with the hockey stick, dribbling and learning how to play as a team.
After half term, outdoors our focus will turn to cross-country and football. This will enable the children to build running stamina in cross country and develop ball control skills and defence tactics in football.
COMPUTING
This term, Year 4 will be learning about audio production. They will identify the equipment and software needed for this before moving on to learning about copyright and digital ownership. They will record their own podcasts, including editing their work and adding multiple tracks, saving their work to share with their peers. They will also improve their editing skills for both audio and written work. As part of our computing curriculum, we always focus on online safety. This will be taught in discreet lessons and also throughout the rest of the topics, to ensure that children know how to keep themselves safe online.
