Year 4
Curriculum Summary for Parents
Term 1 • 2025/26
This information represents a summary of plans for the term. Please understand that all plans are flexible; there is always the possibility that fewer (or more) topics will be covered than those stated.
Subject Topics
English
Thematic approach
We will be developing our ‘Talk for Writing’ approach through the term, with the intention of helping children to internalise the text we are studying and internalise the structure and language of the different text types. We will be writing poetry and focusing on our narrative skills, as well as exploring non-fiction texts We will be introducing a new spelling scheme, based on the ‘Read, Write, Inc’ program, covering the Year 4 spelling patterns, whilst some children may also be receiving support with their phonics understanding. The class will be reading a text based on the life of Julius Caesar amongst others, where they will have the opportunity to develop their prediction and inference skills. In grammar lessons, the children will be looking at increasing the range of their sentence structures, developing their use of conjunctions and clauses.
Focusing on core arithmetic skills, including:
• Place value with 3 and 4 digit numbers
• Multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000
• Mental addition and subtraction
• Formal written methods for addition and subtraction
• Introduction to multiplication methods
• Focus on learning our times tables
Our themes for this term are ‘Building Bridges’ and ‘Beyond the Horizon’. During these themes, the children will experience engaging and exciting launch days which will introduce the overarching theme to them, and then we will explore the theme in more detail, asking the children in which direction they would like to shape the learning. Through the theme, the children will develop a number of key skills, and the direction of the learning may vary between the classes depending on their interest. Key to the success of our thematic approach, is the need to develop learning traits within our children, including their resilience, ability to collaborate effectively, willingness to enquire further and problem-solving skills. The topics will help develop their curiosity and intrigue into areas of their own interest.
• Revision of basics: name, age, birthday,
• Numbers: revision of 1-30, learning 31-100
• Introducing the nuclear family using mon/ma/mes
• Leisure time activities
• Express opinions
• Christmas activities
Focusing on ‘Holiday and Leisure’
• My holiday
• Where do I go
• How long am I away
• What time do I depart? What time do I arrive?
• How many minutes past the hour?
• What do I do in the morning
Focusing on ‘Around Town’
• Ask and answer questions about their town.
• Use hay/estar to describe locations.
• Give and understand simple directions.
• Talk about how people travel to different places.
• Read and create short descriptive texts with a map.
• Write short paragraphs about their town and transport.
Maths
French
Kiswahili
Spanish (SFC)
Computing
Music
P.E.
Swimming
P.S.H.E.
We will focus on:-
• Creating Simple Games in Scratch – An Introduction to Scratch
• Design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals.
• Developing confidence with computer literacy, word processing and typing skills.
• Creating animations in Pivot.
• Using Microsoft office in computing and in other subject areas.
Beat Street
Reviewing known rhythms & building rhythmic improvisation skills
Note Quotes
Reviewing pitch notation & building musical literacy skills through sight reading
Are you listening?
Musical Memory & Audiation
Year 3-4 Play Prep
A focus on the benefits of warming up and warming down. Looking at how to increase stamina, muscle strength and cardiovascular endurance and encompassing the different components of fitness, including flexibility, agility, balance and coordination. We will be covering athletics, aiming to improve our personal times across the disciplines. We will be developing passing and shooting skills in football and working on batting and fielding skills in cricket, improving hand-eye coordination and developing accuracy in fielding skills.
Fundamental skills stages of Swim England LTAD to develop their own personal skills, including freestyle and backstroke focusing on stroke mechanics and efficiency. Children are developing kinesthetic (body and spatial) awareness, co-ordination, agility and speed through the development of strokes and aquatic skills.
Being me in my world – the key topics covered in this puzzle piece include looking at our place in the school and society and how our actions make a difference. Key discussions include taking responsibility for our actions, the role of the School Council and democracy, as well as the use of rewards and sanctions. Ultimately, we hope pupils will see that they have an important role within the school and we ask them to try and form their own Learning Charter to aid positive learning throughout the year.
Celebrating differences - the key topics covered in this puzzle piece include understanding that everyone is different and that should be celebrated. Discussions include thinking about how we judge people on how they look and making assumptions. Pupils will also look at conflicts (such as falling out with friends / bullying) and how that makes us feel but most importantly what we should do about it / how we can help resolve issues