Author: Mr Hayes

Everyone worked hard to find out about the science of sound. Working in groups, the children planned and presented a short TV programme to share what they had learnt. We all enjoyed watching our videos afterwards.  

In Art, we are learning about European artists and designers. Yesterday, we learnt about the life and work of Coco Chanel, whose first shop sold hats that she had decorated. 

During the autumn term, our learning in RE will follow three themes. In the second of our themes, Called, we reflect on our different experiences of being welcomed into new situations and groups, recognising the importance of welcome, of feeling comfortable with new situations and belonging to new groups.

Christians believe that everyone is invited to share in the life and work of God through Baptism. The Bible recounts God’s invitations to people to share in his life and work: among them Moses, Samuel, the prophets, Mary and the apostles.

“Through Baptism, men and women are incorporated into Christ. They are formed into God’s people and they obtain the forgiveness of all their sins. They become a new creation through water and the Holy Spirit. Hence they are called and are indeed children of God. Signed with the gift of the Spirit in Confirmation, Christians more perfectly become the image of their Lord and are filled with the Holy Spirit. They bear witness to him before all the world and eagerly work for the building up of the body of Christ.” (General Introduction to the Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults)

This topic is rooted in an understanding of the sacrament of confirmation. Through this topic, children will use a developing religious vocabulary to give reasons for the actions and symbols used during this sacrament. Children will also come to understand what is meant by the following key vocabulary through this topic: chosen, response, Sacrament of Confirmation, oil of Chrism, mitre, crozier, sponsor, catechist, bishop, Holy Spirit, witness, anointing, Holy Trinity, enkindle, called.

Home learning in RE

During this topic, we will learn about the lives of people who have answered the call to follow Christ.

For your home learning, I would like you to find out about someone who has done something remarkable for someone else (within the local community or the wider world) and use what you find to make a poster about their life.  

This challenge should be returned to school after the half-term break, on 5th November. 

Prayer and Reflection

Almighty and eternal God,
you keep together those you have united.
Look kindly on all who follow Jesus your Son.
We are all consecrated to you by our common baptism;
make us one in the fullness of faith
and keep us one in the fellowship of love.

Amen.

We are learning all about electricity in science. Today, we tested circuits to make a bulb light. We learnt that you need to have a complete circuit if it is to work. 

Electricity can be dangerous and we were told never to play with electricity. 

I was really pleased that so many children put themselves forward to represent our class on the school council and I was very impressed with the quality, thoughtfulness and humour with which each child shared their ideas for this role this year. 

The votes have been counted and verified and I am delighted to announce that our class representatives on the school council for Year 4 are Sophie A and Noah.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who took part. 

It was good to meet so many of you on Thursday. I hope that you found the meeting useful. 

For reference, a copy of my presentation can be viewed below. I have also repeated some of the key points that were shared at the meeting. 

Reading books

Children are able to change their reading book during the ‘soft start’ each morning. Before selecting a new book from the school reading scheme, I ask children to complete a short book review and add this to their reading folder. Children are encouraged to supplement their reading from the reading scheme with books from home and books borrowed from libraries.

Pen licences

In year four, children progress from writing in pencil to writing in pen. I will let each child know when I think that they are ready. I will also provide the pen when the great moment comes. There are two things that I look for to tell me a child is ready for a pen:

• Their writing is consistent in size and fluently joined.
• Their handwriting style is serviceable and does not hinder the speed of writing.

Multiplication tables

At the start of year four, children nationally are expected to know many of their multiplication tables by heart. These are the 2, 5 and 10, the 3, and the 4 and 8 times tables. We will check the children’s recall of random facts drawn from these multiplication tables each week. 

During the autumn term of year four, we will also introduce and secure the rapid recall of 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 times tables. We will add these to our weekly multiplication check as these are introduced.

Children are also expected to be able to count on and back in multiples of 10, 25, 50, 100 and 1000. 

It is time to choose our school council members for year 4. 

If you would like to represent your class-mates on the school council, I would like you to think about why you would be good at the job and be ready to share your ideas with the class on Wednesday next, 26th September.

We will then have a ballot to vote for your choice. Everyone will have to votes and we will elect a girl and a boy to represent our class. 

Everyone is welcome to stand!

Remember, you will need your PE kit today because we have a skipping workshop this afternoon.