Category: Year 4 – St Alban

Too hot or too cool to join in with my Dad-dancing in today’s assembly, the children were less reserved in Thursday’s rehearsal and threw some amazing shapes. Relive the magic this weekend with our video…

We are looking forward to our class trip on Tuesday to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The forecast is currently for sunny intervals and a high of 23 – much more bearable than today’s temperatures, but the children will still need to dress for the weather – sun screen and school caps are a must, as well as comfortable shoes or trainers for all the walking we will do. The children should wear school uniform.

It would be a good idea to pack an extra drink or two for our trip in addition to that included as part of our packed lunch. A small, draw-string style backpack would be a handy way to carry this around, if you already have one.

Please make sure that you have given your child any medication needed – such as travel or hay fever – in plenty of time to ensure that they enjoy the day. Our journey to Kew will take about an hour.

I hope the sun continues to shine over the weekend and that you all have a Happy Father’s Day.

We’ve had another busy week together in Year 4 and the children have enjoyed the start of our new design and technology topic, learning about structures and designing pavilions. We’re looking forward to getting some ideas for our own designs when we visit the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are some photos of our first investigation of structures where we experimented with the strength of different shapes.

We are also hoping that our trip to Kew will provide inspiration for our new art topic where we are learning about the art and landscapes of Henri Rousseau. Watch this space in the weeks ahead to see our evolving artwork.

Finally, you can forget the jubilee concert: Year 4 have shown themselves to be true rockstars as they have worked so hard to improve their rapid recall of multiplication tables facts. They will get the chance to try out this knowledge next week when we take part in the national multiplication tables check.

Have a lovely weekend!

We have had a great week at school learning about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The children have brought home a gift of a special souvenir book that commemorates this special event.

Thank you to all the parents who joined us for our jubilee picnic. It was lovely to see so many of you.

I look forward to the start of the final half-term on Tuesday, 7th June. Until then, keep safe and have a great holiday.

Our art topic, looking and learning about the work of William Morris, is heading towards its conclusion and this week the children printed their own repeated designs, combining textures and colours to explore ideas from nature. I would like to think the children will remember this learning in years to come, but it is more likely they will remember the exploding tube of printing ink that turned most of me green.

As we get ready to celebrate the platinum jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen, the children have been full of ideas for our hall display. Sadly, the real fireworks and band that played the National Anthem whenever anyone passed have not been possible (yet), but we have all enjoyed making flags and bunting.

We are hoping for fine weather and that you can join us for our Jubilee picnic on Friday.

Wow! All the children in Year 4 have really impressed, this week. We marked the start of May with a ceremony to crown Mary. May is the month of Mary and it is also the month that traditionally marks the beginning of summer. Year 4 entertained our visiting parents and the rest of the school with two maypole dances. It was lovely to see them enjoying themselves and thinking on their feet.

The second ‘Wow!’ is for all the Year 4 families, who raised a fantastic £274 at the Year 4 cake sale. I am pretty sure that this is a record total for a cake sale and I know how much difference this will make to the children in Year 4. We have already spent the money and ordered bean bags for our reading area and some fantastic new books to support our guided reading – I know that the children will really enjoy them. Thank you so much for your hard work supporting the children and the work of our school.

Have a lovely weekend!

We’ve had another busy week learning together at school.

We were excited to meet Kate Gray, the paralympic athlete and broadcaster, who inspired us with her story and determination. After leading us in a warm-up, we ran the ‘golden mile’ (eight laps of the field) with Kate.

We are enjoying starting to learn May pole dances as part of our PE this half-term. Even though we have only just started, we have taken a crash course so that we might be ready to give our first performance on Tuesday, following the crowning of Mary.

We have made banners to honour Mary as we mark the month of Mary with our crowning ceremony on Tuesday, 3rd May. We have chosen to honour Mary as Queen, assumed into Heaven.

Thank you to all of the families who have supported our Year 4 cake sale today. The children have lots of exciting ideas about how we can spend the funds raised. Many of these are linked to making our book corner more comfortable and inviting.

It’s not too late to get involved in supporting our 50 Books. You can click on the banner below to check out our Amazon wish-list and see what fantastic books we are hoping to read next.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the bank holiday!

We marked the end of the first week back with a double celebration. Firstly, the children were resplendent in red and white to mark St George’s Day on 23rd April. We learnt about this early Christian martyr and tried to separate some of the facts from the fiction.

Secondly, we marked Earth Day 2022 by learning about the importance of protecting our planet. If each of us invests in small changes, we can make a difference to preserving our planet for future generations. We wrote poems as we reflected on the importance of trees.

We are looking forward to hosting our cake sale next Friday to raise money for our classroom. The children have grand plans for making our book corner more comfortable! They continue to love sharing the books that you have donated to our class library and I thank you for your continued generosity.

Have a lovely weekend!

In the first theme of our RE learning for the Summer term, Pentecost – New life, we learn how each of us, by the way we live our lives, the way we treat others, and by our words and actions, show if we have an attitude of service. Often, we are especially influenced by those whose actions speak powerfully of a life of service.

Christians believe that the Spirit of God is active in each person and, in a special way, in the community of believers, which is the Church.  It is the work of the Spirit to enable people to hear God’s message and to live Jesus’ way of service.

We are reminded of this Gospel call by Luke,  

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Luke 4: 18-19

Our share in this Pentecostal gift is further emphasised by the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“Those, who with God’s help, have welcomed Christ’s call and freely responded to it, are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world.  This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors.  All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.”

(CCC Prologue 3)

Home learning

Make a good news board.  Collect some good news from everyone in your family and record it in some way, why it was good news and how it made them feel. Take time and care with your work. Make your good news board something that you can be proud of.

Prayer and Reflection

Father, pour out your Spirit
upon your people,
and grant us
a new vision of your glory,
a new faithfulness to your Word
and a new consecration to your service,
that your love may grow among us,
and your kingdom come:
through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

(Prayer of preparation for Vatican II)

Our last day of term has been full of colour and fun as the children have enjoyed ‘Break the Rules’ day and raised money to support our fantastic PTA. The morning was punctuated by impromptu renditions of various songs the children know, including our Mother’s Day spectacular and Spring Chicken – I need to make sure I watch Encanto over the holidays after the children’s very impressive version of We don’t talk about Bruno!

It was lovely to see our friend in the choir singing as part of our Easter celebration and I was very impressed by the children who joined with the Chaplaincy team to lead us in our Holy Week liturgy.

So many of you contributed posters to the Easter art competition – well done to Rukksika and Tadhg – and your ‘Growth’ posters very excellent – once again, the children’s creativity and effort are something of which they should be proud. Take a look at the posters in our Gallery.

Thanks to all the children for their enthusiasm and learning across this term. I hope that you all enjoy a happy, healthy, and blessed Easter and I look forward to seeing you for the start of the Summer Term on Wednesday, 20th April 2022.