In Year 4 we take a topic-based approach to teaching, making it a motivating and exciting year.

The children are continuously acquiring and developing skills, which will help them access the curriculum in later years.

We follow the English, National Curriculum, Primary Framework. Curriculum topics include stories with historical settings; stories set in imaginary worlds; stories from other cultures; stories which raise issues issues/dilemmas; plays; recounts, information, persuasive and explanation texts and exploring poetry form and creating poems with imagery.

The combined content of these units, together with continuous and discrete work at word and sentence level, carries the learning that children can be expected to achieve in Year 4. Further work on presentational skills and speaking and listening will be ongoing throughout the year.

Mathematics

The planning and teaching structure for Year 4 is organised into five blocks counting, partitioning and calculating; securing number facts and understanding shape; handling data and measures; calculating, measuring and understanding shape and securing number facts, relationships and calculating.

Science

In year 4 children develop knowledge and understanding of important scientific ideas, processes and skills and relate these to everyday experiences; learn about ways of thinking and of finding out about and communicating ideas and explore values and attitudes through science.
The units of work covered are habitats, moving and growing; keeping warm; solids, liquids and how they can be separated; friction and circuits and conductors.

The children develop their IT skills in all curriculum areas. They have a minimum of one, exclusive, ICT lesson per week. In term 1 the emphasis is on writing and publishing; term 2 branching databases and collecting information and in term 3, the students use Super Logo to control the route of a screen turtle

Geography

Geography offers opportunities to stimulate children's interest in their surroundings and in the variety of human and physical conditions on the Earth's surface; foster children's sense of wonder at the beauty of the world around them; help children to develop an informed concern about the quality of the environment and the future of the human habitat; and thereby enhance children's sense of responsibility for the care of the Earth and its people. Topics covered are Improving the Environment and Australia.

History

History develops the children's sense of identity through learning about the development of the world and introduces them to what is involved in understanding and interpreting the past. In Year 4 we focus upon studying Ancient Egypt, an extremely popular and stimulating topic

Art and Design

Art and design develops children's creativity and imagination by building on their knowledge, skills and understanding of materials and processes through providing more complex activities. Children's experiences help them to develop their understanding of the diverse roles and functions of art and design in the locality and in the wider world. In term 1, we study a minibeasts view, or perspective, and translate this through a variety of mediums. In term 2 we build a chair for Egyptian royalty and create our own papyrus paintings. In term 3, we study Aboriginal art. Using this as a model, we interpret a “journey” or dream and portray it on a canvas using oil paint and water colour.

Design and Technology

Design and technology offers opportunities for children to develop their designing and making skills; knowledge and understanding; their capability to create high quality products through combining their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding; nurture creativity and innovation through designing and making; explore values about and attitudes to the made world and how we live and work within it and develop an understanding of technological processes, products, and their manufacture, and their contribution to our society.

In Term 1 we make purses/money containers and minibeasts masks. Term 2 we make Ancient Egyptian, information pop up books. Finally we combine the DT and the science were the children design a model house fitted with working lights and burglar alarm!

Physical Education

Year 4 reinforces a lot of the aspects taught within the UK national curriculum for Year 3. The children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in all areas in the curriculum are improved further, especially in the areas of basket ball, t-ball, gymnastics, athletics and health related fitness. In the swimming pool, they continue to develop their stamina and their execution of the four main strokes. They are also taught ways in which to develop their speed for competition and individual gains. Throughout all of these activities, the children are continually learning new skills, developing ways to use them to improve their performance and to create actions that are effective for sequences of movement.