What makes Year 4 different?

Year 4 is an opportunity to embed all of the knowledge learnt in Year 3 and expand on the pace and expectations of our learning. As we are moving towards the end of lower KS2, the children are expected to start showing independence and to look after their own belongings.

As children progress through Year 4, we expect them to be able to attempt to resolve social and emotional issues by having the courage and confidence to ask for help and understand who they can turn to for support. We would also like them to consider how they can support their peers and work as a team, showing empathy and understanding.

In Year 4, the children have the opportunity to participate in a brass project. The children will be able to learn to play a brass instrument such as the trumpet, baritone and trombone.

As well as developing musical talents, Year 4 offers the opportunity to take part and compete in the Strictly Juniors Dance competition, where they can learn dances such as the Cha Cha and Waltz.

Year 4 also has the thrilling opportunity to attend a residential trip. This is a fantastic event that gives children the chance to participate in activities they may be never have encountered before (such as archery or outdoor climbing) and build up fantastic social skills and connections with others in the year group.

Writing in Year 4

Our English curriculum exposes the children to a range of high-quality texts through both reading and writing. In writing, new punctuation is introduced (such as commas in a list, apostrophes for possession and punctuating direct speech). There is also an emphasis on using multi-clause sentences using coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, and varying sentence structures to add detail and variety. Within sentences, children are expected to start using a variety of expanded noun phrases, including the use of prepositional phrases.

The English is carefully planned so that the children can explore a range of different text types and gradually build up to writing their own versions, with careful attention towards audience and purpose. The children will also explore subject specific vocabulary and will have the opportunity to edit and improve their writing.

The main areas of grammar that will be taught this year include:

• Subordinating conjunctions (if, since, as, when, although, while, after, before, until, because).
• Using commas to demarcate items in a list, clauses and phrases (including commas after fronted adverbials)
• Using Inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech (e.g. a comma after a reporting clauses, and punctuation within inverted commas).
• Using a new line for a new speaker when writing direct speech.
• Using apostrophes to demarcate singular and plural possession.

Reading in Year 4

Reading is such an important life skill and we want all children to develop a love reading as well as develop their reading comprehension skills. Reading is all about sharing books together – this can be through hearing your child read as well as reading to them, talking about books and allowing children to develop their vocabulary stamina and knowledge around them.