AcademicPrimary

Year 4’s Successful Start to 2019

Year 4 have had a fantastic start to the year. In their stride, they have adapted to new class and specialist teachers as well as different bell times. This year the students have the opportunity to learn French with Madame Moore, explore Art with Mrs Catlin, play music on doods with Mrs Finnecy, explore Christian Studies with Mrs Erga and learn some fantastic skills in the Creative Arts hour with Mrs Mistry and her team.

In class, the students have enjoyed doing PE together, developing their athletic skills through a mixture of skill and game sessions. Meanwhile in Science, Year 4 have started some experiments about plants and their growth. So far we haven’t seen much action, but over the next few weeks we are hoping for some exciting developments and we will see how many hypotheses were correct.

Everyday after long break our students participate in “Wellbeing” time.  This includes Chapel, Personal Development and Health, Peer Support Training sessions and workshops that help students form personal strategies for their own wellbeing. This new initiative for 2019 is already proving to be beneficial as we focus on how to be caring citizens who strive for excellence.

Last year in Geography our students focused on Australia and its neighbouring countries.  This year we will build upon this knowledge and explore outwards to understand the globe with our theme: “The Earth’s Environment”.  This unit links beautifully with our science unit “Survival” and already our students are making insightful connections between subjects.

Mathematics has been a source of satisfaction, bearable frustration and enjoyment as students build upon their understanding of place value and add to their knowledge of measurement. Theme, Connotation, Imagery and Symbol are the concepts we are exploring  in English. We have been enjoying the beautiful work of Leonie Norrington and Dee Huxley in their book “You and Me: Our Place”. With appreciation for rich language and emotive imagery we are unpacking these concepts and considering our theme, “Stories that Unite”.

To an outsider looking in, I wonder if it all seems mad – this tightly packed timetable. In Year 4 we know it’s all so worth it because rather than feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, we are quite excited and energised by being engaged, curious and industrious. We look forward to sharing more of our new skills and knowledge as the year progresses.


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