Year 4

Subject: English

In Year 4 Literacy is taught as a discrete lesson during the mornings. These lessons make up extended units of work covering specific objectives and skills linked to children’s abilities. Links to our topic are also made, where appropriate, enabling children to apply their skills across the curriculum.Daily literacy lessons take account of reading, writing and grammar, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. Children are taught both as a whole class and in small groups according to their ability and depending on the teaching focus of the lesson.


Comprehension is given  a special emphasis through  Reciprocal Reading where the text is interrogated through Predicting, Questioning, Clarifying and Summarising.  Children will be supported to identify main points or gist of texts, deepening the understanding of characters’ feelings and motives as well as vocabulary development. In non-fiction the children concentrate on identifying different types of texts and how they are organised and presented.


Children continue to build on the skills taught in Year 3 and write more extended pieces of work linked to the topics and other curriculum areas. Teachers model the writing and planning process through shared writing sessions where ideas are collected and developed.

Children work in pairs or individually to write narrative and non-narrative texts. Grammar and punctuation are contextually taught within literacy. Word processing, combining text and graphics, is developed using computer programs such as Word and Publisher where possible.

We continue to practise our handwriting in line with whole school policy each day for 10 minutes.

Subject: MathsIn Year 4 maths is taught as a discrete subject with learning objectives determined by the National Curriculum. Every day children use the Numicon resources to practise and develop oral and mental skills (counting, mental strategies, rapid recall of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts).  A large emphasis is placed upon the four rules of number and applying these skills to mental arithmetic and written word problems.The principal focus of mathematics teaching in Year 4 is to ensure that pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value. This should ensure that pupils develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large whole numbers.In Year 4, pupils develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including those with simple fractions and decimal place value. Children develop their skills to draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. They also develop their ability to use measuring instruments with accuracy and make connections between measure and number.Wherever possible and appropriate, the children apply the skills and knowledge they have gained in numeracy lessons to other areas of learning such as science, geography and history through our enquiry based topics.


Subject: ScienceIn Year 4 pupils observe, explore and ask questions about living things, materials and physical processes.   These are taught through our enquiry bases topics where possible based on the National Curriculum objectives. Science skills are taught through practical investigations and scientific thinking exercises and applied in other areas of the curriculum.In Year 4, children evaluate evidence, consider whether tests or comparisons are fair, evaluate results and draw conclusions. They use reference materials to find out more about scientific ideas, share their ideas and communicate them using scientific language, drawings, charts and tables.  Children are encouraged to be independent and collaborative scientific investigators by their involvement in exciting practical investigations. Children are encouraged to be creative and make learning more relevant by designing their own experiments where appropriate.During year 4, children are taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills and apply them across the curriculum where possible and appropriate:

  • setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests

Our Science work is also enhanced by visitors to school, or outside visits to places of interest.

Subject: History In Year 4 history is taught through our enquiry based topics. Through historical enquiries the children learn to ask questions about the past and find answers using a variety of sources.  Throughout the year, they also develop greater understanding of key events, famous people and significant periods of history through discussion by placing them in chronological order on a time line.This is done as part of the following  topics:

  • Raiders, Traders and Dragons (Anglo Saxon and Viking Britain)
  • Potions ( The History of medicine)

During these topics, the children find out about the lives of others in the past using reference materials and deepen their understanding through first-hand experiences . For example we visited the Museum of Medicine in Manchester last year.  They learn to look at and to compare primary and secondary sources of evidence to find out about events, people and changes. They look at how the past is represented and interpreted in different ways, and give reasons why. When possible, we include a visit to a relevant venue or arrange visitors to school to enhance the learning.

Subject: Geography In Y4 we develop geographical skills by asking geographical questions and answering them using sources of information such as reference books, atlases, globes, maps and plans, aerial photographs and information and images from the internet.  This is done as part of the following  topics:

  • Road trip USA and Misty Mountain Sierra
  • Blue Abyss

Wherever possible and appropriate, our investigations are enhanced by visits, visitors to school and field work.

Subject: Art and Design In Year 4, art and design in taught through our topic based curriculum. The children develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.Through our enquiry based topics the children learn:

  • to create sketches to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
  • about great artists, architects and designers in history.
Subject: DT DT is taught mainly through our topic work. We use the National Curriculum  to ensure coverage but with a skills based approach.  Through a variety of creative and practical activities, the children develop the skills learned in Year 3 to carry out focused practical tasks that develop a range of techniques, skills, processes and knowledge more independently. They design and make using a range of materials and develop and explain their ideas clearly. They also have the opportunity to reflect on work in relation to intended use and identify improvements needed.
Subject: Computing In Year 4 we have laptops which are stored and charged and can be used by the child or teacher whenever appropriate throughout the school day. Computers contribute to teaching and learning in all curriculum areas, for example, children research history topics using CDROMs or the Internet. In science they use laptops to model a problem or to analyse data. The children develop their computer programming skills by designing games and characters using the web based programme Scratch.
Subject: P.E. PE is integral to learning about our fitness and health. Regular PE activities enable everyone to take part in a range of physical activities including; dance, gymnastics and games.  In year 4 the children build-on and develop the skills they learn in Year 3 to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement. They communicate, collaborate and compete with each other and develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports. They also evaluate and recognise their own and others’ successes and areas for development.
Subject: Music  In Year 4 the children learn to sing a range of songs together either in unison or in two parts, focusing on developing accurate pitch and musical expression. They also experience playing a range of tuned and unturned percussion instruments with control and rhythmic accuracy. They learn to explore, choose and combine musical sounds and develop simple rhythmic and melodic ideas through group or class compositions. They also practice and rehearse some aspects of our work for performance to an audience, such as the concert at Christmas.
Subject: Modern Foreign Language In Y4, as part of our cultural awareness, we develop our learning of Spanish. Set in the context of learning about Spain and the lives of people in Spain. The children develop their ability to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.In Year 4, the children develop their ability to:

Subject: RE  In Year 4 we follow the Sheffield agreed syllabus for Religious Education.  Through assemblies and class discussions we develop our understanding of Christianity, Islam and Judaism by finding similarities between different faiths and by learning about important festivals and celebrations.
Subject: PSHE  Personal, social and health education (PSHE) develops children’s knowledge, skills and understanding about leading confident, healthy and independent lives.  In Year 4 we develop the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning scheme (SEAL) through stories, class discussion known as “Circle time” and during assemblies. We learn about rules, feelings, developing self-esteem and getting on with others. We also think about wider issues Global issues such as Global warming and Cultural diversity in P4C sessions.Curriculum letters are sent home each half term and below is a useful link for parents  on the National Curriculum:





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