Years 3 - 4 2024 - 2025

Welcome to years 3 and 4. Our school day starts at 8.55am when all children will be welcomed by staff in the playground as they line up ready to go into their classes. The children will start their day with their class teacher for register and worship. The children are then split into sets for Maths and English. Playtime is at 10.30 am until 10.45 am. During playtime children have a wide variety of games and activities available to them to ensure their playtimes are a positive experience. Children are encouraged to bring a healthy snack such as fruit or breadsticks for playtime.

Lunchtime is from 12.15pm to 1.15pm

In the afternoon children will be in their own classes. All lessons are centred around the main topic of the term and will cover all the subjects:

History, Geography, Science, Art, D&T, Music, R.E, P.S.H.E and P.E.

The children have weekly music lessons in which they are taught to play an instrument. Year 3 children will learn to play the recorder and glockenspiel as well as percussion instruments. Year 4 children are taught steel pans, African drums and guitars. These are taught on a termly rotation.

At the start of Key Stage Two the children begin to learn Mandarin. All children will have a weekly lesson delivered by Mrs Deng, our specialist Chinese teacher.

Children in year 4 will take part in the multiplication tables check. This is an expectation for all year 4 children nationally. The checks take place over a 2-week period in June. It aims to check the rapid recall of all times tables.

Equipment

All children should have a P.E kit in school. The P.E kit consists of black shorts, white t-shirt and pumps or trainers. Safe and suitable footwear is essential to ensure the safety of children when taking part in outdoor P.E sessions.

Children have access to the water fountain at playtimes and lunch times but should still bring in a water bottle for use in the classroom.

Each class will have a term of swimming lessons. These take place on Friday afternoons at Withington baths. Boys are required to wear fitted swimming trunks and girls need to wear a one-piece swimming costume. All children with long hair will need to wear a swimming cap.

Please ensure all items of clothing have names in them.

Reading continues to be a high priority in years 3 and 4 and children are read with regularly in school. They should bring their bookbags into school every day as they may be asked to read more than once during the week. Children are encouraged to change their books as and when needed.

Homework

Homework is set weekly by your child’s math and English teachers. Each Thursday the children will be set a multiplication task using Timetables Rockstars. All children will be given their user names and passwords at the start of the year. For English the children will have a designated task to do in their homework book. The homework task will be chosen to link with the learning in the classroom that week. For this reason, the children should only do the task on the pages that have been allocated for that week. This should be completed and returned on Monday mornings. Each teacher has a box with their name on it outside their classroom and children should place their book in the box belonging to their English set teacher.

Helpful Websites for Additional Practice

Maths                                                              English

www.topmarks.co.uk                                       https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwwp8mn                                   

www.timestables.co.uk                                    www.cgpbooks.co.uk/resources/cgp-s-free-online-10-minute-tests

www.ictgames.co.uk                                       www.ictgames.co.uk

Behaviour and Relationships Policy

Our policy is centred around three simple statements which support a whole school consistent approach. 

• Be ready
• Be respectful
• Be safe

These apply to pupils, parents, staff and governors.

Recognition and rewards to celebrate:

• House point system: There will be four houses and pupils will earn points for their house by showing they can be ready, respectful and safe.
• Recognition board: Each classroom will have a recognition board. On the board will be a specific class goal to support meeting the agreed expectations. If a child is recognised for working towards the class goal, their name will be placed on the board. The class goal will be changed regularly.
• Postcard home: Children who are working above and beyond in meeting the agreed expectations will receive a postcard sent by a member of staff.
• Headteachers weekly celebration assembly. A child from each class will be selected to be recognised and be awarded a certificate detailing how they have worked towards the agreed expectations.

Boundaries and response:  ‘Behaviour is a form of communication’

• We will have clear boundaries and expectations around behaviour.
• We are aiming for an empathetic and restorative approach. This will give children time to think and reflect

Attendance

School starts at 8:55am and finishes at 3:25pm

Regular school attendance brings enormous benefits to individual pupils, their families, schools and the community as a whole. Without regular attendance, levels of attainment suffer and opportunities are missed to obtain maximum benefit from education. It's not just the academic learning that is impacted on, self esteem, sense of belonging can be impacted. Poor attendance impacts on all children whatever their age. Persistent absence and lateness will affect a child‛s achievement and progress in school. It is important to set the expectation of good attendance right from the beginning of school so children grow up with ‘good habits‛. If your child is absent from school you must inform the school, by telephone, e-mail or by School Spider, giving a reason for the absence.