This term, RE focuses on "Dialogue and Encounter," exploring the teachings of St. Paul and the Five Pillars of Islam to help pupils build intercultural understanding. It also examines Catholic teachings on human dignity and how Christians work together with other faiths for the common good

 Year 3 and 4 children have Maths in their year groups. Year 3 start the term by learning about Measurement: Length, Mass and Capacity, then move on to Properties of Shapes (Angles), and then Statistics.

Year 4 start the term with Addition and Subtraction of Decimals,  Time and Converting Units, Perimeter and Area, Position and Direction, and Statistics.

Children will be basing their learning on a text inspired from the book, 'National Parks of the USA) by Kate Siber (a non-fiction book).

Within this, children will develop their learning through a sequence of sentence stacking to create effective sentences for a similar non fiction text. They will also be using this to create some 'short writes.'

We are then moving on to look at the book, 'The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse', by Charlie Mackesy.

Children are learning about 'Scientific Enquiry'. It takes children through six lessons where they learn the scientific skills they will need to apply during each unit of learning during key stage 2. Specifically, they will learn how to:

- ask relevant questions and use different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
- set up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
- make systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, take accurate measurements using standard units, and use a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
- gather, record, classify and present data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions
- record findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
- report on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
- use results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions
- identify differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
- use straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.

The three classes have PE twice a week: one session with the class teacher, and one with our PE coach, Mr Ero.

Lemur Class have PE on Mondays with Mrs Gee, and Tuesdays with Mr Ero.

Gazelle Class have PE on Tuesdays with Mr Ero, and Wednesdays with Mrs Hurley.

Crocodile Class have PE on Thursdays with Miss Fernandes, and Fridays with Mr Ero. 

This term the children are learning two different sports: Tennis skills with Mr Ero, and Rounders with their class teacher.

 We are singing with Mr Robinson, someone who works for the diocese National Schools Singing Programme. The children are enjoying this and are learning valuable skills including improvisation, playing and performing in solo and ensemble contexts and are learning to use their voices with increasing accuracy, fluency, control. They are listening with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.

As a school, we also offer children the opportunity to pay for additional music lessons through 'Rocksteady'. 

 There are whole class guided reading sessions that occur each week. Children are exposed to different types of text, and retrieval, inference, and prediction questions are completed within each session. 

 Some children have phonics input throughout the week where they are explicitly taught key sounds from Reception and Year 1. Some children engage in Reading Fluency inputs and others are listened to making use of their own reading book.  Other children may be on a 'reading catch up' programme.

This term in Computing the unit explores the links between events and actions, while consolidating prior learning relating to sequencing. Learners begin by moving a sprite in four directions (up, down, left, and right). They then explore movement within the context of a maze, using design to choose an appropriately sized sprite. This unit also introduces programming extensions, through the use of Pen blocks. Learners are given the opportunity to draw lines with sprites and change the size and colour of lines. The unit concludes with learners designing and coding their own maze-tracing program.

In French this term,  pupils will learn how to:

Learn the French for “I am” (Je suis), “I have” (J’ai) and “I live” (J’habite). Name in French, the six key periods of ancient Britain, introduced in chronological order. Be able to say in French three of the types of people who lived in ancient Britain. Tell somebody in French the three key hunting tools used during the stone age, bronze age and iron age in ancient Britain. Name the three types of dwellings people lived in during the stone, bronze and iron ages. 

Last term we looked at different settlements. The pupils learned to:

• Locate some cities in the UK.
• Describe the difference between villages, towns and cities.
• Identify features on an OS map using the legend.
• Describe the different types of land use.
• Follow a route on an OS map.
• Discuss reasons for the location of human and physical features.
• Locate some geographical regions in the UK.
• Identify and begin to offer explanations about changes to features in the local area.
• Describe the location of New Delhi.
• Identify some human and physical features in New Delhi.
• State some similarities and differences between land use and features in New Delhi and the local area.

We also explored our local area on a geography field trip, looking at the physical and human features in our community, and how that is depicted on a map. 

This term, we are learning about History, by answering the question '

Would you prefer to have lived in the Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age?'

Pupils who are secure will be able to:

• Understand that prehistory was a long time ago.
• Accurately place AD and BC on a timeline.
• Identify conclusions that are certainties and possibilities based on archaeological evidence.
• Explain the limitations of archaeological evidence.
• Use artefacts to make deductions about the Amesbury Archer’s life.
• Identify gaps in their knowledge of the Bronze Age.
• Explain how bronze was better than stone and how it transformed farming.
• Explain how trade increased during the Iron Age and why coins were needed.
• Identify changes and continuities between the Neolithic and Iron Age periods.
• Explain which period they would prefer to have lived in, providing evidence for their choice.

 In DT last term, pupils were learning about sculpture: Structures: constructing a castle.

Pupils who were secure in their learning were able to:

• Draw and label a simple castle that includes the most common features.
• Recognise that a castle is made up of multiple 3D shapes.
• Design a castle with key features which satisfy a given purpose.
• Score or cut along lines on the net of a 2D shape.
• Use glue to securely assemble geometric shapes.
• Utilise skills to build a complex structure from simple geometric shapes.
• Evaluate their work by answering simple questions.

In Art this term, our topic is 

Drawing: Exploring tone, texture and proportion

Pupils who are secure will be able to:

• Create a three-dimensional effect by using contrasting tones to show light and dark.
• Combine lines and marks to represent different textures.
• Use lines and marks in different ways to represent dark and light areas (tone).
• Comparing the sizes of different objects to draw them in proportion.
• Represent the size of one object relative to another.
• Consider where to place each element thinking carefully about the space.
• Show texture in the collage.
• Use the impasto technique to create textured effects.