Friday 3^rd September 2026

Dear Parents and Carers of Year 4,

RE: Y4 Curriculum Letter, Autumn 1 ‘Light It Up’

Welcome to Year 4!

Our topic this term is ‘Light It Up’ with a focus on Electricity in Science.  In English we will be basing our work on an animation called ‘Lighthouse’. Following this, we will be looking at the book, ‘The King who Banned the Dark’ by Emily Haworth-Booth. During Whole Class Reading, we will be discussing and exploring ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes and “How a light house works” by Roman Belyaev. In Maths our main focus will be Place Value and learning the times tables. The goal is for the children to know all of the times tables off by heart by the end of Year 4.

P.E. Lessons

Please ensure your child wears the appropriate kit to school on PE days (white T-shirt, grey or black bottoms, red school jumper and trainers/plimsols). As the weather turns colder, tracksuit bottoms are advised.  A reminder to all families – with exception of permitted religious items and stud earrings, jewellery and adornments are not allowed in school.  In our school policy, stud earrings will need to be covered or removed on PE days.  Also, we ask for long hair to be tied back.

PE lessons will be every Friday and also on the following Tuesdays (PPA days) – 15^th September, 29^th September, 13 ^th October and 27^th October.

Uniform

Encourage your child to wear full school uniform and ensure they have a coat appropriate for the weather. It is important that your child does not wear jewellery (unless it is for religious reasons) apart from stud earrings. Please ensure their coats and jumpers are labelled with their names. This helps us reunite misplaced items with their owners.

Home Learning

Reading:  Reading is essential to help your child make progress in all areas of the curriculum. We would like children to read at home each day. It is best for an adult to check how they’re getting on, either by listening to them read or by asking them questions to check their understanding. This will help your child make faster progress with their reading. Please do make a note in their reading journals if possible. It makes us aware of how much and how well they’re reading and what they’re enjoying.  Please put the reading journal back into their book bag after writing in it as it is handy to have them in school each day.

Maths: In Year 4, children need to continue to learn all the times tables up to x12.  You can begin helping your child to recap the times tables that were covered in Year 3 (x3, x4 and x8) and those learnt in KS1 (x2, x5 & x10).  Try using cards or games to randomly select times tables, drawing groups of items to make groups, counting in groups e.g. counting in 3s – 3, 6, 9, etc and practising online using websites such as https://www.timestables.co.uk/ . Additionally, we will set weekly tasks using Mathletics. We will let the children know when we start this and provide them with login details if they are new or have forgotten them.

Topic Home Learning Project: Topic Home Learning Projects start in Autumn 2, after half term.  Each project will be linked to learning from the previous term to give children a chance to revisit and build upon prior learning.

Important Dates:

Parents’ Evening will be held during the week beginning 12^th October 2026. Further details will follow from school nearer the time.

Other information:

Please ensure your child brings a filled and labelled water bottle to school each day.
A reminder that children should not bring in toys from home as these can get lost or broken.

As the weather becomes colder, please ensure your child has a warm coat and that all hats, scarves and gloves are named. It is important that your child does not wear jewellery (unless it is for religious reasons) apart from stud earrings.

Year 4 pupils may also bring a healthy snack to eat at playtimes, e.g. a piece/small pot of fruit or some vegetable sticks etc. If your child brings in what we would consider to be an unhealthy snack, they will not be allowed to eat it, and it will be returned to them at the end of the school day. Also, please ensure that your child’s snack does not contains any nuts due to pupil allergies.

Below this letter, you will find a mind map which shows the learning that we will be doing this term.

Thank you and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Mrs Blackley, Mrs Heron-Njie & Miss Januario

Year 4 Team