Friday, May 2, 2014

Term 2

We look forward to welcoming you back to Term 2 on Monday.

This term is our big Science term. Across the Syndicate we will be looking at forms of matter and ‘Changing States’ which means there will be plenty of opportunities for practical science.

If you are particularly knowledgeable in this area or have a good experiment up your sleeve please let your child’s class teacher know and you will be readily invited in! We love visitors!

In the meantime, the children may like to spark their interest with this video. ‘Symphony of Science’ very cleverly combine elements of various documentaries to music. The Year 4s will remember ‘The World of the Dinosaurs’ from last year. We wont quite be delving this deep, but it’s a good start to promoting some thoughtful questions.


The class writing and reading programmes will be closely linked to our Science Inquiry – we are expecting the questions to flow as the children’s curiosity is developed.

Our key school values this term are ‘Curiosity’ and ‘Excellence’ and we will be promoting these throughout the term.

In Maths, we will begin to introduce Multiplication and Division elements to our Basic Facts teaching but will largely focus on consolidating and building upon the children’s Addition and Subtraction Strategies and Knowledge.

Not ones to let the children’s fitness lapse after last term’s swimming and running programmes, we start Term 2 with Gymnastics and Football Coaching.

Gymnastics will run each Wednesday throughout the term. Children will need suitably loose clothing to participate fully.

Each Tuesday from Week 2, KiwiSport will be running a football coaching programme for the Syndicate for 8 weeks. Each class will have 45 minutes coaching each week. If the weather is favourable this will be held outdoors, and in the school hall if wet. Again, your children will need trainers and sensible clothing.

We look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday with their slippers in tow. We run a ‘shoes-off’ policy throughout the Winter months to make sure the class carpets stay dry and clean and suitable for sitting on. There are shoe racks outside each classroom. It is best if slippers stay at school for the term.

Water bottles each day are still required as the children need to stay hydrated and trips to the drinking fountain can be quite disrupting.

Towards the end of the Term the children will bring home a written report of their progress and we invite you in to school to a ‘Celebration of Learning’ afternoon where the children will share their artwork and book work from the year so far. Whilst the teachers will be there, this is an opportunity for the children to share their learning with you. The children are very proud of the successes they achieve in class on a daily basis.

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself, or your child’s class teacher.

Kind regards,


Jess Savage and the Y3/4 team.