Welcome to the start of a new year at Southfields! We hope you all had a lovely Summer. It is going to be a  fantastic year, the whole team is looking forward to teaching as well as caring for your children. We have a fabulous team in Year 4 and will all continue working hard to ensure your children have a positive, engaging and safe learning environment. Please take your time to read through the information below to discover more about the Year 4 curriculum and further important information about the current rules and routines in school.

In Year 4, we believe that our children should not only achieve their best academically but also develop a thirst for knowledge, and independent learning skills, foster a love of learning, and leave Year 4 with lifelong learning skills for the ever-changing world around us.

Our curriculum enables children to develop their communication skills as per the school’s belief that Communication is Key. This is achieved through books, reading, speaking and listening, debates, and expressive arts; after all, reading is a passport to countless adventures. The curriculum provides children with creative and memorable experiences that build children’s aspirations demonstrating possibilities for their future lives. All of this is underpinned by our key beliefs – believe in yourself, value others, smile, shine, be happy. 

Important Information:

Arrival and Pick-Up Times

Children need to arrive at school ready to start learning at 8:35. The children will enter the school through the grey year 3/4 door into the corridor. Your child will then put their belongings in the cloak area and make their way to their classrooms. 

Year 4 pupils will be picked up at 3.15 p.m. You will need to pick your child up by walking around the school to the back of the Year 4 classrooms. We ask that you arrive at the pick-up time promptly and remind you that the trim trail and play equipment are not to be used during pick-up times. 

Uniform

Children should wear their school uniform for four days a week and outdoor PE kit for one day (Monday or Friday). Please see this outlined daily below.

• Monday - Outdoor PE kit (4LA and 4RG/LW) (for example, joggers, t-shirt, sweatshirt/jumper [or tracksuit] and trainers)
• Tuesday - School Uniform
• Wednesday - School Uniform
• Thursday - School Uniform
• Friday - Outdoor PE kit (4AH) (for example, joggers, t-shirt, sweatshirt/jumper [or tracksuit] and trainers)

In addition to this, your child can wear their own clothes on their birthdays as we have always done.

PE:             

All Year 4 classes will have PE on a Monday and Friday therefore children need to please come into school wearing outdoor PE kit on this day. Children must have their hair tied up for PE sessions and no jewellery is allowed in PE for health and safety reasons. If your child wears stud earrings and cannot remove them themselves, we recommend that you remove them before your child comes into school.

We will complete PE activities outside wherever possible, if the weather does not permit this on our PE day and the hall is not suitable for the lesson then your class teacher will let you know when that has been rearranged via Class Dojo.

Bags and Water Bottles:

For the cloak areas, please remember to label your child's jumpers, cardigans, and coats with their names. Your child needs to bring in their water bottle daily. This should then be taken home, washed, and returned to school each day filled up with fresh water. Water bottles can be re-filled with drinking water in the classroom during the day. If your school water bottle gets lost, it can be replaced however, replacement bottles will need to be paid for. 

Lunch:

If your child has a packed lunch, they can bring it in a lunch box or in a plastic bag. School dinners are to be paid for unless you are entitled to Free School Meals. If your child is having a school meal this must be booked in advance. Mrs Buck will not be able to book meals on behalf of parents anymore due to Data Protection therefore you must book your child's meal. If you do not book a meal, then you will need to provide one and bring it to school. 

Snacks:

If your child would like a snack at break time, this needs to please be brought in from home. This needs to be a healthy snack and brought in separately from your child’s lunch (if they have a packed lunch too). 

Home Learning:

In Year 4, we expect children to practice their Reading, Spelling, and Times Tables at least four times a week at home. Please record home learning that your child has completed in their diaries and home learning books and send these to school daily. There will also be a menu of activities for your child to choose from each term, these will link into their curriculum learning for the term, and Dojo points are specified for each activity. These will be secured into the children's blue homework books at the beginning of each term. 

Reading:

Children will bring home two books from school, one book will be a recommended book based on their reading stage, which needs to be brought into school daily. The second book will be a 'reading for pleasure' book to take home. These 'reading for pleasure' books are either from our class book corner or are a 'love heart' book ('love heart' books have a heart sticker on them and these live in our corridor, they are updated regularly as we discover new and exciting book releases'). The pupils can also bring home a cuddle book which is to be read and enjoyed with an adult. 
The children can keep their reading-for-pleasure books at home for the week, or they can bring these into school each day with their book band book if they'd like to, these 'reading for pleasure' books are going to be swapped once a week to encourage and promote the love of reading.
All books taken home will be logged. If your child has not finished their book that week, they can keep their book the following week and hand it in on the following Friday. 

Spellings:

Children will have a dedicated spelling session each week which is linked to Spelling Shed where they will be introduced to the spelling rule and words they need to learn. The list will then be posted to Class Dojo on a Friday for parents to see and monitor as well. Spellings are set on a Friday and then tested on the following Friday.

Times Tables:  

On a Friday, children will be given a Times Table to focus on for the following week. Children can practise these in whichever way they would prefer, for example, through writing them down, repetition, reciting, songs, and more. We do recommend that your child uses purple mash, IXL, or Times Table Rockstars to practice their times tables in a quiz/test-style format in preparation for their Times Table test in school next May. Children will be tested on their set of Times Tables (in a mixed order) on a Friday. Your child should aim for a high score in order to move up to practise the next set of Times Tables the following week.

MTC (Multiplication Tables Check)

The multiplication tables check (MTC) is statutory for all year 4 pupils registered at state-funded maintained schools, special schools or academies (including free schools) in England.

The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will help schools to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables so that additional support can be provided.

Online Resources:

Your child will continue to have access to the following sites: Bug Club (on Active Learn), Times Table Rockstars, Purple Mash, Espresso and IXL. We recommend that your child uses their membership given by the school to the best of their advantage by thoroughly exploring these websites at home. These are really amazing and can really help to support and enhance home learning. Your class teacher will send these out to you during the first week back in school.

Bike Permits

If your child rides a bike to school and keeps their bike locked on school grounds, you will need to apply for a bike permit. If you would like to apply for a bike permit simply complete the form below. The school has limited spaces so we will be allocating these to pupils who live the furthest away from school. The school will be handing out the permits in September. There will be no bikes allowed on the site until then due to a safe return on the first few days. Once the permits are allocated a space will be given and guidance on using it safely.

Class Dojo:

We love to use Class Dojo to communicate with you at home and lots of you will have seen photos and videos already uploaded by your child's teacher. Please make sure you are connected to Class Dojo and keep an eye on Class Dojo for day-to-day class and whole-school information, photos and updates of our learning, updates on your child's behaviour, and messages from the class teacher.

A key priority of our school is ensuring good relationships between teachers and adults at home, this is to ensure that the children are fully supported both at home and at school. It is essential that you do not hesitate to communicate with your class teacher or year leader via class dojo if you have any questions, comments, or worries. It should be noted that this tool is to be used in an appropriate and friendly way. At Southfields Primary School we operate a zero-tolerance approach to the use of inappropriate behaviour anywhere on the school site, social media, or via our communication systems with parents (*Inappropriate behaviour means disrespectful conduct towards people or property within the school site or via social media).

Additional Information:

• If your child requires medication or an inhaler in school, please complete the Google form and make sure that your child brings this into school to be kept in their classrooms.

I understand that this is a lot of information to take in, so please feel free to contact your class teacher or year leader if you have any further questions, as always we will try our best to help you.

Yours sincerely,

The Year 4 team.