St Andrew
Welcome to St Andrew!
We are a class of year 4 pupils in the Lower Key Stage 2 part of the School
Our class teacher is Mrs Banks
Email: colls441@mastacademy.co.uk
Our teaching assistant is Mrs Neil
Please ensure you send your child to school every day with a named water bottle. Also, please make sure that coats, jumpers or cardigans are named as it can become very warm within the building and children may take them off. If it is not named, we won't be able to find it.
Our Learning
In Term 5 and 6, our topic is Heroes and Villains
We have a daily maths lesson that is taught through Third Space. This term we will be recapping and consolidating time; expanding our learning of decimals and then moving onto money towards the end of term.
We are have two PE sessions a week, Thursday and Friday. Children need to come into school on those days in their unform. They will change in class.
We are taught RE once a week. This term, our RE topic is Kingdom of God - When Jesus left, what was the impact of Pentecost?
Our music topic this term is Blackbird. The children will listen and appraise music then complete a range of musical activities.
In Science, we will be working scientifically to answer the question "Are all mushrooms deadly?"
We read every morning and have daily literacy lessons that cover comprehension, grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting. We link all of our learning through our weekly theme writing and extended writing termly.
French is taught every Friday by a specialist teacher within year group cohorts. |
PE
PE day is Thursday and Friday. Children should come into school in their uniform on those days.
Children need to bring a PE kit to school:
When it is cold outside children need to cover up with a pair of plain dark tracksuit bottoms or leggings and their school jumper.
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Homework
Homework and spellings will be given on a Friday for the following Friday
Additionally, at the end of each week, children should read through a chosen section of their 'Heroes and Villains' knowledge organiser, e.g. 'Fairy Tales'.
Parents/Guardians should test their child, quizzing them on what they have read. Children may create posters or notes to help them remember this new information, however these creations must be kept at home.
Children should also practice daily their spellings* and times tables up to 12x12.
Partnership Work
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Open Door We have an informal open door policy in Lower Key Stage Two.
Please feel free to speak to me briefly at the end of the school day once I have safely seen all of the other children out. However, if you require a slightly longer discussion, please phone the school office and request a call back to arrange a mutually convenient time.
Alternatively, you can email me: colls441@mastacademy.co.uk
Thank-you for understanding.
Parent – Teacher partnership How can you help?
Reading
Whenever you have a spare moment, read a story with your child. The best way to improve the expression in their reading is for them to hear it as often as possible.
We want to instil a love of reading within every child. If children are passionate about reading, they will want to do it more and more. This way, they unknowingly take in new vocabulary, spellings, sentence structures and apply it into their own work.
Times Tables Practice
Times tables are key to understanding and applying maths. Children need to be exposed to them as much as possible and recite them frequently. Write or print times tables up to 12x12 and display them on the fridge. Perhaps choose one times table (e.g. 5s) to go through after breakfast each day or on the way to school. This way in just 2 weeks they will be covered and you can start again.
Where more time is available, test them on their times tables – make it a game, get them to test you!
Come on in If you have a few spare hours a week and would like to volunteer to help out in class, take a reading group or be around at lunchtimes, just let your child’s teacher know and they will get Miss Strachan to contact you. We are always glad of an extra pair of hands.
If you would like to come into school for a one off session to see how and what your child is learning and experience life as part of the class again, speak to the teacher or Miss Strachan – the more visitors we have in school the merrier.
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School Priorities
Our school priorities are reading, writing and challenge this year.
We have engaging books and displays in each classroom, including a designated reading area. The children read each morning to themselves, Mrs Neil or I. We unpick key comprehension skills every Friday and have whole class story time.
In writing, we have increased the time and opportunities our children have to write and try to meet this to their specific interests. We are really focused on vocabulary and believe that developing this is key to our children becoming successful writers Challenge We love a challenge in Saint Andrew and they are available all the time. We have a curriculum challenge set every term. We have a Maths challenge – Winners receive a prize. We have a ‘Vocabulary Ninja’ each week, they are awarded this for amazing verbal or written vocabulary used during their work.
We also have children in our class who are part of the maths masters challenge club – speak to them to find out what they are up to!
Every piece of homework we get also contains a challenge. We say ‘bring it on!’ |
Behaviour
We stick to the 6 golden rules that every class in the school tries to follow:
we are kind, gentle, inclusive and supportive we listen carefully and follow instructions we look after property we respect and follow our school values we are safe and honest so everyone can enjoy school we work hard to achieve and shine brightly
We have a traffic lights system in class where ‘green to go’ is rewarded and red, orange and yellow behaviours result in clearly defined and understood consequences. |
Rewards
Individuals are rewarded for positive behaviour and effort in class by winning House points. Each child has an house and there are collective house winners at the end of each term. Children also receive prizes in class for amazing work, achieving their best in their learning, such as:
Individual children are selected for our Whole School Praise Book and their names are read out on Fridays in assembly.
This includes the ‘Green to Go’ award for the child in class who has shown increased effort, drive, determination or resilience. We also have a Maths star and a Literacy star each week.
Apply yourself in learning, follow the golden rules, have a great week and it’s sure to be you!
Our whole class rewards are negotiated with the class teacher at the start of term. We all put forward ideas of what we would like our reward to be then we vote for the most popular prize and work together as a class team to add points to our class chart. We all have different ones – ask your children about theirs. |
