Year 4

                                                                                   Welcome to Year 4  

I hope that you have had a super holiday and are excited about the wonderful year that we are going to share together. I am really looking forward to getting to know you all and helping you to shine brightly in all that you do. I have planned a wide range of creative, challenging and fun opportunities that will give you the chance to showcase your learning in a variety of ways. During our time in Year 4, we will enjoy the writing of C.S. Lewis, find out about life in Ancient Egypt and investigate volcanoes and earthquakes. Throughout the year, we will carry out a wide range of science investigations and make good use of our art and design skills. We will learn about the lives of many important people from the Bible together with preparing and sharing class collective acts of worship. We will enjoy developing our maths skills through problem solving and investigating and will understand how we can transfer these important skills into everyday life.

I know that you are all committed to working hard and will strive to do your best! I am looking forward to our time together and making it a year to remember!

Here are some things to help you:
*Reading every night and making sure an adult signs your planner.
*Working on your spellings and times tables every night.
(An adult doesn’t have to always test you)
*Producing high quality homework which is completed on time.

*Come into school everyday, excited and ready to learn!

Together

Everyone

Achieves

More

Best Wishes

Miss Peacey

As part of our inspirational science week, we spent the day as 'Habitat Hunter's at Nell Bank in Ilkley. This was an amazing opportunity to bring our Science topic to life. We explored the woods and investigated its biodiversity, worked in teams to carry out a habitat hunt and finished the day as pond dippers. We even managed to catch the very elusive Great Crested Newt. What a fantastic day Year 4!

We have had an amazing week of inspirational Science. Through a bespoke selection of wonderful 'hands on' experiences we have extended our knowledge, skills and passion for this fascinating subject. As part of our topic on habitats, we have explored, collected and analysed data about the vertebrates and invertebrates that live in our outside school environment. We have set up our class wormery and snail habitat which are incredible to enjoy, monitor and discuss.  We have made excellent use of explorify to deepen our scientific thinking and used skittles to find out about diffusion.

In addition, we were very lucky to be visited by 'Science Boffins' and experience a wide range of investigations relating to electricity and we even learnt how to make slime. This day culminated with our very own rocket launch.  In order to enhance our learning about vertebrates and invertebrates, we were thrilled to handle a wide variety of small creatures. These are memories that we will cherish forever!

On Tuesday 21st May 2024, Miss Leonard was incredibly proud to attend The Good Shepherd Mass at Leeds Cathedral with Bishop Marcus. Four children represented our school from our Year 4 class, Evie, Lily, Gabriel and Jakub. We presented a cheque for £961 to Catholic Care, who do a first class job of serving our most vulnerable in our Diocese. Bishop Marcus was incredibly grateful for our fundraising efforts during Lent. Thank you all!

We were very excited to be able to extend our knowledge and understanding of the Anglo-Saxons during our wonder day.  We had the opportunity to handle and investigate a wide range of artefacts, learnt how to play an Anglo-Saxon board game together with learning about key aspects of Anglo-Saxon warfare. Our Anglo-Saxon visitor was amazed with our retention of knowledge and understanding of life in Britain during the Anglo-Saxon period. Well done Year 4!

We used our Design and Technology skills to the full to plan, design, make and evaluate our own biscuits.

Watch out 'Bake Off', here we come!

As part of our topic on 'The Digestive System', we investigated the effects that different liquids have on teeth.  We used hard boiled eggs as the shell is very similar to the enamel on our teeth. We conducted a fair test using water, vinegar, cola and orange juice. We were amazed with the results!

Inspired by our History topic, we investigated the features of ancient Egyptian burial masks. We imagined that we were ancient Egyptian mask makers, tasked with creating a burial mask for a pharaoh. We really enjoyed designing, making and evaluating our masks.  We hope that you like them!
 

An enormous well done to our amazing Year 4 class - we are so so proud of you all! Following our recent inspection on 22nd and 23rd November 2023 and 25th January 2024, OFSTED have rated St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School as ‘Outstanding’ for its overall effectiveness as a school. As always, the children showed themselves to be hard-working, persevering and kind-hearted individuals. Let's continue to reach for the stars!

Here are our Year 4 School Council representatives. These members have been elected by their peers, using a democratic process in line with our British Values. These children attend special meetings weekly and conduct roles around school. They represent the views of our Year 4 pupils. Congratulations on this special role during this academic year. We are very proud of you! 

We have worked hard this year to develop our skipping skills.  We used these successfully when taking part in the Leeds Skip Dance competition.  We represented our school brilliantly and had a fantastic time.  We were proud to win so many certificates and come second in the competition. Our hard work certainly paid off!

We made excellent use of our knowledge about electrical circuits when designing a torch for a particular audience and purpose. We worked together and followed our designs carefully when making our torches. We evaluated our completed torches and considered possible refinements.  Well done Year 4 for shining so brightly during this project!

We really enjoyed our 'Geography Wonder Day'. It was a brilliant opportunity to bring alive, celebrate and enhance our topic on France.  We developed our mapping skills when finding about the landmarks of Paris and enjoyed sampling traditional French foods. We worked fantastically together when building models of the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed making comparisons between London and Paris. The children were amazing and it was such a joy to see their enthusiasm, co-operation and love of learning! 

Our Year 4 class had an incredible time on their very first residential experience at St Anthony's. This took place at Herd Farm, Leeds from Monday 8th January 2024 to Wednesday 10th January 2024. Every single child in Year 4 embraced every opportunity to work in co-operation with each other, had lots of fun and made many lasting memories.  They took part in special activities such as "The Zip Wire", "Crate Challenge" and "Leap of Faith", as well as taking part in many challenges, walks, quizzes and group tasks. Have a look at what they all got up to!

We used the paintings of Monet to inspire our artwork.  We looked at examples of his work and recorded our personal opinions. We made close observations of his work in our sketch books. We made excellent use of our colour mixing and brush techniques when painting. We evaluated our paintings and considered any refinements. Have a look at our finished pieces, we are very proud of them!

We thoroughly enjoyed our session from D:Side where we focused on the importance of online safety. 

The children used a range of techniques to create a stop-frame animation using tablets. They created a storyboard showing the characters, settings and events that they would like to include in their own stop-frame animation. Next, the children applied those skills to create a story based stop –frame animation.

In order to enhance our Geography topic on rivers, we spent the day at Headingley Water Treatment Centre. We furthered our understanding of the water cycle, learnt about the process of water treatment and explored what not to flush down the toilet. The highlight of the day was a guided tour of the centre which was fascinating. The staff were amazed by our existing knowledge and retention of key facts. Well done everyone!
 

We are learning about the properties of solids, liquids and gases. We investigated the similarities and differences between liquids and pouring solids. We can explain why rice is a solid and not a liquid.
 

As Early Reading Leader, I invited pupils in Years 4 and 5 to apply for the role of Junior Reading Leader at St Anthony's for this academic year. Each candidate filled our an application form and then completed an interview with myself. I was so blown away with the impressive candidates who all demonstrated a strong passion and love for reading, as well as excellent communication and leadership skills.

Each of the students had unique strengths and I know that they are all ready to serve and lead others as our Junior Reading Leaders this year. Using our St Anthony's Reading Spine, along with exploring the planning of each class, our Junior Reading Leaders will be able to recommend and suggest books for each year group. These include your 'Class Favourites', 'Exciting Authors' and 'Non-Fiction Texts' for you to enjoy. You will see our Junior Reading Leaders around school with their special reading satchels.

Each child was awarded a special certificate in Good Work Assembly in recognition for their success.

What an exciting team we have to continue our love of reading here at St Anthony's!

Mrs Gledhill

As part of our process to appoint new Junior Reading Leaders, each applicant was invited to an interview with myself. Each child was able to confidently discuss their favourite books, authors and genres during their interview. They shared detailed descriptions of their favourite characters, settings and plot lines from a range of traditional and contemporary authors, making it clear how much they truly enjoy reading. It was wonderful to hear the recommendations each child would give to pupils within different classes, discussing key themes and challenging concepts. Their enthusiasm for reading was contagious and I am so excited to see this group in action around school!

Well done to all!

Mrs Gledhill

As part of our History topic, we investigated the reasons why people decided to come to Britain on the Empire Windrush. We thought about what they would have been excited about together with what they might miss. We took on the role of a passenger on the Windrush and wrote a postcard to our relatives in Jamaica. In addition, we produced beautiful artwork inspired by the Empire Windrush.
 

Music: Our Key Stage 2 Chamber Choir

Each week, Mr Leach visits our school to teach our Key Stage 2 Chamber Choir a range of delightful songs.

Our pupils begin with vocal warm-ups before moving on to the focus songs. They also practise a range of singing techniques such as singing in rounds and using a variety of dynamics in each song. Each song recounts a tale or Bible story to further our understanding of some of the messages of Christianity.

We love taking part in these sessions and cannot wait to continue!

Congratulations to Henry who is Year 4's Mathlete of the month. He has achieved 4380 points during September by completing Mathletics at home! Well done Henry we are very proud of you!

On Saturday 30th September 2023, our Year 4 Cross Country Team took part in their first Saturday race of the season. They met at Middleton Woods to take part in a Cross Country Race against all other schools in Leeds. The children showed their determination and resilience and are looking forward to Race 2 at Cardinal Heenan High School on Saturday 14th October. Well done Year 4! 

Our learning about volcanoes and earthquakes was brought to life during our fantastic 'Geography Wonder Day'. Using drama, movement and role play, we explored key aspects of the physical geography of volcanoes and earthquakes. We found out about a wide range of significant natural disasters, including the events in Pompeii in 79AD.  We worked together to prepare and share news broadcasts about what to do in an earthquake.  Our visitor was amazed with our fantastic knowledge and understanding about this interesting topic. This was a wonderful experience that had us all erupting with excitement!
 

Year 4’s Safer Together Workshop focused on violence. We explored the definition of violence and excuses that can be made. After an in-depth discussion, we concluded that there is never an excuse for violence. Following this, we explored case studies which involved violence, thinking about people’s feelings, the impact of violence and what could have helped in each situation.

In our D:Side workshop today, our focus was alcohol.  We learnt many things and engaged in discussions around a range of topics, including alcohol and the law, units in alcoholic drinks, drinking alcohol responsibly, how to stay safe, and the reasons why people drink or do not drink.

We are thoroughly enjoying our class text 'The Firework-Makers Daughter' by Philip Pullman. It is a wonderful adventure story, bursting with tension and excitement. Inspired by this, we have written diary entries from Lila's point of view. Read about how she ventured bravely through the jungle, fought off pirates and came face to face with a tiger. We have also written powerful character descriptions of 'Razvani the Fire-Fiend'. We have made excellent use of the features of the different styles of writing and we are very pleased with our final pieces.
 

A huge congratulations on your First Holy Communion. What a special day for you and your families.

We made excellent use of our knowledge about electrical circuits when designing a torch for a particular audience and purpose. We worked together and followed our designs carefully when making our torches. We evaluated our completed torches and considered possible refinements.  Well done Year 4 for shining so brightly during this project!

Our Year 4 class were very excited to be able to show their knowledge and understanding of The Romans in their wonder day. On Monday 15th May 2023, a Roman Soldier came to quiz the children about what they know and can remember, and he was very impressed by what the children could recall. The children have been learning lots of key facts from sources of evidence. Today, they enjoyed handling secondary sources of evidence to improve their knowledge even further. We are so proud of you Year 4. Look at all the fun we had whilst bringing our History curriculum alive. 

We are really enjoying our History topic where we are learning about Roman Britain.  As History detectives, we worked in groups and selected our own areas of interest. We carried out research using a range of secondary sources. We noted our findings and presented our learning to the class. The highlight was children discovering what the Romans used instead of toilet paper. A fact I am sure that they will never forget!

Year 4 have been studying two Geography Units so far this academic year. They have most recently been learning more and remembering more about France. Previously, Year 4 learnt all about Rivers, both in Leeds as well as around the world. We have some incredible Geographers in Year 4. When interviewed by Miss Leonard (Geography Leader) in May 2023, Norah (Year 4) stated "I think Geography is quite inspiring because I can learn more about France and other places around the UK, as well as around the world." Divine (Year 4) added "Geography lessons stick in my brain and make me want to visit places all over the world, both now and when I am older." We are so proud to have such enquiring Geographers in our midst in Year 4. Look at some of our work from our Geography books in Year 4. We are very proud of our learning and are getting excited about our final Geography topic of earthquakes and volcanoes in Summer 2!

We thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this year's Easter competitions. It was a wonderful opportunity to raise money for Cafod. We created Easter bonnets, gardens and decorated eggs. We hope that you are impressed with our 'eggcellent' creations!

We really enjoyed our 'Geography Wonder Day'. It was a brilliant opportunity to bring alive, celebrate and enhance our topic on France.  We developed our mapping skills when finding about the landmarks of Paris and enjoyed sampling traditional French foods. We worked fantastically together when building models of the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed making comparisons between London and Paris. The children were amazing and it was such a joy to see their enthusiasm, co-operation and love of learning! 
 

We used our Design and Technology skills to the full to plan, design, make and evaluate our own biscuits.

Watch out 'Bake Off', here we come!

We have really enjoyed learning about the features and structure of explanation texts. We have used these successfully when writing our own explanations about how to use the 'The Air Powered Snow Maker'. We hope that you enjoy them!

In our progressive music express curriculum we continue to focus on our planned sequential learning in music for this half term. We very much enjoyed listening to a range of pentatonic melodies. We discussed and compared the musical features and moods of the different pieces and shared our personal opinions. We embraced the opportunity to improvise our own pentatonic melodies on tuned percussion instruments. Well done Year 4! 
 

We love reading in Year 4 and thoroughly enjoyed this year's World Book Day. Our focus on 'The Smeds and the Smoos' was a fantastic stimulus when writing in role as either Bill or Janet. We are so excited about our new 'Reading Pod' and we know how lucky we are!

We have worked hard this year to develop our skipping skills.  We used these successfully when taking part in the Leeds Skip Dance competition.  We represented our school brilliantly and had a fantastic time.  We were proud to win so many certificates and come second in the competition. Our hard work certainly paid off!

Inspired by our History topic, we investigated the features of ancient Egyptian burial masks. We imagined that we were ancient Egyptian mask makers, tasked with creating a burial mask for a pharaoh. We really enjoyed designing, making and evaluating our masks.  We hope that you like them!
 

We enjoyed reading a range of poems written by Charles Causley. We identified the themes and conventions and shared our personal opinions. We analysed a number of witness statements and annotated the features used.  

Our witness statements are inspired by the poem 'My Mother Saw a Dancing Bear' by Charles Causley. We made good use of the appropriate features and enjoyed using a wide range of fronted adverbials, similes and expanded noun phrases. We hope that you enjoy reading our writing!
 

When investigating the features of ancient Egyptian burial masks, we made careful observational drawings of the one worn by Tutankhamun. 
 

On Thursday 19th January 2023, our Year 4 class extended their skill in PE though experiencing lessons in Fencing. This is part of our Well Schools PE Sports Partnership. All the children demonstrated such poise, precision and accuracy with their partners. What a superb learning experience. 

Our Year 4 class had an incredible time on their very first residential experience at St Anthony's. This took place at Herd Farm, Leeds from Wednesday 4th January 2023 to Friday 6th January 2023. Everyone in Year 4 had an amazing time during our residential at Herd Farm and really embraced perseverance and resilience as they embarked on many new exciting experiences. Every single child in Year 4 embraced every opportunity to work in co-operation with each other, had lots of fun and made many lasting memories.  They took part in special activities such as "Giant Swing", "Crate Challenge" and "High Ropes", as well as taking part in many challenges, walks, quizzes and group tasks. Have a look at what they all got up to!

We used the paintings of Monet to inspire our own artwork.  We evaluated our paintings and considered any refinements. Have a look at our finished pieces, we are very proud of them!

We have been working hard to develop our skills when reasoning and problem solving. In particular, we have been focusing on our written responses. We are now able to apply our skills when answering questions presented in a variety of ways.

Inspired by our Geography topic on rivers, we carried out research and found out lots of amazing facts. We investigated the features of non-chronological reports and used our findings to write our own examples.  We hope that you enjoy them!

As part of our Geography topic on rivers, we were very lucky to spend the morning with education workers from Yorkshire Water. We found out about the different stages of the Water Cycle and learnt about the process of water treatment. We explored the causes and effects of river pollution and found out what not to put down the kitchen sink or flush down the toilet. 
 

We thoroughly embraced the opportunity to take part in a judo taster session. We worked together brilliantly, learnt new skills and had lots of fun!  

Year 4 have been inspired by their class novel, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' by C.S Lewis. From this, they have all written their own first person narrative titled 'Through the Wardrobe'. Using vocabulary gathered from their class text, they have brought our imaginations to life! Take a look at their super narratives which are proudly displayed in the Year 4 classroom.

As part of our Black History themed week, we explored the work of Caribbean artist Daniel Jean-Baptiste. He is inspired by the tropical nature found in Saint Lucia. We used his beautiful silk paintings as an inspiration for our own pieces.

As part of our History topic on the Windrush, we were thrilled to welcome Alford Gardner into our classroom. He came to Britain on the Windrush in 1948. He shared his memories with us and answered our fantastic questions. This was an amazing opportunity which brought our history topic to life and provided us with a real insight into this momentous event. 

We developed our weaving skills when we learnt how to weave with paper. We then designed and created the bases for our weaving wheels and made excellent use of our skills when working with wool. We finally evaluated our finished pieces and considered any possible refinements.
 

As part of our History topic, we imagined that we were passengers on the Empire Windrush, destined for a new life in the Britain.  We wrote farewell letters to our families explaining our reasons for leaving and included what we were looking forward to. We hope that you enjoy reading them!
 

We created beautiful artwork which was inspired by our History topic on the Windrush.

We thoroughly enjoyed our steel pan workshop where we celebrated the music of Trinidad and Tobago. This experience brought to life and enriched our History topic on the Windrush. It also provided us with the opportunity to extend our knowledge of our Science topic on Sound. We worked together brilliantly, demonstrating our wonderful talents!
 

Our St Anthony's Cross Country Team made their first appearance at the first run of the season at Middleton Park on Saturday 1st October 2022. The weather was a little unpredictable, however it did not stop our Year 4 team running their hearts out! There were some very impressive running performances and we look forward to more races later in the season. Mr Kearney, Miss Staunton-Sykes and Mr Easton (Chair of Governors) were all there to watch, along with our dedicated Y4 parents. Thank you everyone who attended. 

Our Year 4 pupils are part of our well renowned St Anthony's Chamber Choir. This is a highly talented group of individuals who sing in unison and perform at school and across our Diocese. We were invited to perform for Bishop Marcus at the Annual Headteacher's Mass at Leeds Cathedral on Thursday 15th September 2022. The headteachers in the congregation noted our exceptional singing and we were praised by Bishop Marcus. We sung a range of secular songs to link to the mass for the day. I am so proud of our chamber choir members. Well done St Anthony's. 

We thoroughly enjoyed working together and applying our PE skills during our Sports Day.  

Our learning about volcanoes and earthquakes was brought to life during our fantastic 'Geography Wonder Day'. Using drama, movement and role play, we explored key aspects of the physical geography of volcanoes and earthquakes. We found out about a wide range of significant natural disasters and re-created what happened at Pompeii. We worked together to prepare and share news broadcasts about what to do in an earthquake. This was a wonderful experience that had us all erupting with excitement!
 

We thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Ace Club Sports Gala. We participated in a wide range of sporting activities and worked hard to develop our skills.  We worked superbly as individuals and as part of a team.