Autumn Term 2025

Year 4

Teacher - Miss Barnes

Teaching Assistant - Mrs George

Enquiry Questions:
History: How did the Anglo-Saxons use art and craft to express their beliefs?
Geography: Why don’t the same plants and animals live everywhere?
RE: Where do religious beliefs come from?
RE: What do we mean by truth? Is seeing believing?
Science: How do materials change when they are heated or cooled?
Science: What do we need to make a bulb light up?
 

English

This term, Year 4 will explore a range of legends, including the famous tale of Beowulf. Children will compare
different legends and identify the typical features of this traditional story type, using what they learn to write their
own exciting legends.

• As writers, children will develop their use of expanded noun phrases, fronted adverbials, and commas to mark clauses.
• As readers, children will focus on building their comprehension skills by identifying themes, making inferences about characters and events, and summarising key ideas from what they have read. They will also begin to compare texts with similar features.

We will also enjoy a two-week poetry unit on kennings – a riddle-like form of poetry that originates from the Anglo-Saxon period. This links perfectly with our history topic and helps children explore powerful language choices.

• Through this unit, children will expand their vocabulary, use noun phrases for effect, and learn how poets use precise language to create imagery and mood.

In the second half term, our class text will be the award-winning novel Wonder by R. J. Palacio. Children will explore its themes of kindness, difference, and empathy while learning how to write in new genres.

• As writers, they will study film scripts, focusing on layout, stage directions, and punctuated speech. They will also write persuasive trailer blurbs, using techniques such as modal verbs, rhetorical questions, and persuasive openers.
• As readers, children will practise making predictions, explaining the meaning of new vocabulary in context, and justifying opinions with evidence from the text. They will also begin to recognise how writers use language and structure to influence the reader.

We will finish the term with a festive Christmas writing project, where children can showcase the grammar, punctuation, and writing skills they have developed throughout the term.

 

Maths

At the start of the term, Year 4 children will revisit and deepen their understanding of place value, focusing on numbers up to 10,000. They will:

• Represent and partition numbers to 1,000 and 10,000, including using flexible methods.
• Read and interpret number lines to 1,000 and 10,000 and use them to estimate values.
• Understand the value of each digit in a four-digit number, especially the thousands place.
• Find 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 more or less than a given number.
• Compare and order numbers to 10,000.
• Read and understand Roman numerals up to 100.
• Learn how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000.

As part of their work on addition and subtraction, children will:

• Use both mental strategies and formal written methods, including when exchanges are needed.
• Practise efficient subtraction strategies and use estimation and inverse operations to check their answers.

After half term, we will begin a unit on area, where children will:

• Learn to calculate area by counting squares.
• Begin to discuss how their times tables knowledge helps them understand area more deeply.

Children will then focus on multiplication, working towards fluency in their times tables up to 12 × 12, in
preparation for the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) in the summer term. They will:

• Multiply by 1 and 0.
• Multiply three numbers together (e.g. 2 × 3 × 4).

It is really important that children practise regularly at home using Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS) to support
their learning in school. Rapid recall of multiplication facts is a key skill in Year 4 and will support progress across
many areas of maths.

Our class reading book for this term will be ‘Varjak Paw’ by S.F Said. We will also be reading and watching stories from other cultures.

RE

The children will understand:
Where do religious beliefs come from? (Theology focus)

• Identify different sources of authority and how they link with beliefs
• Give examples of different writings and different ways in believers interpret sources of authority
• Identify events in history and society which have influenced some religious and non-religious worldviews
• Make clear links between different beliefs being studied within a religion or worldview
• Identify some of the similarities and differences between and within religions and worldviews
• Identify ways in which beliefs might make a Christians think about how they live their life, how they see the world in which they live and how they view others

What do we mean by truth? Is seeing believing? (Philosophy focus)

• Describe different philosophical answers to questions about the world around them, including questions
• relating to meaning and existence.
• Begin to use philosophical vocabulary when discussing issues relating to truth, reality and knowledge
• Begin to weigh up whether different reasons and arguments are expressed coherently when studying religion
• and belief.
• Give reasons for more than one point of view, providing pieces of evidence to support these views
• Describe a range of answers to ethical and moral questions, showing awareness of the diversity of opinion and why there are differences.

 

Science

How do materials change when they are heated or cooled?
In the first half of the term, Year 4 will be learning about States of Matter. Children will:

• Compare and group materials according to whether they are solids, liquids, or gases.
• Observe how some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the
• temperatures at which these changes occur (in degrees Celsius).
• Explore the water cycle, learning about the processes of evaporation and condensation.
• Understand how temperature affects evaporation, and link this knowledge to everyday examples, such as drying clothes or water disappearing from puddles.

What do we need to make a bulb light up?
In the second half of the term, our topic is Electricity. Children will:

• Identify appliances that run on electricity in the home and wider environment.
• Construct simple series circuits, identifying and naming parts such as cells, wires, bulbs, switches, and
  buzzers.
• Predict and test whether a circuit will work, depending on whether it is complete.
• Understand how a switch controls a circuit and how this affects whether a lamp will light.
• Learn to recognise and test common electrical conductors and insulators, and discover why metals are good
• conductors of electricity.

Computing

Children will:

• Learn what is involved in working safely with technology.
• Understand where they can go to if they come across content that concerns them.
• Understand and use 1-1 devices.

 

History

How did the Anglo-Saxons use art and craft to express their beliefs?
Throughout the unit, children will:

• Learn who the Anglo-Saxons were, where they came from, and why they settled in Britain.
• Discover how the Anglo-Saxons lived, including their homes, daily life, and communities.
• Explore how pagan beliefs were reflected in Anglo-Saxon art and craft, including jewellery, metalwork, and carvings.
• Understand how, after the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity, Christian symbols and imagery began to replace earlier pagan motifs.
• Investigate how Christian art and craft in churches were designed to express spiritual beliefs and inspire worship.
• Explore the links between craft and trade, and how skilled craftspeople contributed to Anglo-Saxon society.
• Reflect on what Anglo-Saxon art and artefacts can teach us about their beliefs, values, and way of life

 

Geography

In the second half of the autumn term, Year 4 will explore the topic of biomes, focusing on the different environments found across the world and the conditions that shape them.
Why don’t the same plants and animals live everywhere?

Through this unit, children will:

• Learn what a biome is and identify the main biomes found around the world (such as deserts, rainforests,
• tundra, and grasslands).
• Explore how climate, temperature, and rainfall affect the types of plants and animals that can survive in
• each biome.
• Understand how each biome supports a unique ecosystem, including different forms of wildlife and
• vegetation.
• Begin to make links between physical geography and habitat, developing an understanding of how
• geography affects living things.
• Use maps and atlases to locate world biomes, developing their global knowledge and map-reading skills.

This topic will support future learning in:

• Spring, when we study more local geography through our topic on rivers.
• Summer, when we learn about animals, habitats, and food chains in science.

 

Art

This term, Year 4’s art learning will be closely linked to their history topic on the Anglo-Saxons. Children will
study Anglo-Saxon art and craft, using it as inspiration for their own creative work.
Through the term, children will:

• Experiment with charcoal and chalk to explore light, shadow, and contrast in drawing.
• Use techniques such as scumbling, back-and-forth strokes, stippling, and hatching to build texture and
• expression in their sketches.
• Study and recreate patterns and motifs from Anglo-Saxon art, working with tessellations, repeating
• patterns, and folded designs.
• Explore how to use colour, line, and shape to create impactful and meaningful artwork.
• Learn about colour theory, including complementary and split-complementary colour themes, to develop
• their understanding of how colours interact.
• Begin to experiment with drawing and painting on different surfaces, including pen and ink work.
• Work collaboratively to recreate a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, producing a class version that draws together their learning in history and art.
• Be encouraged to take creative risks and express energy and emotion through their artwork, developing confidence in their own artistic voice.

PSHE

In the first half of the term, Year 4 will focus on healthy relationships, teamwork, and managing emotions.
Children will:

• Explore the qualities that make a successful team and learn how to collaborate effectively with others.
• Reflect on the positive qualities they admire in others.
• Learn how to use assertive strategies to say “no” respectfully and safely, particularly in situations involving peer pressure.
• Develop their understanding of emotions, including how the intensity of feelings can be expressed through different words and how emotions can be linked to physical sensations.
• Recognise that feelings about someone or something can change over time, especially when new information is learned.
• Understand that pressure to behave in unhealthy, unsafe or unacceptable ways can come from a range of sources, and begin to identify strategies to resist this pressure.

In the second half of the term, children will explore conflict resolution, respect, and different types of relationships.
They will:

• Understand the importance of managing conflict and suggest ways to do so through negotiation and compromise.
• Recognise the consequences of aggressive behaviour and learn safe strategies for dealing with someone who is acting aggressively.
• Define respect and explore ways to show respect for others’ beliefs, backgrounds, and opinions.
• Learn about stereotypes, including how they may be reinforced by the media, and begin to challenge them.
• Discuss different types of relationships, including those with family, friends, and acquaintances, and how these can influence what is shared.

PE

• Learn concepts of attack and defence
• Develop accurate passing and dribbling within a game
• Understand how to prepare the body for exercise and what fitness means
• Develop agility, co-ordination and balance through circuit training and footwork movements
• Demonstrate awareness of the music’s rhythm and phrasing when improvising
• To identify and practise the patterns and actions of line dancing
• Develop personal fitness levels, particularly strength and stamina
• Refine techniques of moves learnt in a sequence.

French

In the first half of the autumn term, our topic is Encore!
Children will build on their previous French learning by:

• Revising ways to describe people’s appearance and personality, using a wide range of familiar and new vocabulary.
• Learning how to describe someone’s nationality.
• Using the French pronouns il (he) and elle (she) alongside the verb est (is) to form simple descriptive sentences.
• Using adjectives such as intelligent, sportif/sportive (sporty), and sévère (strict), with increasing confidence and accuracy.
• Becoming more familiar with the agreement of adjectives depending on gender.

In the second half of the term, our topic is Quelle heure est-il ? (What time is it?)

Children will:

• Learn how to tell the time in French using both digital and analogue formats.
• Talk about daily activities such as watching TV, listening to music, playing football, and playing tennis.
• Learn to say what time they do these activities, beginning to build simple sentences using time phrases.
• Continue to develop their pronunciation, listening, and reading skills through songs, games, and spoken practice.

Music

Children will:

• Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.
• Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music.
• Have the opportunity to use words and phrases related to pitch, pulse, structure and tempo.
• Learn to recognise and play crotchets, minims, semi-quavers, semi-breves.