Happy New Year! Welcome back to the Spring Term and to 2021! We trust you had a lovely holiday and look forward to a term full of learning and progress.

Phonics will continue to be class based like last term, and will take place on a Monday and Wednesday. Children will continue to receive spellings on a Wednesday, to be tested on the following Wednesday. Additionally, children will also receive 10 spellings on a Friday to be tested the following Thursday which are related to their age.

Each week, we still expect pupils to read their school book and complete their journal. May we stress the importance of this and how the written responses are very important as they help show your child’s understanding. It is vital your child has their reading book in school every day. They will also continue with their creative purple homework book.

Times tables are still an area requiring continuing improvement, please encourage your child to learn and revisit tables they are struggling with as this knowledge aids so much of their learning in maths. There will continue to be a strong emphasis on learning times tables this term up to 12 x 12. Children will continue to complete ‘Rockstars Times Tables’ in school and we strongly advise children get involved with ‘Rockstars’ at home. We will also be continuing with ‘Times Tables Superhero Clubs’ twice a week and we look forward to children moving up to the next club.

Our thematic topic for this term is ‘Hey Mr. DJ’, where children we be learning about difference genres of music, instruments from around the world and the famous band The Beatles. Children and staff are really looking forward to our music icon dress up disco tomorrow. During the term, children will be creating their own songs with help from ‘squirrel’ technical team.

Science objectives concentrate on Sound and Electricity. Pupils will continue to learn French in their Modern Foreign Language lessons, whilst RE focuses on Inspirational Religious leaders. For more information about our learning this term, please see the attached curriculum overview.

PE days are as follows:

Class 13: Tuesday and Wednesday
Class 14: Tuesday and Friday
Class 15: Tuesday and Wednesday

Please ensure your child has the correct PE kit in school (black shorts, white t-shirt and pumps). Additionally, please provide your child with an outdoor kit consisting of; plain black/grey/blue joggers, suitable outdoor shoes (trainers) also a plain sweatshirt as PE will take place outside wherever possible. It would also be appreciated if all uniform (including PE kit and pumps) is labelled with your child’s full name and class. Please can we remind parents that no jewellery should be worn in school with the exception of stud earrings, and in line with Health and Safety guidelines, these should not be worn on PE days. Children will be asked to remove earrings before PE sessions.

Thank you for your continued support

Miss Hannon/Mrs Humpherson                          Mr Holmes                      Mrs Mahmood

February 2021

Great Elston Bake Off

Year 4 wowed us with their amazing entries. Click on the cake to see a selection.

December 2020

We enjoyed our Christmas themed science lesson. We predicted and made observations of what happened to candy canes in different liquids.

Fantastic seascapes in the style of Monet!

November 2019

Year 4 had a fantastic afternoon with the Virtual Reality Team learning about the different layers of the ocean and the animals that they would find in each layer. They even went down to the trenches! Great fun was had by all!

Children enjoyed learning about how living things can be grouped in a variety of ways. They learnt all about insects, annelids, molluscs and arachnids! Children were so engrossed they wanted to carry out their own research.

Year 4 children were amazed that Aaron Becker could tell a story without words. They used inference skills to answer questions in their Whole Class Reading Session.

May 2019

Year 4 had a fantastic time on their residential. They all enjoyed their time at Conwy, whether it was making their way down in to the Bronze Age Mines, taking a tram up the Orme, climbing the spiral stairs in Conwy Castle, eating ice-cream and chips on the beach, having fun in the arcade or relaxing in the youth hostel!

March 2019

Year 4 had a lovely day celebrating all things Asian! Children had the opportunity to make Chinese fans, design mehndi patterns, learn an Indian dance, create rangoli patterns, listen to Arjan play his dhol drum and participate in a delicious Indian feast made by Mrs Suwali! Thank you to parents/carers for providing children with their amazing outfits.

Look at our amazing creative homework!

March 2019

Year 4 children loved celebrating World Book Day!

Year 4 children thoroughly enjoyed their visit from West Midlands Fire Service. The children watched a short film to show how quickly fire spreads, then learnt about:

• Smoke detectors
• Escape plans
• Emergency calls
• Fire hazards
• Stop, drop and roll
• Pedestrian safety
• In-car safety

During the session they learnt vital life saving skills.

November 2018

We composed some emotive poems and created some super poppy pictures to commemorate Remembrance Day.

Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Tamworth Castle where they had the opportunity to dress up as Anglo-Saxon soldiers, take part in an archaeological dig and re-enact a battle! The children were a credit to Elston Hall, asking relevant questions and impressing the staff at Tamworth castle with their knowledge about Anglo-Saxons.

October 2018

We loved celebrating Elston Hall's 80th anniversary! It was fun to experience school life in the 1930's.

Ring toss!

In DT we have been learning about healthy eating. Our healthy sandwiches were delicious!

Look at our fantastic homework!