Mrs Michelle Quick
KS2 Class Teacher
Miss Hollie Mackellar
KS2 Teaching Assistant
Welcome to Gwithian.
Hello and welcome to Gwithian class 2023/2024!
The children of Gwithian class are now in year 4 and what an incredibly interesting journey they have had over the last couple of years! Our children have already shown an amazing level of resilience and have been extremely flexible in adapting to new learning challenges throughout the past years, and we cannot wait to see the fantastic things that they achieve in the coming year.
Our Autumn Term topic is 'The Anglo Saxons' and we will focus on the civilisation which originated from Europe. The Anglo-Saxons were a group of farmer-warriors who lived in Britain over a thousand years ago. Made up of three tribes who came over from Europe, they were called the Angle, Saxon, and Jute tribes.
The children will explore what life was like to live in that period of history, its social hierarchy, examine artefacts from that time and ask questions about religious beliefs and traditions of that group of people. During the unit, the children will discover the significance of the Sutton Hoo discovery and the use of hillforts in Anglo Saxon times. They will investigate how the Anglo Saxons lived, ate and traded and how the land has changed over time.
Please see below to find our 'Anglo Saxon' topic grid and homework grid.
Science: Our topic for Science is 'Electricity'. The children will be designing, planning and evaluating a project on this topic to cover the following objectives for year 4:
- identify common appliances that run on electricity
- construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers
- identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery
- recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit
- recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors
Homework -
At St Uny Church of England Academy, we believe homework is anything children do outside of the normal school day that contributes to their learning, in response to guidance from the school. Homework encompasses a whole variety of activities instigated by teachers and parents/carers to support the children's learning.
Y4 are expected to complete at least 10 points from their Chilli Challenge grid each term.
Reading: Reading is a lifelong skill that we try to develop as your child continues their journey through our school. We are keen to develop a love of books and escapism as early as possible, which is why we are introducing ‘Reading Karate’ this year. This is a reward based system for reading at home, which results in the children moving up through coloured ‘belts’ (wristbands) depending on how many ‘reads’ they have completed. We would greatly appreciate your support with this new initiative, not only by listening to your child read but by perhaps sharing some of your favourite books from your childhood with them too.
Maths: St Uny Church of England Academy has invested in ‘Timestables Rockstars’, an online resource for learners to practise their multiplication skills. This will enable children to become more fluent in their multiplication tables. Lower KS2 children should be completing 2 x 20min sessions per week.
Topic: The topic overview will be sent home at the start of each half term - this will include challenges from across the curriculum.
PE - This term we will focus on Athletics and Tennis
PE sessions are subject to change - we would therefore appreciate it if your child's full PE kit (white t-shirt, navy shorts, trainers, jogging bottoms if cold) is in all week. Gwithian class PE session is normally on Fridays. This term we are focusing on Tennis and dance.
