Autumn 1 Week 8

This week, we’ve been very fortunate to have the SCARF education team visit our school! They delivered engaging sessions in each of the KS2 year groups, exploring a variety of important themes. The highlight of the week was definitely meeting Harold the Giraffe — the much-loved character we’ve been learning about in our SCARF PSHE lessons since Reception.

In our other subjects, as it’s the final week of the half term, we’ve been busy completing a few finishing-off tasks. In Geography, we carried out our Hot Task to show everything we’ve learned about trading responsibly. In Science, we tackled a small misconception around vertebrates and invertebrates with a fascinating lesson on spines.

Meanwhile, in Literacy, we’ve begun preparing for Autumn 2 with a Cold Write focused on setting descriptions. We can’t wait to find out what our new book will be next half term — and to discover where in the world (and maybe even in history… wink, wink!) our next adventure will take us!

Autumn 1 Week 7

This week in school, we’ve been continuing our exciting rainforest-themed artwork. The children have been carefully tracing images of rainforest animals and plants from photographs and then transferring their designs onto fabric. Next week, we’ll be painting our creations and watching the colours come to life before washing them off to reveal the finished effect!

In Science, the children have been busy investigating different types of plants and animals, learning to identify flowering and non-flowering plants as well as vertebrates and invertebrates. They have tallied their findings and organised them into tables, showing great teamwork and curiosity. Next week, we’ll be using this data to create pictograms and bar charts!

Autumn 1 Week 6

This week in D&T, the children designed and made their own upgraded biscuits, using the results of their market research and working within Mrs Stanton’s budget. They carefully considered flavours, ingredients and target audience.

We then used this experience in our literacy lessons, where the class wrote their own sets of instructions. It was great to see how much progress they’ve made—what used to be a single command sentence is now a clear, detailed paragraph full of useful tips. Next week we will use our knowledge of the additional features of a instructions in a non- fiction text and our - pre written instructions to create our own recipes including: a catchy title, sub-headings, hook questions, ingredients list, photographs etc.

It’s been lovely for Mr Bayliss to see how far the children have come since teaching them instruction writing back in Year 2—their writing is now so clear that even he could follow the instructions and bake the biscuits himself!

Autumn 1 Week 5

This week in our literacy lessons, we’ve been reimagining our focus chapter by making exciting changes to the characters, the setting, and some key plot points—all while keeping the original story structure in place.

We asked ourselves some big questions to guide our writing:
What would our new characters find hidden behind the mysterious door?
What kind of conversation would our two characters have at that crucial moment?
Would our stories have a happy ending—or something more unexpected?

With our creative ideas flowing, we ended the week by carefully writing up our final stories, showcasing our narrative skills and personal flair. 

In Art, we’ve been putting the finishing touches on our “Four Views, One Picture” pieces. Everyone has shown fantastic focus and imagination as they explored different perspectives within one image and brought their artwork to life.

Having now completed all three CEOP internet safety videos, we each created a poster focusing on one key online safety rule. These posters will serve as helpful reminders—both for ourselves and for each other—as we continue navigating the digital world safely and responsibly.

In D&T, we tackled budgeting like pros! We compared our planned ingredient costs with Mrs Stanton’s list and made some clever substitutions to get more bang for our buck—how sneaky! We're all set to cook our new and improved recipes on Monday…

What the children don’t know yet is that they won’t be able to eat their creations straight away! That’s because they’ll be the inspiration for our final writing genre of the half term: Instructions! 

Autumn 1 Week 4

This week in D&T, we completed our market research by visiting other classes and surveying our target audience to find ways to improve our simple recipes. Year 4 came back with a whole heap of ideas—but little do they know, next week Mrs Stanton has set them a strict budget (which even includes renting out the school equipment!). Their plans might not be quite as decadent as they originally imagined!

In Science, we continued learning about classification keys. After recapping our knowledge of vertebrates and invertebrates, we headed out to the playground for a creature hunt to complete our tables. We then collected different leaves and began creating our own closed questions to help sort and group them.

In Art, we’ve been exploring the concept of ‘four views, one picture’. Using viewfinders, we zoomed in on the finer details of images and linked this to last week’s mood boards. We discussed our artist inspirations and why the rainforest is such a powerful influence—full of vibrant colours, intricate shapes, rich textures, bold patterns, and of course, stunning plants and animals.

Autumn 1 Week 3

This week in literacy we finished writing our mythical creature character descriptions, carefully choosing vocabulary to bring our ideas to life. We also began learning our new Story Map for The Great Loo Flood! Pupils enjoyed joining in with the actions and building confidence in retelling the story.

In Design & Technology pupils baked their first batch of ‘basic’ biscuits, paying attention to accuracy in measuring and following instructions. After baking, we reviewed them together, discussing what worked well and what might be improved. Next week, we’ll be carrying out market research to see how successful biscuits are packaged and presented, before tackling a budgeting lesson to find out if our recipe improvements are affordable ahead of our next bake.

Autumn 1 Week 2

In Design & Technology, we’ve been exploring biscuit packaging in more detail (thank you to everyone who sent some in!). We discussed what packaging communicates to the consumer – for example, why companies tell us their biscuits are “dairy free” – and then designed our own biscuits. Pupils carefully considered their target audience and the important information they would need to include.

In Art, we have begun creating rainforest mood boards, using inspiration from audio clips, videos, and photographs to capture the rich textures, colours, and atmosphere of the rainforest.

In Computing, we learned about networks. To help us understand, we acted out the role of a router and networks. This made a tricky concept much clearer, and we left the lesson with a new appreciation of just how complex something as simple as playing a game or watching a YouTube video really is!

Autumn 1 Week 1

What an exciting start to the term! On our return to school, we were greeted by a mystery delivery. From the look of the box, the warning signs, and the half-eaten note attached, we quickly realised we had received a delivery of a mystery creature! Naturally, we did what any brave adventurers would do… we stuck our hands inside to investigate. Using only what we could feel, we imagined what the creature might look like and used this as inspiration for our first writing ‘Cold Task’.

In Science, we recapped our knowledge of animal groups and had fun playing Animal Group Snap to test what we remembered.

In Design & Technology, as preparation for designing, budgeting, and eventually making our own biscuits, we carried out a taste test of what’s already on the market. Let’s just say there may have been a little more tasting than reviewing…

Year 4 -  Class of 2025 / 2026

Week 7

What a great end to Year 4!
Even though it's the last week of term, we've still been super busy. We've finished our newspaper reports, showing off all our amazing writing skills, and brought our Maths learning to a close for the year. It's been a fantastic week to finish a fantastic year!

Week 6

We've been super busy exploring non-fiction writing, newspaper reports, and a science experiment that’s all about teeth. 

We’ve been learning how to write like real journalists. That means:

• Writing catchy headlines

• Using the 5 Ws: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

• Writing in third person and past tense

• Including quotes from witnesses or expert

You’ve also started looking at non-fiction texts. These are texts that give real information — like reports, fact files, and instructions. 

We used eggshells to investigate how different drinks affect our teeth. Why eggs? Because eggshells are a lot like tooth enamel! 

What we did:

• Placed eggs in different liquids (like water, cola and orange juice)

• Left them for a few days

• Observed how the eggshells changed

What we found out:

Some drinks made the eggshells soft, stained, or even cracked. That’s similar to what sugary or acidic drinks can do to our teeth!

In Topic, we also looked at the history of technology in locomotives and discussed whether they benefitted the world or not. We also looked at different historical figures and what they had to say about the trains and we discussed whether they were for or against trains being used.

Week 5

The children have been exploring the power of words through poetry in reading, where they've been expressing their thoughts, feelings, and imagination. In Writing, we've also become young journalists, investigating the features of newspapers — from catchy headlines to gripping articles — as we learn how information is shared with the world. And in Science, we're all smiles as we discover the importance of tooth hygiene. We've been learning how to keep our teeth strong, clean, and healthy for life.

Week 4

What an incredible time we had on our residential trip! The children showed amazing teamwork, courage, and energy as they took on a whole range of exciting outdoor challenges. From learning to balance on a paddle board to mastering their strokes in kayaks, the students embraced life on the water with enthusiasm — and more than a few splashes! Everyone pushed their limits on the climbing wall, showing real determination and support for one another. A few fears were conquered, and plenty of personal goals were smashed! Everyone had an amazing time.

Week 3

We’ve had a busy and creative time in class recently! We’ve been exploring light and shadow in our art lessons, creating some fantastic shadow-inspired pieces. From silhouette scenes to experimenting with shading and contrast, the students have shown great imagination and technique. We’ve now completed our unit on warning stories. The children worked hard to craft suspenseful narratives with strong messages and vivid characters. Their stories were imaginative and full of tension — we’re very proud of their progress as young writers.

Summer 2 - Week 1-2

It’s been a creative and inspiring week! In art, we’ve been exploring 3D shapes, using different materials to model and build our own designs. We also had a special visit from The History Man, who gave an engaging talk about the history of transport and how it has changed over time. In Writing, we’ve started reading traditional warning stories and are now beginning to plan and write our own. We've really enjoyed combining creativity, history, and storytelling in our learning this week! 

Welcome to our new Orchard Primary website. We apologise for the omission of photos from the end of the Spring term until the start of Summer 2. 

Week 5

This week we have begun performing different poems. We have also added actions to our story maps, which we then ran through as a class. 

We have begun to design our own unicorns ready for writing a Non-Chronological Report about Unicorns. 

We have finished our topic in Science on Electricity. We will now be beginning to look at our next unit of work which is Energy. This links with Electricity. 

Week 4

This week we had Red Nose Day where we all dressed up in red. In Year 4 we looked at the history of Red Nose Day and fundraising ideas. We then created a poster about Red Nose Day.

In literacy, we have begun to look at a Non-Chronological Report which we are doing on Mythical Animals. We have looked at a Storm Unicorn and have begun to draw and rehearse our story map. 

Week 3

This week we did a forensic workshop. In this session we looked at how we could use evidence to find suspects. In this session we looked at evidence to find out who had taken a dog. This included lots of clues from hair, dog toys and footprints that had been made in the sand. 

In Science we had a go at making a circuit to allow the bulb to light. We corrected circuits that were wrong and had a go at drawing a correct circuit after building one ourselves. 

Week 2

This week on Monday (3rd March) we had a poetry author called Spoz in. The children did a workshop in the afternoon with him and year 3 where they had a go at making their own poems. The children really enjoyed this and shared some of their poems in the session with Spoz. 

We celebrated World Book Day by watching the live session and doing some activities which included showing what our favourite genre of fiction is, the genre of non-fiction we would like to look at and what our ideal reading space looks like.

This week in writing we have learnt a story map and then had a go at acting the story map out. We had the parts of a narrator, Bilbo or Gandalf.

Spring 2, Week 1

This week we have begun to look at a story that has some speech in it for literacy we have examined our text and explored a setting description. As a class we did a setting description on under the sea before the children did their own setting description based on a pirate ship, which is related to our topic this term.

In topic we have begun to look at pirates. We looked at some key dates for the pirates and started to look at famous pirates.

In science we have begun our unit of work on electricity we spoke about the dangers of electricity and where electricity is found both in the classroom and around the school. 

Week 6

For the last week of this half-term we finished our writing on the suspense story. We also finished looking at Data Collection.

We have rounded off our Rainforest topic with more information on how we can protect and stop deforestation. Everybody has made their own promise on how they will do this.

Week 5

This week we have started to look at non-fiction books during reading. We have been analysing the texts and writing what our impressions are. 

In Literacy we have been planning our suspense story and we are beginning to draft it ready for a write-up.

In Science we have ended our topic of sound and begun to look at data collection which we went outside to spot the different vertebrates, invertebrates, flowering plants and non-flowering plants.

In topic we have continued with rainforests and looked at comparing Sherwood Forest and The Amazon Rainforest.

Week 4

This week we finished 'The Secret Explorer and the Rainforest Rangers'. The children enjoyed this book and learnt a lot about the rainforests.

In Geography we have done a fact file about some rainforest animals. While in science we looked at sound. 

In literacy we have begun to look at a suspense story and how we can build the suspense when writing.

Week 3

We have continued our learning of the rainforest this week. We have looked at the different layers of the rainforest and which animals live there. 

In science we are looking at sound and have begun to look at ways to reduce the sound coming from an object.

In reading we have got further with our book 'The Secret Explorers and the Rainforest Rangers'. We have looked at our previous predictions to see if we were correct and made further predictions for the last part of our book.

Spring 1 - Week 2

This week in literacy we have been looking at 'There's a Rang-Tan in my bedroom', which is linked to our topic work. We have done hot seating to see how we think both the girl and Rang-Tan feel about deforestation. We have also retold the story as a class.

In topic we looked at the difference between climate and weather and then created a weather report for the different rainforests around the world.

Term 2 Week 2

We've had a lovely end to the week today with Children In Need. We have a class song, Bruno Mars 'Count on Me', which we will be singing to the rest of the school next week - the children have been given lyrics sheets so please practice at home. 

We've been busy this week writing our innovated diary entries as Servius, a Roman legionary. We've started our new science topic of States of Matter, looking at what a solid, liquid and gas is. We've done lots of maths learning but the children particularly enjoyed learning Roman numerals. In PE, the children practiced cross country - it seems we have some enthusiastic runners who loved it! We were also treated to a special session with Wonderdrome, where we got to have an immersive experience learning about space. 

Enjoy the pictures below - have a lovely weekend! 

Term 2 Week 2 Photos

Term 2 Week 1

We have had a lovely first week back after half term, full of lots of fun! The highlight of the week was our Roman Day on Wednesday, where the children got to experience different aspects of Roman life. They played Roman games, learned to write in the Roman alphabet, put on replica armour and much much more! Check out the pictures below. We have really enjoyed the first week of our topic and there's lots more to look forward to this term. Today, we made some poppies ready for Remembrance Day on Monday - there are some pictures below. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend! 

Mr Perry 

Term 2 Week 1 Photos

Week 7

We have had another busy week and have nearly made to through out first half term! 

In English this week, we have moved on to start researching and planning for our invented non-chronological reports on spiders. 

We have also watched Charlotte's Web as a nice way to finish our unit of work based on this book. 

In our topic lessons this week, we continued our research into major America cities, focusing on San Francisco, Chicago, Orlando and New Orleans. The children were able to see the differences between these cities.

Below are some pictures from the week, including a fun PE lesson! 

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! 

Mr Perry 

Week 6

This week, we have started to research for our innovated non-chronological report. Out of the animals from Charlotte's Web, the class voted for sheep! We will be ready to start writing this next week. 

We've continued with our Maths units and are approaching the end for Term 1 before we revisit areas in the last week or two of term. 

In science, we were classifying again, but this time plants instead of animals. The class had a go at creating a classification key with different examples of trees and plants. Some pictures are below. 

On Wednesday, we were fortunate to visit the Abbey with Year 5 and 6 to have an organ workshop. The children got to hear it being played and and learnt all about the instrument. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend, Mr Perry 

Week 5

This week, we have started our new unit of writing which is non-chronological reports. We have been creating and learning a story map based on the model text for pigs (linked to Charlotte's Web). 

There are some pictures of our rehearsals below. 

In maths, we worked with fifths, solving different calculations with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We also continued work on comparing measures, using the grid method for multiplication and got super mathematical working with powers of ten! 

In science, we moved on to sorting plants and tree. We looked at the different between evergreen and deciduous trees and then flowering and non-flowering plants. We finished with a walk around the school grounds to see what types of plants and trees we could find. 

In topic, we focused on understanding different landscapes of the USA. There are a wide range of landscapes from mountains, deserts and coasts. 

Week 5 photos

Week 4

This week has been full of interesting lessons, including computing (where we explored networks and the World Wide Web), RE (where we watched an animated story of Noah), science (where we explored classifying animals and making classification keys) and ART (where we explored creating different tones with sketching pencils and drawing with a 3D effect). 

We've also continued with our core learning, reaching the end of our first writing unit on character descriptions. The children did very well writing their invented pieces! In maths, we've strengthened our understanding of using grid method for multiplication, place value of large numbers and lots more. For our reading session today, we tried listening to Charlotte's Web as an audiobook which the children enjoyed. 

Unfortunately, we've been so busy I haven't taken lots of photos - there are some attached below though. 

Have a lovely weekend! 

Week 4 photos

Week 3

Well done to everyone for another great week! 

We have continued our maths strands, learning more about reflection, units of measure and multiplication.

In English, we have completed our innovation stage for our character descriptions and worked on using conjunctions and prepositions to improve our writing. 

In design and technology, the children did a fantastic job designing their 3D structures and thinking about the specifications for it. They are looking forward to making them in the coming weeks! 

Also for our topic, we went on our first trip around USA to New York, the Empire State. We focused a lot on New York City and learned about the state flag, the culture and many of the famous landmarks. After visiting the landmarks, the children wrote a postcard home. There is a homework challenge this week to take something that has interested them about New York and produce something to share with the class. 

We finished the week off with a brilliant assembly and workshop from Rock Steady - the children loved hearing the different instruments and taking part. A letter to sign up and join the club has gone home today. 

Have a great weekend! 

Week 3 Photos

It has been a busy week this week! 

 

In English, we created our story map for our character description model text. We rehearsed it and performed it as a class which you can see in some of the pictures. 

In maths, we have started our Smart Maths lessons which have included reflection, units of measure, fraction maths stories, multiplication and place value. We have also been practising our times tables a lot- well done for using TTRockstars at home as well! 

We also had a design & technology lesson with Mrs Marks where we explored making 3D shapes using nets. This is linked to our project this term of making 3D buildings, inspired by the skyscrapers of America. 

In science, we began our topic of animals and living things by understanding which groups of animals are vertebrates. You can see us sorting animals in the photos.

In PSHE, we worked collaboratively to first try and stand up whilst sitting back to back  (harder than it sounds). Then, each group was given a human machine challenge card where they had to act out the job. E.g. Peel a banana and turn it into banana cube sweets that are wrapped in paper. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend! 

Week 2 Photos

We have had a great start to Year 4 this week! 

Everyone has come back after the summer ready to learn and have fun! We have been getting used to our new routines and the lessons we will be doing each day. 

In maths, we have been focusing on our times tables, building fluency in the 5s and 10s especially. We have tried some different ways of learning them, including 'Times table table tennis' and 'Times table Bingo!'. It would be great if the children could show you these at home. 

In English, we began reading out first class book 'Charlotte's Web' which we will be using for our reading and writing lessons. We did some interesting drama activities which you can see in the photos below. We freeze framed scenes from Chapter 1 and hot seated as different characters. 

We have also started our new topic of 'USA Road Trip'. The children were excited to come up with things they wanted to know which we can explore this term. We are very fortunate to be working with Mrs Mars this term on a fantastic design & technology project to make a New York inspired city landscape. Keep an eye out for more on that! 

Well done on a great first week and well done to all our value award winners and stars of the week so far! 

Have a great weekend.