Friday 5th September 2025

We are delighted to welcome back all our families and to share that Year 4 has had a fantastic start to the new school year. The children arrived fresh-faced and eager to learn, and it was wonderful to see how much they have grown since we last taught them in Year 2.

On their first day, the class enjoyed exploring their new classroom and its resources before sharing favourite memories from their summer holidays.

This week, we focused on building a positive learning culture. The children thought carefully about what this should look like in our classroom and how they could put these ideas into practice each day.

We also explored the theme of ‘How to be a Mensch’ across three sessions. First, the children worked in pairs to discuss their understanding of the word mensch, before breaking it down into eight key qualities: compassion, integrity, responsibility, humility, respect, gratitude, justice, and fairness. Through discussion and examples from their own lives, the children created shields to represent these qualities. Later, they considered scenarios to decide who was behaving like a mensch and why. Finally, they wrote diary entries reflecting on the opportunities they found to show mensch-like qualities.  

In computing, we learned about caring for technology and revisited the importance of online safety, both in school and at home. The children carefully read and discussed our online safety rules.

In maths and English, we reviewed presentation expectations for Year 4. The children were introduced to the helpful mnemonic DUMTUMS (Date, Underline, Miss a line, Title, Underline, Miss a line, Start).

In art, the children worked on their “half-and-half” portraits, one side a photograph, the other completed with their own drawing. Having completed this project from Year 1, it was wonderful to see just how much their artistic skills have developed. These will be on display at the Meet the Teacher Evening, so do come and take a look!

Reminders:
📅 Meet the Teacher Evening – Tuesday 9th September at 6:45 pm

We wish you all a restful weekend and a peaceful Shabbat.

Warm regards,
The Year 4 Team