Year 4

In Year 4 the children explore some fascinating themes covering a range of different skills and subjects, giving them all the opportunity to experience different periods in history and new cultures.

We start the year by travelling thousands of miles to a different continent in our 'Out of Africa' theme. We explore the different environments and diverse cultures that Africa possesses and find out how animals adapt to live in some of the most extreme conditions on the planet. We travel back to the dawn of time and discover how different cultures and religions believe the earth was created and then pause to think about what we should be doing to look after it, studying a range of topical environmental issues. While focussing on the history of Africa, we look at the story of the slave trade, discovering how it links to today's fair-trade campaign and think about how our decisions in this country can affect people all over the world. We also focus on key religious and political figures such as Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.

In the Spring Term, we explore the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. During this exciting topic, we discover who the Anglo-Saxons were and where they came from. We also have a close look at runes and artefacts that tell us more about how the Anglo-Saxons lived. After this, we explore where the Vikings came from, what a Viking raid was, and how they travelled on their magnificent Longships! Later in the term, we explore the religious beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and also take time to have a look at Nordic patterns, which we take inspiration from when creating our own Viking-inspired designs.

In the Summer Term, we step back in time, over 500 years, for our Tudor topic. We begin by investigating the Battle of Bosworth and how it led to one of the most exciting periods in British history. We find out who the Tudor monarchs were, exactly why Henry VIII had so many wives and the reason that Lady Jane Grey only ruled the country for nine days! We delve into the lives of the rich and the poor, exploring what life would have been like for children and how different it would have been to attend a Tudor school. After looking at the artwork of Hans Holbein, we learn about the symbolism within Tudor paintings and go on to create our very own Tudor portraits. Our trip to a Tudor house helps to demonstrate exactly how different life in the Tudor times was and gives the children the opportunity to dress up as Tudors, look around Tudor rooms and experience what it was like to play Tudor games