Year 4 Swimming Reminder - Willow Class

 

Year 4 2025-26 Swimming Lessons

In Year 4 the children will be having swimming lessons at the Central Park Leisure Centre. 

All parents/carers, please complete Google Form.

Each class will have one half an hour session each week in a block. 

Willow: Autumn commencing: Wednesday 10th September

Maple: Spring commencing: date to be confirmed in Autumn Term

Elm: Summer commencing: date to be confirmed in Spring Term

Willow Class will commence their lessons on Wednesday 10th September 2025

We expect this to run for the whole year, meaning each class should get roughly 10 sessions each (STC) which will ensure they achieve the swimming requirements of the national curriculum in KS2 which are to:

- swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 meters
- use a range of strokes effectively
- perform a safe self-rescue in different water based situations

The children will leave school in the afternoon, accompanied by Year 4 staff, and we will make our way to Central Park Leisure Centre on foot. We will return to school before the end of the school day.

Your child will need:

• Swimming costume or swimming trunks (no bikinis please!)

• A towel

• A named bag to carry and store their items in

• A swimming hat 

• Goggles (not essential, but can be worn if preferred)

Children should come to school in their uniform and will get changed when we arrive at Central Park Leisure Centre. Please note, no aerosols or powders should be given to children, as these can cause problems for children with asthma.

All children, regardless of ability, will be taking part in swimming lessons as they are a National Curriculum requirement. Children will only be exempt from lessons with a signed and dated doctor’s note or certificate. 

If you have any questions or queries about this or any other swimming related issue, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Year 4 team via year4@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Year 4 Trip Tomorrow 11/07/2017

The time has finally arrived! We're going to Southend!

Children are expected to arrive at school by 8.30am so we can leave promptly. They are allowed to wear their Broadford PE kits (white t-shirt, navy shorts, and trainers) as they will be outside most of the day. Rain is forecast for later in the afternoon so they also need to bring a light raincoat and a hat.

There will be an ice cream van available and children may bring a maximum of £3.00 to buy something.

We expect to be back at school by the usual time of 3.15pm, but we will post an update on Facebook if we are late.

See you tomorrow!

The year 4 team

Willow Swimming

To the parents and carers of those in Willow class,

Just a quick announcement to let you know that  03/07/17 was Willow's last swimming lesson. Therefore, there will be no swimming on the Monday coming (10/07/17), nor the following week (17/07/17).

The children this term have been fortunate to have one whole hour of swimming each week, which has shown in the amount of progress they have made. We have had children feeling slightly unconfident in their swimming ability to begin with, but now we have a multitude of children completing their 5metres, a whole width, a length and even.... Daniel Tonu and Finley Short managed to swim a whole mile in their lesson!

It has been amazing to watch the children truly flourish through swimming. Although it is now over, I would encourage you to continue swimming with them as it's an extremely important life skill and we could  even end up with some future Olympians if we persist.

Hope you're looking forward to swimming again in year 5 Willow.

Kind regards,

Miss Taylor

Willow class en route to becoming producers!

For our final literacy project this term, Willow are producing trailers for their own creations of Sugarcane juice. This week, the children have thoroughly enjoyed studying a range of trailers from Despicable Me to Trolls movie, in which they identified the common features within them. Following this, the children have started to plan for their own trailer, focusing on the background and props, a voiceover, music and sound effects and camera angles.

Today, we have started putting our plan into action, using our reciprocity skills to form the background and props needed for our trailers.

'This is why literacy is one of my favourite lessons!' Caydon Buckland.

'This is the best big write ever' Samanyu Handoo.

Willow class star writer

In Willow this week, our star writer is the amazing Daniel Tonu. It is no surprise given the fantastic information text he produced on mythical creatures. In big write, the children had a selection of beasts to choose from, including  Medusa, Hydra and the remarkable Minotaur and they had to select only one to write about. Not only was Daniel's presentation impeccable (as always, hence recently earning himself a pen license), but within his writing he was able to use a range of openers, appropriately grouped information into pargagraphs and sustained a formal tone throughout. Daniel, your information text was a pleasure to read! Keep up the great writing.

Willow class star writer

Our star writer in Willow this week is the phenomenal Finley Livingstone after producing a suspense filled episode of Sugarcane juice. Finley proved in this piece of writing that he has all the tools needed to be an independent author, oozing with flair. Although he successfully met the success criteria - adding speech, varying his sentence lengths and using metaphors - he went above and beyond to flaunt how capable he is at writing. He particularly impressed me through his use of an if, if, if, then sentence type, which was not required of him. After the writing process, Finley reflected on his episode, contemplating ways in which he could uplevel his writing, which is a key asset of an effective writer. Keep up the awesome writing! In the famous words of Bruno, "that's what I like."

Ain't no party, like a year 4 maths party...

Today, the lovely year 4,  accompanied by their parents, had their maths party!

In the hall were 8 carousel activities for the children to complete and challenge their parents to.

To begin, everyone competed in Rockstars, the times tables that the children practice weekly. After, awaiting them, were a range of activities from hit the button to puzzling multilink problems, which can be seen below 

Thank you for all the parents that came along today to see what type of activities  their children frequently tackle. Your support is always greatly appreciated.

If any parents have any questions about the resources used for the maths party then please feel free to speak to Miss Taylor, Mr Lander or Mr Nicol at the end of the school day.

Healthy eating week

This week is healthy eating week and of course, in Willow and Ash, we wanted to raise awareness of healthy living. To begin, we discussed ways to encourage a healthy lifestyle, in which the children recognised that we need to engage in levels of physical activity. Therefore, we decided to head outside and compete in a game of dodgeball.

The game became very intense, with the children's heart rates racing and their truly competitive sides making an appearance. At one point, Godswill was left to represent Willow class, whilst Jack Dempsey was left to represent Ash class.

After taking part in sport, we also recognised that in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, we need to have a balanced diet. This includes a range of foods, from carbohydrates, fats, protein and fruit and vegetables, as long as the fats are eaten in moderation. As you can see, the children also realised that they needed to drink plenty of water in order to stay hydrated and control the temperature of their bodies. 

Time for a story mountain...

In Willow this term, we are studying an episode called 'Sugarcane Juice.' This story, which is set in Pakistan, is about a young boy named Hamid who follows a conjurer onto an ancient, gaudy bus, mesmerised by his tricks. However, without realising, the bus leaves the station with Hamid still sat in a daze, before he realises he is stuck! Following a mishap on the bus, Hamis is left stranded with no money to get him home.

The children have shown great engagement in the story so far. They have been astounded by the buses that are used to travel around Pakistan, discovering that these buses can be particularly dangerous and their passengers include animals! 

Samanyu Handoo has shared with us a presentation, Finley Livingstone has shared with us a rupee and Asroosh Valliani has even brought in some Pakistani food. At home, he concocted some green chutney and I've got to say, it was absolutely delicious. Thank you Mrs Valliani!

Today, we looked at how our episode could progress. The children knew their story needed a build up, in order to create suspense and tension, a realistic problem 1, a major problem 2 and a resolution so the episode could be continued. In order to gather a plan, they worked with their partner to develop and experiment with a range of ideas, allowing them to see how their episode might look. 

Great work Willow, keep it up! 

Willow Class Star Writer

Willow Class Star Writer

This week in Willow, our star writer is the phenomenal Samanyu Handoo. Before half term, we were focusing on newspaper articles in order to eventually create our own. To begin with, we published an article on the opening of Dr Barnardo's homes. Following this, on the last Friday of term, we completed a progress test to assess how well we had grasped the features of newspaper articles. This time, the children had to imagine that they were adults and had achieved an amazing feat, which was being reported about. Mr Handoo decided to write about his future feat as a cricket star and managed to score an amazing 84/87 on it! Remarkable.

Samanyu was able to incorporate the features of a newspaper article: successfully, he created a coherent 5W paragraph, used the passive voice throughout and ensured he was consistent in applying a journalist tone. Samanyu, you had me hooked throughout your article and maybe one day, you will become a cricket star, and this article will be published. Thank you for making your article a pleasure to read, keep up the great writing! 

Willow Class Swimming

Calling all parents and carers of Willow Class,

Don't forget that tomorrow afternoon (12/06/2017) Willow Class will be going swimming again. This means that they need to bring:

• a Broadford swimming hat (or £1 if they have not bought one from the office yet)
• a bathing suit
• a towel

Goggles are not essential but can be worn if preferred.

The children will be dropped back at school at around 3.30pm and will need to be picked up from their classroom.

Many thanks,
Miss Taylor

Year 4 Cast Their Votes!

In preparation for today's general election, year 4 were given a crash course in how everything in the political world works! With the help of Mr Lander and Mr Nicol, the students mused over the party's policies on economy, health and social care, education, immigration, and other party-specific details.

Once each student had chosen their preferred party, they split off into groups and elected their candidate to stand in our general election. The 4 very brave candidates then had the opportunity to speak to their audience on why the people of Britain should vote for them!

There were some fantastic, fierce debating from both the candidates and the audience members about the policies of each party and how they would benefit the country in the best way.

After hearing each party candidate speak, the audience were invited to vote for whichever party they preferred! After the whole process, there were some very strong supporters of all the parties. "I definitely know who I'm voting for when I'm old enough!" exclaimed Fabian from Birch. The children engaged with the afternoon very well, and it gave them an insight into the current world of British politics.

Willow Class Swimming!

Willow Class Swimming

 

Firstly, I would like to say a huge thank you to the parents of Willow children for your outstanding cooperation with swimming today. The children were phenomenal in their lesson, I didn't realise we had so much talent in our class! We have future Adam Peatys and Adlingtons among us.

 

Just a quick reminder, the children will be having swimming now, every Monday, till the end of term. If the children could bring with them their costume/trunks, swimming hat, towel and goggles (optional) that would be great.

 

Children will be ready to collect outside their classroom for 3:30 every Monday.

 

Thank you again Willow parents and children :)

WILLOW SWIMMING TODAY!

Good morning Willow!

Just a quick reminder that this afternoon you have swimming. We are aiming to be back for half 3 and children can be collected from classrooms as usual.

Willow Class Star Writer

Willow Class Star Writer 

This week in Willow, our star writer is the fantastic Frankie Woolnough, after producing an outstanding newspaper article on the capture of Robin Hood. It is no wonder that Frankie managed to produce such an incredible piece of writing, after she fully engaged and participated in the lesson. Constantly, Frankie contributed to class discussion, worked well with her partner and shared some fabulous ideas that other children could magpie.

In her writing, Frankie was able to apply the features of a newspaper article. She was able to use a passive voice, use a range of adverbials and ensured that she remained in a journalistic tone throughout, rather than writing her article as if it was a story.

Keep up the great work ethic Frankie and your writing will continue to soar! A pleasure to read. 

Willow Brain Busters!

Brain Busters

Willow maths set have been facing some tough brain busters the past few weeks, requiring them to work in groups of 4 (one child leading each time), reason mathematically and use their resilience to tackle some challenging questions.

The first week we focused on factors and multiples, in which the children left the class with their brains still pulsating. This week, we faced brain busters on fractions, which again put the children to their test.

Many of the children in Willow maths set were resilient, collaborated effectively with their team and strived to answer all of the questions under timed conditions, resulting in the the delivery of many, many dojos!

You were all great mathematicians, let's keep up the great work! 

Let's navigate...

Let's navigate 

Today, Willow class had the pleasure of venturing into London after planning their very own school trip. One group were assigned cathedrals, another buildings and finally bridges. The children had to take into consideration a multitude of factors besides their route: what trains they would have to take, where they would have lunch and even... where they could access a public toilet!

This may seem a simple task, but we had to overcome a few minor difficulties along the way, including following a map that only took account of how to drive to places (we were not driving). On the other hand, some children flourished, taking on the leadership role and guiding the rest of their group in the right direction. A special shout out goes to the wonderful Mia, Daniel Tonu, Sam Handoo and Ashroosh Valliani, whose teachers commented on their remarkable leadership skills.

Although the children may collapse in their beds tonight, they certainly achieved a lot from this trip, particularly in terms of using their map skills and applying their learning to an every day context. As agreed by all adults on the trip, Willow were  incredible! 

Thanks again to our adults, you helped make today a fabulous and thoroughly enjoyable experience!

Defeating decimals

Decimals and fractions can be quite a brain boggling subject. How is it possible that 4/10 is not the same as 1/4? Why is 1/3 not the same as 3/10? Over the past few weeks, Willow maths set have been working hard to turn factions on their head. We've been ordering fractions, converting fractions into decimals and more recently, finding fractions of amounts. Previously, we have struggled with these concepts, but now I am confident that Willow can tackle them with ease!

Willow Class star writer

Our star writer this week is the phenomenal Finley Short. Finley produced an outstanding build up for his story of Robin Hood. He used a range of openers to vary his sentence types, successfully embedded relative clauses to add extra information and incorporated similes to create a clearer description for his audience. Finley, you made it a pleasure to read, keep up the great writing!

Willow Class star writer

Our star writer this week is the wonderful Trinity Hawkes! It is no wonder given the fabulous opening of her story, Robin Hood. Trinity has shown great enthusiasm in this topic, which has shown in the writing she has produced. She used a range of openers to vary her sentence structure, incorporated powerful vocabulary throughout and included similes so her reader could really imagine being in the scene. Fantastic writing Trinity, keep it up!