Super Science in Year 4

 This week, our Year 4 children swapped their classroom desks for the great outdoors as they brought their science learning to life in a fun and practical way! As part of their topic on classifying animals and plants, the children ventured outside to explore and engage with the natural world around them.

Once outside, the children worked in small groups to collect a variety of leaves, flowers, and plants from the school grounds. This hands-on approach allowed them to apply their growing knowledge of classification — looking closely at different characteristics such as leaf shape, colour, texture, and petal number.

Throughout the session, the children showed fantastic use of their reciprocity and resourcefulness skills. They listened to each other’s ideas, shared tasks, and worked as a team to ensure they gathered a wide range of specimens. It was a brilliant opportunity to practise collaboration and problem-solving in a real-world setting.

Once their collections were complete, the groups moved on to the next exciting task: creating their own classification tables… with chalk! Using the playground surface as their canvas, the children worked together to sort and organise their finds into categories. With creativity and scientific thinking on full display, the playground soon transformed into a colourful outdoor science lab, filled with chalk-drawn grids, labels, and carefully placed leaves and flowers.

It was fun collecting different plants and leaves and making a classification key - Noah and Sophia

You have to use closed questions for a classification key - Iustin

We worked together to collect enough materials to use in our classification key - Aisosa

Wild Passport Day in Year 4

 

Year 4’s Wild Passport Day: A Journey into Nature and Teamwork

This week, our adventurous Year 4 cohort took a walk on the wild side during an exciting Wild Passport Day, filled with hands-on learning, outdoor exploration, and teamwork. The day was designed to deepen the children’s connection with nature while developing essential life skills like problem-solving, collaboration, and resilience.

The day began with a creative and mindful activity: bird nest building. But this wasn’t just any crafting session — the children were challenged to build nests using tweezers instead of their hands, mimicking the delicate precision of a bird's beak. This task required patience and careful coordination as they gathered twigs, moss, and leaves to construct their tiny shelters. It was a fantastic way to build empathy for wildlife while developing fine motor skills and perseverance.

After some careful nest construction, it was time for a little magic! The children let their imaginations run wild as they designed and built whimsical gnome homes using natural materials they found around them. Twigs became door frames, leaves became roofs, and pebbles turned into pathways. Creativity bloomed as the forest floor transformed into a village of miniature woodland dwellings.

Next came a true test of resourcefulness and teamwork. The children were grouped together to build life-sized shelters using tarps, sticks, string, and whatever they could find in their surroundings. The aim? To create a sturdy, weatherproof structure that could survive a torrential downpour — even if only imagined! This activity brought out the best in our learners, as they demonstrated reciprocity by listening to each other’s ideas, sharing tasks, and solving problems together. Many groups even discussed real-world survival strategies, showing just how deeply they engaged with the task.

To round off the day, Year 4 put their orienteering skills to the test. In pairs, they navigated a special course using maps and compasses, hunting for checkpoints and solving clues along the way. This was more than just a race — it was a chance to practise communication, cooperation, and direction-following under pressure. The excitement and determination on their faces said it all!

Look at the nest we made. The bird will be happy in here. - Success

It was hard to pick up the twigs using the tweezers - Lawrence

We had fun making the shelters - Lola

There has been a change to the dates for our next Wild Passports days. The new dates are:

4th November - Maple Class

5th November - Elm Class

6th November Willow Class

Year 3 Forest School

 

Throughout this year, all of the children will be participating in Forest School sessions.  The children will have one session every 3 weeks.  Please check the school calendar to see when your child's class is due to have a session.  These sessions are led by Miss Float.

Year 5 forest School sessions will be on Tuesdays, Year 4 and Year 3 Forest School sessions will be on Wednesdays and Year 6 Forest School sessions will be on Thursdays.

When participating in these Forest School sessions (whatever the weather), the children are required to wear tracksuit/jogging trousers and welly boots/old trainers/walking boots, (with their school polo shirt and jumper).  These should be left in school to change into before each session.  In wet/cold weather, the children will also need to bring a warm coat, a hat and gloves to wear.  Forest School sessions take place whatever the weather, so it is important the children are properly dressed, so that they can participate in and enjoy each session fully.  School trousers, school skirts, dresses and shorts are not suitable for wearing for Forest School.  Shoes/trainers that the children wear to and from and in school are also not suitable, as some sessions they will get very wet and muddy.

In preparation for your child's first session, please send into school for your child a pair of tracksuit/jogging trousers and a pair of welly boots/old trainers/walking boots, in a named carrier bag.  There are pegs outside each classroom for the children to hang these up.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Year 3 Easter Hunt Rhyme Time!

 

The Year 3 children had to use all of their 4R skills this morning, to not only solve the rhyming clues, but also fill in the missing words,  in order to find the chocolate treats!

There was much fun and laughter as the children worked together to solve each clue and even though it was a little snowy and cold out, it didn't dampen the children's spirits!

Well done Year 3 for solving the clues and finding the treats. you demonstrated fantastic teamwork. 

I liked how we used clues to help us find our Easter treats! - Megan 

It was so much fun solving the clues and finding the chocolate! - Logan

“That was so much fun. I love rhyming clues !” - Rosie 

“I really enjoyed solving the clues and finding the chocolate .” - Faramade 

Have a restful and relaxing Easter break and the Year 3 team look forward to seeing you all back on Tuesday 19th April.

Year 3 Explorers!

 

                      We're going on a geography hunt!

As part of our Geography topic this half term, on the 30th March,  Year 3 will be going on a local walk around Harold Hill to locate and record physical and human features within our community.

The classes will be staggered and the times that they will leave the school are as follows:

Cedar - 9.30

Elm - 10.00

Cherry - 10.30

Could you please provide your child/ren with suitable clothing on the day. If it is raining the walk will still go ahead but your child/ren will require a raincoat and suitable footwear.

Thank you for your continued support

Year 3 Team

 

Outdoor Learning for Year 3 !

 

This week in Year 3, the children have taken their science learning outdoors. The children have been learning about what a force is and how friction works. We discussed how we could investigate friction and what we would need to do in order to carry out the investigation. All the children made a prediction about which surface would create the most friction and which surface would allow the car to travel the furthest distance. We went outside and carried out the investigation, looking at fair testing and how we were only changing one variable. All children showed great reciprocity, working together to set up, investigate and draw conclusions from their investigation. 

" I predict that the car travels the furthest on the pavement." - Francesca 

“The pavement has the least friction” - Amber 

“The grass has the most friction.” - Max

“The angel of the ramp has to be the same.” -Bernardo 

Well done Year 3 on working sensibly outside together and carrying out a great investigation !

Christmas Message from Year 4

 

Christmas Message from Year 3

 

Year 4 Sports Morning!

 

What a brilliant Sports Morning we have had in Year 4 this week. We ran, we jumped, we ducked, we crawled, we carried eggs in spoons, we threw Vortexes... it has been an incredible experience and every member of Ash, Birch and Larch class (including the teachers) were delightfully exhausted by the end of our brilliant day. 

The Year Four team were so proud of our classes and how they followed their Broadford school jobs and displayed all four Rs. Resilience was observed in never giving up, even when it seemed difficult or there was a water gun spraying us! We were Resourceful in our three-legged race pairings and in our successful completion of the tricky, terrific obstacle course. We have all supported each other and cheered so loud our lungs ache; showing teamwork and beautiful Reciprocity. And now we have time to Reflect on what a wonderful time we have had together and how much fun it has been. 

Thank you so much to you all for being the best year ever!

You can watch highlights of it here!

"If I could write about my favourite memory of Year Four tomorrow, I would write about this day, it was the best day ever" Annabelle, Larch. 

"I felt happy to cheer my friends on!" - Richie, Ash

"I didn't think I could do it but it was so fun and now I want to do it again!" Amy, Larch. 

"Thank you to everyone for making my Sports Morning so fun." - Siena, Larch

"Sports Day was the BEST day!" - Abdulmalik, Ash

"I learnt how to be resilient during Sports Morning, if I fell over, I got straight back up again." - Srinika, Ash

Cool Coordinates in Year 4!

For this past Summer Term, we have been learning about coordinates. 

As our starter activity, we went outside to travel to different coordinates. We needed to record the direction of travel and how much across or along the axis was needed to get from our start point to our end destination.

The children had to be resourceful and use a birds-eye map view of the school to travel to their destinations. They also had to demonstrate their reciprocity skills as they worked as a team; well done Year 4!

"We always need to remember; along the corridor and up the stairs!" - Hannah, Ash

"I love coordinates and geography, they really make me feel like a navigator! Just like Matthew Henson!" - Adrian M, Larch

"Another word for moving coordinates is translation." - Iniya, Birch

 

Persevering PE in Year 4!

Today in PE, children were having fun indoors on GoNoodle to get our heart rate up. Then, we went outside to practise our teamwork skills. We played stuck in the mud, and each class played against the other two. 

Children had so much fun, and we made sure that we took adequate rest breaks for water! 

“PE is so much fun when we mix up indoors and outdoor learning!” - Nicole, Larch

“There are different tactics to playing stuck in the mud effectively: some can stay together and some can run off to tag” - Medeea, Birch

“I don’t want PE to end!” - Iyinope, Ash 

Perfect PE in Year 4!

This week in PE, we had a carousel of activities:

• three-legged race
• ladder footwork
• bean sack race
• long jump
• under arm throwing
• relay racing
• sprinting

Year 4 demonstrated their reciprocity by getting themselves into groups 12. Teamwork was demonstrated when there was racing, and there was a perfect balance between competition and racing. Children cheered their team members on, and also encouraged their opponents too. 

"PE was so much fun. I loved working with friends that I normally don't in class." - Caden, Larch

"The three-legged race was difficult, but if you chant out together then it gets easier!" - Abdulmalik, Ash

"I wanted everyone to win today!" - Mia, Birch