Living & Learning – I can give and receive compliments
This week we’ve been thinking about the power of compliments. Compliments are wonderful to receive and lovely to give. We thought about how “I like your hair” might not be as meaningful to someone as “I admire how creative you are.”
Fortunately, Year 4 had lots of compliments to share with each other. Here are some of the most popular words used:
We also thought about how we might react when someone compliments us. We talked about how we might feel embarrassed but how we also might respond by saying thank you, smiling or giving a compliment back.
These are the words we thought of when we thought about how we might feel when someone gives us a compliment:
Help at home: A well-placed compliment can make someone feel valued, seen and appreciated. For children and adults alike, receiving genuine praise can boost self-esteem and strengthen emotional well-being. You could play a compliments game at home, taking it in turns to compliment someone in your family. Challenge your child to explain what makes a compliment a meaningful one.
Food Technology – Tomato and lentil soup
This week, Year 4 have loved making tomato and lentil soup in Food Technology.
We thought carefully about how to keep ourselves safe.
- We washed our hands to make sure we used good hand hygiene to help keep us healthy.
- We wore aprons to protect our clothes.
- We used the bridge cutting method and the claw cutting method to cut up our ingredients to keep our fingers safe.
- We were very careful near the hob which got very hot!
The soup was a hit in the taste test – we hope you will enjoy making the recipe again at home!
Help at home: Next time you are peeling or cutting vegetables, ask your child to show you how they have learnt to do this safely.
Reading – Authorfy
Year 4 LOVE Authorfy!
Year 4 may have mentioned special challenges and videos with authors that they’ve enjoyed in Book Club. Highlights so far have included:
- understanding more about why Onjali Rauf writes the books she writes by listening to her Q&A videos.
- designing our own laser-inspired level in response to a challenge set by 13 story treehouse author Andy Griffiths (see photo below).
- creating our own front cover design to Barb the Brave.
Rumour has it that to celebrate the National Year of Reading in 2026, Authorfy will be making many of their resources free to families to access at home. You can read more about the National Year of Reading here.
Topic – Art – Colours
We’re looking forward to welcoming you in to class on Friday (28th November) for our Topic Review. When you come in, we can’t wait to share with you what we have learned about complementary, warm and cool colours.
You’ll see some of our work so far on our Art Working Wall. Here is a sneaky peek:
Help at home: Look at these pieces of art shared by the Tate – can you see how the artists have used complementary colours? Tate – Complementary Colours
In class we’ve learned that complementary colours are opposite each other on the colour wheel. This paragraph (taken from the Tate) provides another interesting observation that your child might want to explore.
In colour theory complementary colours appear opposite each other on colour models such as the colour wheel. The colour complement of each primary colour (primaries are red, yellow and blue) can be obtained by mixing the two other primary colours together. So the complementary of red is green (a mix of yellow and blue); the complementary of blue is orange (a mix of red and yellow); and the complementary of yellow is violet (a mix of red and blue).
L&L – Anti-bullying week
Earlier this week, Year 4 took part in Odd Socks Day as part of Anti-bullying Week.
What is bullying?
We started by talking about what bullying actually means and how it is different from being rude or mean. We learned that:
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Being rude is when someone says or does something hurtful, as a one-off and is unintentional.
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Being mean is when someone hurts another on purpose, as a one-off and is intentional.
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Bullying is when someone hurts someone, intentionally several times on purpose.
What can we do?
We discussed what we should do if we see someone being bullied including:
- tell a trusted adult,
- stand up for others safely, and
- be kind to everyone.
We learned about the different roles people can take in a situation where someone is being bullied. You can learn more about this here: Anti-bullying Alliance video
The children shared excellent ideas about how they can help make our school a happy and healthy place for all.
STOP
Year 4 showed wonderful compassion during our discussions showing that they truly understand that kindness and respect matter everywhere all the time.
Help at home: Together, watch the video about the different roles in bullying situations. Discuss what bullying is and what your child should do if they’re being bullied or think someone else is either in person or online.
Me & My Money Week
Our first week back has been jam packed with new and exciting learning! This week has been one of our themed weeks all about money! We’ve had a variety of sessions where we’ve learnt a lot about money, different ways to pay for things, saving, fundraising for charity, how our values and advertising can impact our decision making and the cost of everyday items. We can’t wait to show you all of our learning when you come in for our Topic Review on 28th November.
A trip to Antarctica
One of the most fun sessions was an online live lesson offered by HSBC where we planned a trip to Antarctica thinking about the difference between our wants and our needs. We had a budget to stick to and it was tough making decisions between our competing wants.
Help at home – the children were shocked to learn the average monthly cost of household expenses such as electricity and food shopping. Next time you go food shopping, you could challenge your child to use a calculator to add the cost of the food as you put it in your trolley. If they want a bigger challenge, they could use rough prices and add the amounts in their head.
Cross Country
Today, a whopping 52 of our KS2 pupils took part in the Leeds Easy Cross Country event. This event provides opportunity for young people to take part in a competitive running event, with routes through to Leeds and District finals. St James pupils conducted themselves really well on the trip and the high levels of perseverance/resilience from our children were definitely on show! Years 3 and 4 had a 900m race to complete, and the Year 5 and 6 pupils had a 1500m race. Every single pupil from St James ran and finished their races – we are so proud of everyone for this. Some pupils managed to get into the top 20 and may reach the finals in a few months! Here are some pictures of some pupils after their races.
Do you have a child due to start primary school in 2026?
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Training day – Arty Ideas
We thought you’d enjoy hearing a little about what went on during our recent teacher training day! Part of the day was dedicated to developing our art knowledge and skills with our resident art teacher, Mrs Boulton.
Teachers got hands-on with paints, pastels and even soap! There was plenty of colour, laughter, and even a bit of friendly competition as we experimented with new techniques and ideas for upcoming art lessons.
The rest of the day focussed on other important areas too, including maths and inclusion. It was a full, productive day – and we left feeling ready and excited for the next half-term!
Geography – Fieldwork and application of what we have learned to our local area
We have concluded our Geography learning for this half-term with some field work to investigate how land is used in Wetherby.
The children were excellent at identifying the different uses including: commercial, residential, recreational and transport. We were disappointed not to find any land being used for agricultural purposes near our school.
Later in the week, we were inspired by Poppy’s news that people who live near her have petitioned the council to preserve the use of land for agricultural purposes. We each decided what we thought the land should be used for and shared our views with the rest of the class.
Help at home: you could take a walk in your local area and see if you can find examples of the different land uses. Here are some examples we found when doing our field work to inspire you.
