1. Welcome Year 4 Information Session Mr. Trent, Mr. Mark & Miss Charlotte

2. Agenda Welcome and Introduction Year 4 ethos and procedures What to bring everyday Daily timetable / curriculum Communication iPads Uniform / PE Questions

3. Year 4 Ethos High expectations/CVLH: make excellent progress. Team ethos. Collaboration. Respect. Encouraging independence / responsibility. Rewards systems (House points, Star of the Week, marbles) lots of praise Enjoyment is key to good learning. School and home must work together. Some extra help from parents may be requested at different points throughout the year. (PCR)

4. Year 4 Procedures Children can arrive at school, anytime after 7.30am Remember to drop off and pick up at the designated point. Thank you for not parking on the road. Gate 1 unless there is a younger family member. If your child is cycling or walking home, we would need a letter from you Lunch and Break times There is a token system for children to purchase food

5. What children need… Children must arrive in school prepared for lessons: They must bring: - iPads charged everyday - water bottles - hats (for break time and PE) - pencil cases - reading folder - LSCWC and reading books Please support your child in preparing their bags for school.

6. Daily timetable please see Year 4 page Each day the children receive a session of Literacy (English) and Mathematics Specialist lessons throughout the week IPC (International Primary Curriculum) Information on Literacy, Mathematics and IPC can be downloaded from the school web site. We do not teach directly from textbooks. This may be new to some of you. Instead we draw from a variety of resources, either online, purchased or we create our own. We do sometimes use textbooks – however these are not progressed through page by page. Our curriculum is dynamic and adjusted to meet the needs of the children.

9. Literacy Taught in class groups. Activities are differentiated to meet and extend different pupil’s needs. Children will study a variety of text types Children will be given weekly spellings In Guided Reading children work with the teacher in small groups and independently. Library – children visit the library once a week where they can choose books for enjoyment and they will also learn library skills Children will be given specific reading scheme books which they are expected to read each night at home. They will change their books once each is completed.

10. Reading in Key Stage 2 ‘Reading to Learn’ rather than ‘Learning to Read’ * We have purchased LOTS of new reading books so that children can read a variety of genres about a wider range of topics. Reading Books to go home from Mon 15 th September. We politely request that only ISP staff change children’s books. Parents are NOT invited into the Reading Rooms. * Due to the new systems in place, we are able to more accurately place your child on a reading band at their independent level of comprehension. On occasion, this may look as if your child has moved down a level but please be assured that this is not the case. * Children will access more challenging texts during Guided Reading and Literacy lessons in class. * Research shows that children make more progress if they read aloud to an adult and then together talk about what has been read. This is also a great opportunity to use your home language to share ideas and opinions. * As well as sharing your child’s reading book, why not make up poems, select a newspaper article to discuss or read around the supermarket? Happy Reading! All children must have a Book Folder!

11. Mathematics Taught in targeted groups. Activities are differentiated to meet and extend different pupil’s needs. We teach the following units, each of which is re-visited and extended three times over the year: - Counting, Partitioning and Calculating - Securing number facts, understanding shape - Handling data and measures - Calculating, measuring and understanding shape - Securing number facts, relationships and calculating

12. The IPC An exciting international curriculum that meets the requirements of the British National Curriculum. Science, ICT (Information Communication Technology, Art, History, Geography, Global Awareness) all form the IPC The IPC is taught thematically. Links with all subjects, including English and Maths, are made. ICT (Digital Studies) is taught within the IPC and is also an integral part of our lessons. Children will use iPads regularly as well as designated lessons in the ICT suite.

13. Homework Children will receive regular homework. Homework is only set if it is useful to the children and relates to what we have done in lessons. We will not set homework for the sake of keeping a child busy. There might be odd occasions when homework is not set. As a guide we will usually set: Literacy/IPC once a week (about 30 minutes), Mathematics once a week (30 minutes), spellings once a week (these should be learned each night rather than cramming the night before the test) In addition the students are expected to read each night. The date for children to hand homework in will be specified. Please help your child in meeting these deadlines. Please support your child with their homework – but do not do it for them. If your child has difficulty with homework, please write me a note underneath their work.

14. Key Dates: Whole school Assemblies – Friday 2pm (all parents are welcome) Settling in Conferences – from the 22 nd September Progress reports 17 th October Book Week – from the 17 th November End of Term Reports 5 th December PTCs 8th th - 11 th December Residential – Term 3 Year 4 assembly to be announced There will be some special days, trips and events over the course of the year. We will inform you of these in advance, once dates and activities are confirmed. There will also be a residential trip later in the year. Last year we visited National Museum (free), and Broga Hill.

15. Communication Homework and Notices blog – general information on Year 4 News; specific class information and photos on respective pages – please check regularly. We are available everyday (with the exception of the day we run an afterschool activity) – feel free to drop in after 3.15pm, but please make an appointment if you need to discuss something in more detail. Email is a great way to communicate with us: for example trent.g@isp.edu.my mark.e@isp.edu.my charlotte.b@isp.edu.mytrent.g@isp.edu.mymark.e@isp.edu.my charlotte.b@isp.edu.my

16. iPads Please make sure you read the ICT policy and iPad guidelines in the diaries. There will be a coffee morning with Mr. Ian soon to assist in this matter. You may choose to include the iPad on your Home Contents’ insurance Children must bring their iPad to school every day. The essential App list in on the Year 4 home page.

17. Uniform and PE Please ensure your child comes to school in school uniform everyday, bringing either their swimming kit or PE kit (see Year 4 page on blog for days) Swimming is compulsory! All students must also bring a pair of sports shoes to change into for PE lessons Children must bring a hat and water bottle to lessons (these should be in school every day)

18. Reporting to Parents In Years 1 to 6 there is a new cycle and format for reporting We report in two ways: 1) Parent Teacher Conferences (PTCs) 2) Written reports

19. Parent Teacher Conferences Term 1 Settling in Conferences (22 nd – 24 th September) End of Term PTCs (following the reports) Term 2 End of Term PTCs (following the reports) Term 3 End of term Student Led Conferences (these include time to meet the teacher) * If you need to meet a teacher at any point during the term time, please arrange an appointment and we will find a mutually convenient time.

20. Reports Term 1 Mid Term Report End of Term Report (with next step targets) Term 2 Mid Term Report End of Term Report (with next step targets) Term 3 Mid Term More detailed End of Year Report *This means there is a report sent home approximately every six weeks.

21. Mid Term Reports These give information about a student’s Attitude, Attainment and Approach to Learning (Including attendance and punctuality)

22. End of Term Reports These are more detailed and provide the same information as the mid term reports, along with next step targets for each subject and a general class teacher comment.

23. End of Year Reports These are even more detailed and provide the same information as the mid term reports, along with subject specific attainment against key skills and a general class teacher comment.

24. CCA’s CCA’s went live Monday afternoon. On the 18 th September, a list of choices will be finalised. Specialist CCA’s begin 22 nd September Teacher led CCA’s begin the 29 th September They end the 5 th December

25. Why the changes? We want to provide a little information more often in a format that is more useful to parents We want to create Whole Primary and Secondary reports that are similar in format We have changed our school Information Management System so this is a good time for these changes This reporting format helps us to efficiently track student progress The PTC cycle allows us to discuss reports with parents

26. Bahasa Malaysia This is a compulsory subject for Malaysian passport holders. This is a government requirement. Students have one lesson per week. In response to parent feedback, expatriates are given the choice whether they will take this language.

27. If Malay is not chosen… If parents choose that their child will not study Bahasa Malaysia, these children will remain in class with their class teacher and undertake Self Study Or Consolidation Activities

28. What are Self Study Or Consolidation Activities? This may be activities related to: - Reading- this is time where Teachers can listen to these children read. - Handwriting - Spelling activities - Self directed research -Consolidation activities and games

29. Class Reps If you would like to volunteer, please email your child’s teacher.