Darwin Class - Year 3 and Year 4

Darwin Class Staff:

Miss Jayne – Class Teacher

Mrs Amatt – TA

Darwin Class is an exciting, dynamic and inclusive Year 3/4 learning environment where every child is at the heart of everything we do. Together, we embark on a journey across the UK, dive deep into fascinating moments in history, and explore the world around us with curiosity and enthusiasm. Our learning is broad and balanced, with a strong focus on developing skills in Reading, Writing, Music, French, Art and Swimming. Through collaboration, creativity, and a love of learning, we grow together every day.

We foster independence through a practical and engaging curriculum that strives to forge a love of learning for life.

Children in Darwin Class enjoy a variety of exciting and interactive lessons, which are presented through a range of media. Their ICT skllls are promoted by regular opportunities to use the school’s laptop computers.

With direct access to the outside area, children in Darwin Class are offered a chance to experience learning through our environment. Darwin Class is adjacent to our developing allotment area, so children in the class will be watching our garden grow

Darwin Class 2025-26

Our Working Walls

Darwin Class 2024-25

Term 6 2024-25

Let’s begin with the explosive start to the year—VOLCANOES! We rocked and rumbled our way through lava and tectonic plates, without even setting the fire alarm off (success!). Then came the IRON AGE, where we may not have actually smelted any iron, but we definitely sharpened our minds and our pencil skills.

From fierce INVADERS and crusading CRUSADERS to the rainforest’s leafy secrets and the grandeur of the TUDORS, we’ve galloped through history like time-travelling detectives — asking questions, making discoveries, and wondering if Henry VIII really needed that many wives.

We swam like fish, danced like no one was watching (except for the people who were), and turned the classroom into a hive of creative brilliance. In Art and DT, we’ve sculpted, painted, constructed, deconstructed, possibly glued ourselves to the table once or twice—and loved every minute of it!

More importantly, we’ve been brave. We’ve tried new things. We’ve made mistakes — glorious, splodgy, spelling-wrong-but-learning-from-it kind of mistakes. And we’ve grown. Taller in some cases, wiser in many.

Now, as we prepare to leap (or tiptoe cautiously) into the next academic year, here are a few wise words to carry in your pencil case:

Be kind—especially to yourself.
Mistakes are just learning in disguise.
You are braver, smarter, and funnier than you think.
Never underestimate the power of a well-timed snack.

To all our wonderful Year 3s moving up to Year 4, and our magnificent Year 4s off to conquer the upper school—go with confidence and curiosity. Your next adventure is waiting.

Have a truly brilliant, sun-soaked, ice-cream-filled, barefoot-on-the-grass kind of summer. Whether you’re building sandcastles, climbing trees, reading in a hammock, or just enjoying a long lie-in — you’ve earned it!

With smiles, sunshine, and approximately 42 glue sticks used.

Wishing you all a fabulous summer holiday.

Mrs Davison and Miss Illingworth 😊

Term 5 2024-25

We dived into Term 5 with a splash as swimming began. The Summer term sees the return to Athletics, focusing on 5 disciplines: running, throwing (javelin and shot put), the standing jump and triple jump. They have jumped on board and thrown themselves into it!

We celebrated the ‘Month of the Military Child’ with everyone supporting Purple-Up Day, dressing in purple. Sid spoke eloquently on what it meant, explaining that if you mix the uniform colours of all the Armed Forces you get purple. Hence the name.

The beautiful May weather, welcomed the annual Flower Festival at St Bartholomew’s Church, which we all appreciated and enjoyed.

Where in the world? Geography is the focus at present, as we delve through the dense under-storeys of the rainforests, across the globe from the Daintree Rainforest in Australia to the largest rainforest on the planet, the Amazon, in South America. We have learnt that the rainforests are all close to the equator and therefore hot, humid and teeming with life forms. This links beautifully with our science topic – habitats – where we are learning the characteristics of different groups of animals. What type of animal is a sloth? Mammal or amphibian?

Paint, paint and more paint ….. Darwin’s art journey has seen them explore, experiment and analyse this medium; mixing, matching, stippling, applying paint thickly (impasto) and creating paintings inspired by the rainforest, like Henri Rousseau.

It may have been a short term, but it’s been packed with rich, meaningful learning – a true testament to the energy and curiosity of our pupils.

Term 5 working walls

Term 4 2024-25

Term 4 working walls

Term 3 2024-25

Darwin erupted into January, with fire and brimstone as they discovered the many fiery fa about volcanoes. They have been immersed in this fascinating topic, from fantastic fiction ‘Escape from Pompeii’, to volcanic non-fiction texts learning to use the contents page, the inde and the glossary to expand their technical vocabulary. They discovered that beneath the earth’s mantle, huge teutonic plates cause great upheavals on the surface. Their geography skills have been tested too, as they plotted the locations of volcanoes around the globe. In DT they have been exploring how to join different materials, through papier-mâché, creatin their very own interactive 3D volcano models, painted to an exceptional standard, complete with lava flows! The ‘magma-tude’ of their creations has blown us awa What’s the Matter? Solids, liquids and gases took centre stage in science, when Darwin undertook an experiment to explore the viscosity of different liquids. How long do you thin ketchup would take to travel down a ruler? They also had a great fun making a solution to recreate an erupting volcano. They learnt that a gas is made, forcing the liquid up and out of the volcanoes. Beyond volcanoes, Darwin have experienced stop motion animation, creating their own mini movies, learnt the french names for different animals and developed their own dances in PE t represent ‘Cold Places’. Darwin Class have embraced Term 3, with a new found maturity, relishing their learning, applying their knowledge across the curriculum and making links. Keep it up Darwin.