Cressing Primary School

Dear Parents, Children and Families. 

Welcome back to school. It has been a great start so far and we are very pleased with how the children have settled into our class. We have been impressed with how well the children have approached their learning with great attitudes.  There are lots of new routines to learn and the class have been trying hard with this.  We have had excellent discussions about ‘Our Class Code of Conduct’ and our whole school learning theme of ‘Caring’.  We hope lots of you have enjoyed seeing these wall posters on our Class Dojo story.  It has been fantastic to see such thoughtful responses from the children. 

Multiplication Tables Check – Parent and family workshop. 

In June, every Year 4 child in the country will undertake the Government’s national Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). The children will be electronically tested on times tables questions, to ensure they have quick recall of all the table facts. To help explain this further and to provide ways in which you can support your child, we are holding two workshops this term. Please do try and attend one or the other.   The workshops will be identical. 

Monday 21st September 3:30 – 4pm and Thursday 15th October at the same time. Please let me know if you and your child will be attending so that we can produce sufficient information packs and resources. Please confirm by email – cmoulton@cressing.essex.sch.uk 

Class Parent Open Mornings. 

In Year 4 these are based around times tables and maths.  They are spread over two sessions to help with space and resources.  We look forward to welcoming you into the class and showing you some ideas that we are working on with the pupils. 

Thursday 1st October.  9 – 9:30am.   For surnames A - H 

Thursday 8th October.  9 – 9:30am.   For surnames K - W 

Home Learning. 

New home learning tasks are set for the class each week on a Monday, to be completed for the following Monday.  They will alternate between maths and English tasks.   This week we have begun with maths. 

The children have stuck the log in codes for maths.co.uk and spag.com in their reading records.  We have spares if needed! 

Children will also be encouraged to use the times table games on Dojo Islands, again the log in code is in the reading record.   Times tables and spelling support sheets are in the children’s reading records. 

We also recommend… 

1. Daily times tables learning.  Try to learn these in lots of different ways during the week.  Chanting, singing, random questions or computer games etc.  Ongoing.   Times Tables Rock Stars is an awesome way to help develop fluency with this.   Each week we have a new battle to see which house group and individuals have spent the most time gaming. 

3. Daily reading. 15/20 minutes. We encourage a wide variety of reading!  Please sign diaries each time the child reads to / with you.  If you can quiz at home, then that is really helpful.  The link for this is always on the latest copy of the school newsletter. 

4. Learning the Year 3 and 4 Common Exception spelling words.  Reading these.  Discussing the words and their meanings.   Spelling them.   These words are in the reading record and home learning book.   This is an ongoing task.   

Expert Learners! 

As a school we have a focus on developing our pupil’s oracy skills, improving our presentation and speaking skills, as well as listening carefully and discussing what we have heard.  To help with this we have opportunities for ‘Expert Learners’ once a month.  On this day a child has 10 minutes where they can make a presentation to the class on a topic of interest to them.   Previously we have had a wide range of talks including bee keeping, majorettes and a parent’s work in the police force!  This is optional, and if your child wishes to join in they need to let me know the week before.  The dates for this term are Friday 25th September 2026, Thursday 22nd October, Friday 27th November and Tuesday 15th December. 

Important Class Information. 

· PE is on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

· Homework – as above. 

If your child has a One Plan, we will be making arrangements to meet with you in the next few weeks. 

Snacks.   Please ensure you child has a snack each day that does not include nuts.  Please make sure that a water bottle also comes to school each day. 

Adults in Year 4. 

Mr Moulton – Class Teacher.  Monday.  Tuesday morning.   Thursday.   Friday. 

Mr Chambers – Class Teacher.  Tuesday afternoon.   Wednesday. 

Mrs Bartlett – Class Learning Support Assistant every morning. 

Class Outline Timetable. 

This term’s main learning themes. 

Bread Baking!!  Learning all about bread and how it is made. 

European Countries. Looking at the human and physical features, cultures and important matters of different countries.  Do you have any expertise you could share with us?  Please let us know.   

Romans.  We will be learning all about the Romans in Britain. 

Sketching and pencil drawings.  You will see some of these come home towards the end of term! 

We will be reading and writing myths, portal stories, recipes, guidebooks and autumn poetry. 

Our class novel is Zombierella by Joseph Coelho.  We have started this amazing book already. 

We have our Wellbeing week in September where we look forward to exploring this and other issues to do with Mental Health.  We will also have anti-bullying week in November where we develop the children’s understanding of this.   

We will be performing a Christmas play for you too!  Any help with props and costumes would be very much appreciated. 

If you have any ideas / thoughts / expertise in any of these areas – please do let us know.  We would love to arrange times for you to come and help out in class. 

We look forward to working alongside you to help your child achieve their very best.  Please let us know if there are any questions / ideas that we can help with.  The email address is above. 

Mr Moulton, Mr Chambers and Mrs Bartlett – September 2026