Welcome to the Year 3/4 website. Here you will find updates about Barnard, Bowes and Brancepeth.
Welcome to Years 3 & 4!
Key Information
Teachers
This year you will be taught by Miss Duckworth (Barnard), Mrs Morris (Bowes), Mrs Banks (Bowes on Wednesdays), Mrs Harrison (Brancepeth) and Mrs Alderson (Brancepeth on Fridays)
Meet the Teacher Information
Meet the Teacher and Class Information meeting Bowes
Meet the Teacher and Class Information meeting Brancepeth 2023
Class Newsletters
Learning Overviews 2023-2024
This document outlines the topics covered across the foundation subjects this academic year. Further details about the curriculum and the content taught can be found in the Curriculum pages of our website.
Y3 and Y4 Learning Overview 2023 – 2024
LKS2 Learning Expectations
Please see the booklets below which outline the key expectations that children should achieve by the end of Year 3 and Year 4. These booklets include suggestions of the ways in which you can support your child at home.
NX Year 3 End of Year Expectations
NX End of Year 4 Expectations
Useful information
Year 3 & 4 PE Days
| Barnard | Bowes | Brancepeth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE days | Monday Thursday | Monday Thursday | Monday Thursday |
- Please always send your child with a coat suitable for the weather.
- Please send a named water bottle each day, clean and filled with water.
- Please, please name all of your child’s clothes, especially their jumpers and PE kit!
Supporting your child’s learning at home
We know how important it is to practise our learning both in school and at home. To find out more information about our approach to homework and links to the various platforms we use for reading, spelling and mathematics, please refer to our Homework and Home Learning page. If you need help with login details for any of these, please contact your child’s class teacher via the class email address.
If you are looking for recommendations of books to read and new authors to discover, take a look at our Reading Bucket Lists for 100 Recommended Reads for Year 3 and Year 4:
NX 100 Books to Read in Lower Key Stage 2 2022
2023-2024 Our year so far…
In DT, Bowes class have been exploring linkages and leverages! Check out their awesome work!
In Maths, Bowes class have been developing their understanding of the place value of 3-digit numbers, using place value charts. Wow!
Bowes Class thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the Tri-golf festival. Not only did they have fun and develop their PE skills, they also represented our school brilliantly with outstanding behaviours and attitudes!
In Computing, Lower Key Stage 2 have been learning how to take photographs and then edit them using a photo editing app on the iPads! 
In English, we have enjoyed reading Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind in the Willows’. Bowes Class wrote their own non-chronological reports on otters. Here they are using the Chromebooks to research interesting facts about otters.
What a way to end the first week back – a visit from the climbing wall! For our Year 3s in Bowes class, this was their first time on the climbing wall in school. They all showed grit and determination as they faced this new challenge – all with fab smiles too!
Here at Neville’s Cross we place great importance on physical and mental health and wellbeing. Barnard Class have had a very active first week back in school with inflatables fun, the climbing wall and some cosmic yoga! Amazing!
In our first Science unit of the year, KS2 have been learning about the different food groups and the Eatwell guide. Here are Barnard class sorting foods into the different food groups. We also explored the different nutrients that these different food groups can give us. We were surprised to find that despite having tomatoes in, tomato ketchup also contains lots of salt and sugar!
Bowes Class were excited to get started with Reading Plus, an online programme that we use here at Neville’s Cross to promote reading fluency and comprehension. We are sure you are going to fly with your reading this year! Well done!
2022-2023 Our year so far…
As part of our Hinduism topic in RE, we enjoyed a visit from Kirtida Devi, a practising Hindu who shared aspects of her worship with us and explored some key Hindu beliefs.
Once again, our Key Stage 2 children represented NX fantastically well at the Durham Dash, despite the heat!
Barnard Class enjoyed the Y3/4 Quadkids festival!
To launch our new History topic on the Vikings, our LKS2 classes enjoyed examining a range of Viking artefacts and replicas!
As part of our Art work, inspired by Frida Kahlo, our Year 3s and 4s made these very striking split portraits! They look AMAZING!
Brancepeth Class have been working on their tennis skills!
As part of Earth Week, Barnard Class did a litter pick and enjoyed making seed bombs to create a new wildflower area on the playground.
Check out Brancepeth Class’s Eco Week pledges. At NX, we care for the environment.
In Art, Years 3 and 4 have focused on printmaking and produced some fabulous prints inspired by Anglo-Saxon designs.
In History, we are archaeologists!
In PE, Barnard Class have been working on meditative balances in Health and Wellbeing.
This year, Brancepeth class have introduced a ‘Book of Books’ where the class contribute a double-page spread of reviews on a text of their choice. The book is a masterpiece!
Bowes Class have enjoyed working with Mr Collingwood to develop their cricket skills.
Years 3 and 4 thoroughly enjoyed their Design and Technology project where they learned how to make wraps. As part of the project the children enjoyed taste testing a range of vegetables and protein fillings, designed a healthy wrap to fulfil the Eatwell guide and then learned the skills of chopping, slicing, grating and peeling to prepare the vegetables before assembling them in a wrap. Best of all, they enjoyed eating and evaluating them!
In Science, all children in Year 3 and 4 planted radish seeds as part of our Science learning. They then took them home to care for them. Fingers crossed for a good radish harvest!
As part of World Book Day, the whole school made fantastic paper-plate designs of book characters. These are now displayed in our school library. Take a look at Brancepeth Class’s designs!
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit from Liz Million for National Storytelling Week!
We enjoyed lots of different activities as part of STEM week.
Brancepeth Class have been busy preparing for Christmas with some beautiful designs for Christmas cards.
As Historians we are learning about the Roman invasion on Britain. To start our topic, we looked at a range of artefacts to immerse ourselves in the topic.
Bowes Class have been working on hockey skills in PE.
Barnard Class have enjoyed some time for mindfulness in their Forest Bathing sessions this half-term. It has been a great way to have some quiet time to enjoy the outdoors and rest our busy minds. 
As Scientists, our Year 3 and 4 pupils have learned about light and explored the concept of shadows and how they are formed. Here you can see a shadow puppet investigation where we investigated how the size of a shadow can be changed by varying the opaque object’s distance from the light source.
As gymnasts we have created balances using different body parts with a partner on both the floor and on apparatus!
As part of Democracy Week, Years 3 and 4 did some jargon busting where they found out about some key words linked to democracy and what they meant. Barnard, Bowes and Brancepeth also elected their class councillors, who delivered speeches as part of their election campaigns. All children had the chance to exercise their democratic right to vote by visiting a polling booth to vote for their chosen class councillor. 
Bowes Class loved the text Henry Finch and made a beautiful tree with finches from their thumb prints as part of our transition activities. 
We all really enjoyed our Fun Friday, where we had some inflatable fun and pushed ourselves to new limits (and heights!) on the climbing wall.
In Geography, Bowes Class have explored the four nations of the UK, their capital cities and significant features of these geographical locations. 
This was perhaps the best English lesson ever!!! We got to taste chocolate and describe it as part of our work linked to Roald Dahl when reading his autobiography, Boy! Did you know that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was actually inspired by Dahl’s visits to a local chocolate factory as a boy where he had the chance to taste test chocolate?!
A great way to learn grammar through games in Brancepeth Class.
Developing our colour work skills with watercolour landscapes and using oil pastels!
Archived Class Images
You can view our archived class images on our website.