Year 4 curriculum - Indi School - new teacher (again)

[Yheehar3mum]

Hi

Could any of you wise MNers let me know what I need to expect in terms of curriculum for pending Year 4 starting September.

My twin DDs are just finishing Y3 (with a new teacher, one year under belt) and about to start Y4 with a NQ teacher.

I fully embrace change and new skills - but just want to keep on top of things as their year progresses to make sure they are on target - I am mildly concerned about this change.

Whilst NQ teachers may lack experience, they usually have loads of enthusiasm.

I don't keep close enough tabs on DS to recount what he does at school. Sorry.

There is no such thing as 'the year 4 curriculum' - there are topics commonly done then, Literacy units designed for them (no longer statuatory so many schools have ditched in favour of topic based literacy) and thats about it. The only one more likely to be common nationally is the maths.

It sounds a little like you are setting the poor NQT up to fail. She/he will have a mentor and regular observations - the school will know if there are any problems. If you have a set idea in your head that differs from the teacher's then naturally you will conflict.

dc old school had each year's curriculums on its website.

If it's an independent school, surely it depends on the school?

Why is your child at a school you have no faith in?

As far as I know, all state schools are meant to publish their yearly overview of the curriculum online.

Private schools won't have to do this, but they might opt to. Have you looked through their website?

Independent schools can follow whatever curriculum they like, so hard/impossible to give a general answer.

You might get the sort of information you want by talking to parents you know who have an older DC who has been through y4 in your school recently and find out what was covered.

Independent schools can set their own curriculum so there isn't a definitive answer

We always get a yearly outline for the curriculum of the coming year. It comes out at start of year.

An NQT will have a mentor and regular meetings to check how they're going, any support, etc. They also have extra PPA time every week.

The two prep schools ds has attended both have their curriculums available on their website. Ds's old school publishes per year whereas ds's current school does it by term. I would expect the school to give you a copy of the curriculum if you ask.

The old year 4 teacher hasn't left unexpectedly, has she? I could be wrong but judging by your post I could know which school you're talking about.

I hadn't thought of looking at the schools website - so thanks for the pointer in that direction.

My DP thinks I am overly analysing this and that the girls will be absolutely fine and flourish. They've had a difficult couple of years with lots of changes at home to adjust to - I suppose I'm just looking for some stability now in their lives.