Year 4 spent a brilliant day at Hampton Court Palace on Wednesday as part of their study of the Tudors. Despite the weather the class's first impressions of the palace were very positive, with many overwhelmed by the scale of this great Tudor building. We were met at the Buttery stairs by the mistress of the wardrobe, who regaled us with insider gossip of the King and his many marriages as we sat entranced in the wine cellar, before taking us up to explore the Great Hall itself, with its magnificent tapestries and stained glass. After a hasty lunch in the Buttery, we spent a while longer studying heraldic devices, carvings, glass and portraits in the state apartments before making our way into the Chapel Royal, which provided an interesting opportunity for comparisons and contrasts with our own chapel. We quickly toured the Young Henry exhibition in Wolsey's apartments, playing 'Where's Harry' with a number of epic paintings. For many, the highlight of the day was the multi-sensory tour of the palace kitchens with Hampton Court's two wonderfully entertaining and informative food historians. The whole day provided a wonderful opportunity to really enhance the children's understanding of the age of Henry VIII. Parents may be interested to know that the Palace has a very full programme of events both this and the next bank holiday weekend.

With the weather looking grim and the prospect of getting very muddy looming, Year 4 embarked on a trip that, for some, would be their first time away from home. Excitement coupled with anticipation and nervousness was high. Since the middle of September Mrs Whicher and Mr Walker had been preparing Year 4 for this trip, explaining what would happen and what to expect and now the time had arrived.

Year 4 were accompanied by Mrs Bothwell and Miss Orbell as well as their intrepid class teachers! We were all impressed by the way in which year 4 threw themselves into it and tried their best in every activity.

Upon arrival at Bethany house we were greeted by Sophie, the manager and Myles, our group leader. Both of them were in charge of organising us, making sure we ate on time and got to the correct activity on schedule. After finding our rooms (and engaging in the annual problem of putting a sheet on a duvet, for some children!) the children were taken for the first of their 3 evening activities lead by Myles. Afterwards we began the task which haunts the dreams of every teacher on residential, bedtime!

Today I went to INTECH with Years 4 and 5. We were put into groups of 7; I was in Mrs Matthew's group. First we went to an activity that had a chair camera and a dark room. When Hannah went and sat on the chair, I went into the dark room: I saw a screen where there was a picture of Hannah upsidedown. We also went to a big machine that blew out air. We put the ball on top so it stayed in the air. Another activity we went to was a grey platform with lots of wooden blocks. Using the blocks we built a bridge. After we had put the pieces together we pulled a leaver which made the platform go down, leaving the bridge standing with no support. After that we went to a big wheely bin, to test how much we recycled: I got a scanner and went into the 'shop', scanning the objects I wanted before going back to the screen - I got full marks!

In rugby there is no such thing as a “friendly”, especially playing a match against Mayville. Our team was based around a couple of players who play for a club. Mayville had a few boys with previous rugby experience. This showed in the result of six tries to one. However, the team did not give up and particular credit goes to the Year 3 members who gave a good account for themselves against bigger lads. James ”Egg” showed determination in attack as did our solo try scorer Jimmie. Harry, Tom and Katya were always in the thick of it . Harry “GG” showed great courage with his brave tackles. William was clearing away scraps of possession. All in all, Alton played with heart and commitment. Tom was Alton’s best player on the day.

On 30th January, Year 4 set off on their trip to Petersfield to attend a concert. We got in he minibuses with Mr Hoffman driving one and Mrs Whicher the other. The journey was about half an hour, but we kept ourselves entertained. When we got there, we sat on the bus for a bit and ate our snacks. Then we had a very short but pleasant walk to the theatre. When we went in it was astonishing to see all the instruments; there were violins, flutes, cellos, trumpets and much, much more. We sat near the top and I think we had the best seats there.

English

At the start of the term much of our work in English will be based on our class reading book 'Kensuke's Kingdom' by Michael Morpurgo. We will read the book in class and use it to inspire descriptive and emotional writing, diary entries, adventure stories and instructional writing. We will use the text to analyse dialogue, action, structure, characters and settings. The grammar covered will include work on adjectives, apostrophes, commas and conjunctions. Differentiated spellings will continue to be given throughout the term and will be tested weekly. This term, the children will take their first English Speaking Board Exam. As the term progresses, we will support them in preparing their poem for presentation, reading their chosen book aloud and preparing a short talk on something that interests them. This will be a challenge for the children that will improve and enhance their speaking and listening skills and self-confidence.

Year 3 and 4 travelled up to Wimbledon’s Polka Theatre for their production of Roald Dahl’s BFG. Our seats at the front of the stalls kept us close to the action, and really involved in the story, perhaps too involved as unfriendly giants rampaged through the auditorium. The challenge of adapting a novel about giants and ‘human beans’ to the stage was met brilliantly through the use of puppets, with Susan Harrison acting the role of Sophie brilliantly but also working a puppet of her character on stage. We enjoyed Tim Barlow’s attempts at gobblefunk and whizpopping in the title role, especially after Year 3’s own attempts at the former. Keith Baker’s clever set captured much of the magic of Quentin Blake’s illustrations, particularly in the scenes set in Buckingham Palace. A straw poll of our discerning audience gave the show 10/10.

Photo by Robert Workman

As we greeted Mayville again, Mr King of Mayville smiled and said "It's deja vous again!" Mr H. thought maybe not after yesterday's result. If the truth be known there was a question mark with selection as the majority of Alton's team were from Year 3, but by the end of the match all such thoughts were far gone. The beginning of the match however saw pressure "from the terraces" of comments such as sacking the manager and concentrating on netball if the result was poor.

The annual St Edmund's 6-a-side always has been a challenge to the younger footballers of Alton. This year proved to be even more so as the majority of the team were from Yr 3. The young team was captained by Francesca who proved in all the matches a thorn to the defences of the opposition.

In every game Alton were caught off guard within the first minute to go behind by a single goal. Every match the team battled hard and defended staunchly with some amazing brave goal keeping by Ben. James never stopped, either in defence and attack. Alton showed their resolve by breaking their duck and recording ACS's first win in the 4 years of participating with a well worked team goal. It wasn't until the last match that Alton gave their best display of strength of character. Putting a much fancied Shottermill on the defensive from the first whistle, Alton pounded with constant attacks from Jamie and James. Francesca being a threat on the left made a wide run from midfield, beating two tackles then let fly her right foot from 20yds out from the left touchline which sailed lethally into the top right hand corner. Unbelievable! This was the shot of the tournament exclaimed the referee afterwards. Well, the was not the fairy tale ending, Shottermill sneaked an equaliser in the dying minutes.

English

In English this term Year 4 will study a variety of texts including play scripts, stories by popular authors, historical stories, poetry, newspaper reports and instructional writing. The children will be given the opportunity to use a range of planning techniques in their independent writing and they will be encouraged to proof read and edit their own work. They will be taught to organise their work into paragraphs and use "powerful" verbs to make their writing livelier. Grammar work will include use and identification of adverbs; use of basic punctuation including commas and investigation into the use of verb tenses. Weekly differentiated spellings will be sent home daily for homework and tested on a Friday. We will be continually focusing on handwriting throughout the year. Children in Year 4 are encouraged to write with pen and will be taught to improve their use of cursive, joined writing.