Year 3

Mr Brittin (Class Teacher)

Mrs Ebbs and Mrs Gourlay (Support Staff)

Year 3 Homework Grid – Autumn 2025

Year 3 Intent

Year 3 Reading Spine

• Year 3 Reading Intent (177.92KB)
• Year 3 Meet the Teacher (805.06KB)

Spring 2026

In reading, we have been exploring the exciting world of science fiction through Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man.  This has also been our focus text in English, where the children have been writing their own narrative endings to the story. Building on the paragraphing skills introduced in the autumn term, the class has shown real growth in organising ideas and developing cohesion in their writing. I have been especially impressed by the ambitious verbs and descriptive adjectives they are confidently using to make their writing increasingly vivid and sophisticated. In maths, we have begun our work on multiplication and division, both with and without exchanging. The quality of discussion in lessons has been a real highlight this term. The children are becoming increasingly confident at explaining their thinking, reasoning with one another, and tackling challenges with resilience. Year 3 are truly developing into a fine group of mathematicians! Our science learning has focused on animals, including humans. We began by exploring what animals need to survive and thrive, before moving on to the nutritional elements of a healthy diet. The children have enjoyed applying their learning to real life by taking a closer look at the food we eat. Later this term, we will be investigating animal classification by skeleton type and taking a deeper look at the human body. In art, the class has been learning about combining textiles and paint. They have been fascinated by the texture and movement that materials (such as fabric and string) can bring to artwork. The children have been highly engaged in analysing this technique and thoughtfully incorporating it into the planning of their own creative pieces. In computing, we have been exploring what happens both in front of and behind the camera when presenting a report. Inspired by news broadcasts, the children have been developing their technical skills using programs that allow them to edit videos and photos. They have used these skills to create their own reports linked to our learning about Ancient Egypt. This links perfectly with our history work, where we are studying Ancient Egyptian society. Building on our learning about prehistory last term, the children have enjoyed turning their attention to one of the earliest great civilisations in the world. Finally, in PE, we are continuing our weekly swimming sessions at the local pool, where the children have made excellent progress in both confidence and technique. At Manland, we have begun a Gymnastics unit, with a strong focus on balance, control, and teamwork. It has been a wonderful start to the spring term, and I am incredibly proud of the hard work, enthusiasm, and positive attitudes shown by Year 3 every day.

Autumn 2025

A warm welcome to the new Year 3 cohort! I have been thoroughly impressed with the way they have all stepped up to Key Stage 2 and am confident of the year ahead of them. In our Reading lessons we have started studying fables, using Michael Rosen’s retelling of Aesop’s Fables as our starting point. We have started looking more deeply at fables in English, by unpicking the common features we have seen so far. This has led into developing our storytelling skills by practising intonation when reading aloud. The children were also prepared to write and perform a playscript of their own! In Maths we refreshed representations to 100, before developing new skills in partitioning numbers and more sophisticated number line work. These skills will help us to level up to four-digit numbers, developing a strong grasp of place value before moving into formal methods of addition and subtraction. I’ve been impressed with the scientific minds that have come into Year 3! We’ve begun the term looking at the human body, its bones and what helps us move. We will develop a strong scientific rigor throughout the year, learning to write like the scientists we are while conducting experiments! We are learning about the Impressionist movement in Art, and the importance of Claude Monet this term. I have been impressed with the artistic flare that has come out in our artist study and can’t wait to see the final pieces produced. In Computing we are starting to think like coders, learning how it is that the marvels of modern technology work and begin to speak the language of computers. We are making simple animations in Scratch throughout this term to demonstrate the growing fluency in these digital natives. In History we are looking at prehistoric Britain. From the Stone Age through the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age, we have been considering the enormity of time, and how we can go about gathering insights into how people used to live before written records. In PE we are going for swimming lessons and, at Manland, we have been looking at pitch dynamics, finding space, and making numbers count in invasion games.

Summer 2025

I can’t believe we’re approaching the end of the year already! Year 3 have been a delight to teach and are rounding off the year with an excellent summer term. In Reading we have been continuing our focus on non-fiction, this term looking at how humanity has affected the world around us. This is paired with the persuasive writing we have been doing based on the story ‘Stella and the Seagull’. The class has been writing and delivering some incredibly convincing speeches on why we all should reduce the amount of plastic we use. We are consolidating the writing skills developed over the year, extending ideas with conjunctions, pairing thoughtfully considered points of view with emotionally powerful adjectives and grouping information into themed paragraphs. In Maths the class has continued to impress me as we consider additional and subtraction of fractions. Their ability to focus on increasingly complex mathematical thinking is truly a delight, and Maths has remained one of my favourite lessons to teach this class. In Science we have started the term learning about the different types and categorisations of rocks. Building on our learning about volcanoes last year, we have been looking at how rocks are formed.  We have been exploring how we can learn about a time before humans, by examining sedimentary rocks found around the world for fossilised evidence. In Art, we are looking at how single frame images viewed in quick succession can form animation. We will look to move into the world of digital animation, building on our skills developed last term in Computing to create short stop-motion animations. In Computing we are considering how data can be collected and represented. We will be gathering data from within the class with a digital poll and making this data visually digestible. Year 3 are very excited to be studying the effect of the Roman Empire on Britain this term in History. Living in Hertfordshire (so close to St Albans) means that we have excellent evidence of Roman influence right on our doorstep! We are looking forward to our trip to the Verulamium to see real Roman artefacts and deepen our knowledge of the effect of Roman settlement in Britain. In PE we are coming to an end of our swimming lessons. I am incredibly impressed with how far Year 3 have progressed!  During our PE lessons at school, we are taking part in ‘bat and ball’ games to enjoy the improving weather and build on our skills developed over the year. We will be getting ready for Sports Day with a look into running technique, and strategies for longer distances.