Year 3

Mr Johnson teaches in Wren class and Miss Baxter teaches in Robin class.

 

Year 3 Curriculum

 

Our children are taught in line with the expectations that are set out in the National Curriculum.  Subjects are taught with a clear progression and links are made with prior learning. 

The  Curriculum has been designed to ensure rigorous learning of knowledge but also to help teachers make all learning exciting, active and meaningful for children.Our curriculum engages children with their learning and gets them interested in the world around them. Our Curriculum takes a global approach by helping children to connect their learning to where they are living now as well as looking at the learning from the perspective of other people in other countries. The curriculum also emphasises the history and culture of Britain and promotes fundamental British values.

PE is taught by a specialist sports coach and Science, Music and Art are taught by specialist teachers.

The overviews for each subject can be found in the table below.

 

The theme for each term's topic can be found in the table below.

Subject	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
History	Stone and Bronze Age	Bronze and Iron Age	Life in Ancient Rome	Roman Influence in Ancient Britain	What did the Ancient Egyptians believe in?	What has King Tutankhamun taught us?
Geography	Comparing UK localities	Maps	Earthquakes and volcanoes	Earthquakes and volcanoes	Using the World's resources	What is London like?
R.E	Hinduism	Christianity	Christianity	Islam	Why should we care for our World?	Why should we care for our World?
Science	Forces and magnets	Plants; pollination and seed dispersal	Rocks and soils	Plants; growth	Animals including Humans	Light
Computing	Year 3 e-safety	Programming - Creating Scratch Games (Scratch Jr)	Programming - Lego Satellite (Lego WeDo 2.0)	Movie Maker (iMovie app)	Programming - Lego Science Rover (Lego WeDo 2.0)	Creating a digital report (Pages app)
Art	Art appreciation	Drawing - cave drawing	Visual texture - Durer	Environmental art	Mosaic	William Morris designs / natural forms
DT	Mechanical systems	Mechanical systems	Design and make lanyard for purpose	Design and make lanyard for purpose
Music	Music Express; in the past	Music Express; Ancient worlds	Ukulele	Ukulele	Ukulele	Ukulele
PE	Gymnastics	games	Gymnastics	Games	Dance	Athletics
PSHE	Being me in my world	Relationships
MFL	Establishment	Family	Chinese New Year	Animals /colours	Numbers	Brown Bear / Brown Bear

 

Mathematics

We use an innovative, focused programme of work, which teaches children mathematical concepts practically first, before moving on to pictorial representations and finally the abstract recording. This is based on the Singapore Maths approach to teaching and aligns well with the focus in the National Curriculum on ‘mastery’.

The key features of our approach to Maths are:

• Emphasis on problem solving and comprehension, allowing pupils to relate what they learn and to connect knowledge.
• Careful scaffolding of core concepts through:
  • visualisation, as a platform for comprehension;
  • mental strategies, to develop decision making abilities;
  • pattern recognition, to support the ability to make connections and generalise.
• Emphasis on the foundations for learning and not on the content itself so pupils learn to think mathematically as opposed to merely reciting formulas or procedures.

English

Lessons in English are planned carefully to help children continually develop and improve their skills in speaking and listening,  reading and  writing.

Reading
We believe that reading is the gateway to learning and we want all children to leave our academy as confident readers who enjoy reading widely and for pleasure. Every day starts with reading across the school.  We aim to give children a concrete set of skills to decode and understand text but also enable them to develop a lifelong love of books. By year 3, most children can read fluently and we support them to develop their  reading comprehension skills, building their skills of inference and deduction and considering how authors select their choice of words for impact. 

It is essential that you read with your child at home every day. Your child will be given a reading book which is pitched at their specific level.  In addition to this they can select one or more free choice books each week. There is a library in each class room stocked with a range of  books to offer the children a wide range of personal choice alongside the books selected by adults for them. 

Writing

 We teach children writing  starting with exploring a wide range of high-quality texts. Children are exposed to different genres, with a focus on exploring a range of models of excellence. The children then use these models to guide the creating and drafting process. In every lesson, there is a high focus on speaking and articulating their ideas. Every sequence of English lessons begins with an immersion stage to help develop creativity, engage the children with the new learning for the week and support them to become more confident with the focused text for that week. The rest of the week is spent in preparing the children for an extended piece of writing, through a range of activities and planning techniques. It is important to note that we not only develop a real enjoyment of writing in English lessons but in all subjects across the curriculum. We expect the highest standards of writing every time a child writes in any subject.

The teaching of grammar and punctuation is embedded in our writing process although sometimes additional grammar lessons may take place. Spellings are given out each week so that children build up their knowledge of spelling rules and can use these with confidence in their writing.

Handwriting
Handwriting lessons take place two or three times each week focusing on letter height, formation and the flow of writing.  We follow a structured approach to handwriting using the Morrells approach.  We believe that this promotes flow and speed, and supports spelling as the children develop as writers.