Reading Records
This week in Year 3, we have been talking about the importance of regular reading and keeping our reading records up to date. Reading records must be signed by an adult each week, and they help us to celebrate the children’s progress in Book Club every Friday.
Homework can be based on your child’s eCollins book, as this is the same text they are reading and practising fluency with in class.
This week’s task (15/09/25) is called ‘Step into their Shoes’. The children should imagine themselves as one of the characters in their book and think carefully about what that character might be feeling or thinking. This helps us to practise inference skills and deepen our understanding of the story.
Please use the template provided below to support your child with their homework. We are looking forward to seeing the children’s brilliant ideas and sharing them in Book Club on Friday!
Year 3 Science
This week in Science, Year 3 began their new topic: Skeletons. We learned that our skeleton gives us shape, helps us move, and protects our organs. The children enjoyed naming key bones: the skull, pelvis, femur, ribcage, and spine.
Help at home: help your child practise naming and identifying some of the key bones we have learned in class.
The five bones we are focusing on are:
- Skull – protects the brain.
- Spine – supports the body and protects the spinal cord.
- Ribcage – protects the heart and lungs.
- Pelvis – supports the body’s weight and protects organs.
- Femur – the thigh bone, longest and strongest in the body. It helps us to stand.
You could even make it fun by playing “Simon Says” and pointing to the correct bone on yourself!
Living and Learning: I follow the school rules
Hello everyone!
It has been such a pleasure welcoming back our wonderful Year 3 class this week. I’m Miss Gilliland and I’m absolutely delighted to be your new teacher this year! We’ve had a busy and exciting couple of days settling back into school life, getting to know each other and starting to make our classroom feel like a happy, safe space for learning.
This week, our Living and Learning statement is “I follow the school rules.” We have spent time exploring our three school rules:
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We’re ready
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We’re respectful
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We’re safe
Together, we talked about what each of these rules looks like, sounds like, and feels like in different parts of the school day; from lining up in the playground to working hard in lessons. The children shared thoughtful ideas and showed a great understanding of how these rules help keep our school a happy and healthy place to believe and achieve.
I’m already so proud of how the children have started the year. They’ve come back full of energy, enthusiasm and curiosity. I’m looking forward to an exciting term ahead full of learning, laughter and new adventures!
Well done, Year 3. What a brilliant beginning!
Help at home: talk about our three school rules and why they’re important
Design & Technology – Make
Year 3 have been busy this morning making their model go karts using Tech Card and electric circuits. They have taken what they have learned from the design phase to problem solve and make the models move independently.
Online vs Offline – a healthy balance
As part of our health week, Year 3 have been learning about time spent online and spotting the signs of too much screen time. It’s important to have a happy and healthy balance of online and offline activity, so we began by adding some positives of both into a scale. Our aim was to keep the scale balanced, representing a healthy balance of online vs offline. Here are some examples from both sides of the scale.
I enjoy connecting with my family online.
I enjoy playing my games online with friends.
I like learning synonyms of words using Google.
I enjoy going outside and playing with friends.
I enjoy my gymnastics in the garden.
I really like making dens outside.
We then learnt about spotting the signs of too much screen time and what to do about them. These signs can show in various ways, such as physical aches in our bodies, to devices running out of battery due to being used too much in one sitting.
Finally, we created a poster to take home as a reminder to keep a happy and healthy balance of online and offline activity.
Help at home:
Help your child find a healthy balance between the two. Being online can be really healthy for us to learn new things, but we don’t want children being lost in the internet. Maybe set up some online vs offline routines at home.
KS2 production
Rehearsals are well underway for the KS2 production. The stage is up (thank you Mr Atkins!) and the children are working hard to add the finishing touches before our performances next week.
The children have worked so hard to learn lines, get the songs pitch-perfect and to create costumes and props. We can’t wait for you to see it!
If you haven’t yet told us if you would like your child to stay in school between the end of the school day and the performance on Wednesday evening please let us know as soon as possible.
Rocksteady Music School!
St James had a very exciting visit from Rocksteady Music School this morning. The key focus of the visit was to engage pupils in music, to learn about various instruments and how to play them. We started the morning with a whole school assembly, where the children learnt all about what it takes to be in a band – we also got to sing along to some of the latest hits! Then, KS1 and KS2 had separate workshops where a pupil band was put together in just 30 minutes! There was lots of resilience, teamwork and happiness shared all morning, particularly when learning to keep a consistent tempo!
We are aiming to introduce more musical connections at St James next year. Rocksteady have given us confirmation that children would really benefit from this. There will be a letter sent home later in the week with more information on musical opportunities in September.
Cricket! We love it!
Year 3 have been learning lots of techniques and tactics in cricket this half-term. From initially learning how to hold the bat properly, to slogging it half way across the field, the children have really enjoyed the PE sessions and have made brilliant progress.
We are still always using our fundamental movement skills across activities. Cricket requires the following basic skills that are interchangeable across sports:
- throw
- catch
- run
- strike
Here are some photos of the children in action!
Class Novel
Year 3 are determined to finish our last class novel of the year by a well-loved classroom author, Onjali Rauf. Here’s the book, protected always by our loved Latin mouse – Minimus!
The Letter with the Golden Stamp puts us in the shoes of Audrey – a young girl with a lot to carry on her shoulders. Her mum is ill and it’s Audrey’s job to take care of her, and her two siblings, whilst keeping it all a big secret. But that’s not all. There’s a suspicious house across the street that might be spying on Audrey and her family.
At the moment in our novel, Audrey is trying to communicate with the stranger across the street. She’s received a scruffy note asking Audrey and friends to wash the dirty car outside the house for £2! Audrey is also busy trying to make sure her family have enough to eat, and shop keeper Mrs Davies and Mo the postman are helping her out.
Help at home:
Audrey is currently doing something that is wrong (shoplifting), but she’s doing it for a caring reason. Talk to your child about whether her choice is ever ok, even in Audrey’s circumstances. Could Audrey go about her problems in another way? Who could she ask for help? Who could we ask for help in and out of school if we need it?
RE Drop Down – Buddhism
This morning, Year 3 were learning all about Buddhism. We began by looking at all religions and we created a timeline for their times of origin. The children really impressed me with their memory skills and presentation in books.
Next, we focussed primarily on Buddhism and looked into the founder, the place of origin and number of world and UK followers. Here’s what we found:
- The founder of Buddhism was a man named Siddartha Gautama (Buddha).
- Buddhism originated in India.
- Number of worldwide followers: over 520 million – it is the fourth-largest world religion.
- Number of UK followers: Roughly 290,000 (as of 2021 UK census).
Finally, we looked into the life of Buddha and how he achieved enlightenment. Siddartha Gautama was a prince that lived a life of luxury. When he saw other people suffering, he decided to leave his palace and life among holy men in search for truth. His search took him six years, but he became enlightened by meditating under a fig tree. From then on, he was respected as a role model and teacher – his teachings spread far and wide, particularly across Asia.
Help at home:
Buddhism is a way of life that teaches people to be kind, calm, and wise so they can be happy and help others be happy too. Talk to your child about their learning on this and how this links to our school vision (St James is a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe). Do we share some of the same values as Buddhists?