Staincliffe CE Junior School

Year 3 

Year 3/4 Phase Leader - Mrs Hemingway (3HE)

Teachers - Mrs Hemingway (3HE), Mrs Hardy (3HA)

Teaching Assistants - Mrs Mayet, Mrs Khot, Miss Jubb, Mrs Hussain, Mrs Nadat and Mrs Ravat

Below is the SPRING TERM overview - this covers everything that your child will be working on throughout the spring term in Year 3. 

For the full year overview of all subjects covered across this year group, please click on the Long Term Plan link below:

Year 3 Long Term Plan 2025-2026

PARENTS' OVERVIEW - SPRING TERM 2025/26 (downloadable doc)

SPRING TERM 2026:

Maths

In the first half term in maths, children will be learning to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes using an analogue clock and some children will learn how to tell the time to the nearest minute. They will understand how to read time in 12 hour digital and will start to gain knowledge in how to read time in 24 hour digital. In addition, they will work on word problems focusing on duration. They will be developing their data handling skills by looking at reading, presenting and interpreting pictograms, bar charts and tables. Towards the end of the half term, the children will work on their place value skills learning to round to the nearest 10 and the nearest 100. Finally, they will apply their knowledge of column addition and subtraction by working out money problems.

The second half term in maths, children will be revising multiplying by multiples of 10 and they will divide numbers where the answer will have a remainder. With their fraction work, they will represent, compare and order unit and non-unit fractions and will also find fractions of shapes and numbers.

Times Table Rock stars

Your child will be given a username and password for access to an app called ‘Times Table Rock stars’ which can be accessed by any mobile device e.g. Phone, tablet and laptop. Through this app, the children have a great opportunity to learn their times tables in a fun interactive way

Literacy

In Literacy, in the Spring Term the children will read ‘Into the Forest’ by Antony Browne and also write a play script. Our second year 3 text is Egyptian Cinderella. I am sure you all know the story of Cinderella but this one is a little bit different. It is set in Ancient Egypt with a young lady called Rhodopis. In years past, the children have really enjoyed reading this text and creating their own version of the story. After, the children will be writing a newspaper report– linking to our History topic.

In the second half term they will study the non- fiction units of recounts. The children will study fictional recounts as if they were witnessing Vesuvius erupting. The children will revisit starting sentences in different ways and descriptive language.

In our guided reading the children will look at a variety of texts both fiction and non-fiction. The children will be taught how to answer questions based on ’VIPERS’ which are vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarise.

PE Physical Education

In the spring term 1, Year 3 will develop their cognitive skills in P.E. They will work individually and with their partner by practising walking in different ways both forwards and backwards. This includes walking by lifting their knees and elbows up and lunge walking. They will also focus on balancing. The children will work individually and with their partner. They will be encouraged to explain what they are doing well and how they can improve. They will be encouraged to challenge themselves and to improve on their previous performances.  The Year 3 children are also going to benefit from working with ‘Ultimate Sport’ this half term where they will continue to practice their teamwork skills.

PE Days - Alternate MONDAY OR TUESDAY (Ultimate Sport)

In spring term 2, we are focusing on the ‘Creative’ part of our PE curriculum. Here, Year 3 will develop and link sequences of movements that express their own ideas. They will be able to change tactics, rules or tasks to make activities more fun or challenging. They will also be able to make up their own rules and versions of activities. They will be able to respond differently to a variety of tasks or music and will be able to recognise similarities and differences in movements and expression. They will be given the opportunity to compare their movements and skills with those of others. Finally, they will select and link movements together to fit a theme.

PE Day- MONDAY

Children need to come to school in uniform and bring in their PE kits.

Science

In the first half term the children will be studying light. We are going to be comparing sources of light and whether these are manmade or natural. We will be testing some of these sources and researching how shadows are created. Later we will be investigating how we can change shadows by going outside. We will also be looking at the dangers of the sun’s rays and how to protect our eyes.

In the second half term the children will learn how to compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties. They learn how to describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock and finally, they learn how to recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.

Computing

This term, we will be focussing on 3 different topics.

The topics we will be learning about are:

- branching databases

- creating spreadsheets

- coding

Throughout the term, they will continue to learn about e-safety, making sure how to look after themselves online.

PSHE Personal Social Health Economic Education

In the first half term, our topic will be ‘Appreciate’. The children will understand why gratitude matters and how you can develop gratitude as a habit.

In the second half term, our topic will be ‘Relate’. The children will focus on the importance of being able to relate to one another and have positive relationships.

RE Religious Education

In RE this term, we will be learning about Islam. In this unit of work, we will be answering our ‘Big Question’- How do the five pillars help Muslims live a good life?

The children will learn about some key teachings and consider how these reflect and affect the values and lives of believers. They will explore Muslim responses to ultimate questions and moral decisions, recognising their varied and different responses to these. They should learn and draw on specific religious language related to Islam.

They will then move on to consider: Bible and Christian Good Life.

It introduces pupils to the importance of the Bible for Christians – what it is and how it helps Christians to live their lives. Pupils will explore Jesus’ teachings about rules and behaviour in relation to a variety of Bible stories and parables.

Geography

Children will consider the question: Why do people live near volcanoes?

They will learn that the Earth is constructed in layers, and the crust is divided into tectonic plates. They study the formation and distribution of mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes and use Mount Etna to identify how human interaction shapes a volcanic landscape.

DT Design Technology

During the Spring term children will be looking at Cooking and nutrition- Eat Seasonally. They will discover when and where fruits and vegetables are grown seasonally in the UK.  They will learn about the colour of fruits and vegetables and their benefits by making dishes using seasonal ingredients.

MFL Modern Foreign Languages (French)

This term the children will be looking at the French adjectives of colour, size and shape. They will begin to recognise and name colour words, moving on to describe shapes by their colour. They will then look at using shapes like the French artist, Matisse. They will then consolidate their learning by following written instructions in French, producing their own animal collage in Matisse’s style.

History

Our History topic for the term is ‘What did the Ancient Egyptians believe?’

The children will learn about the Pharaoh’s, including the most famous of them all! They will find out about the interesting procedures that happened when someone died! Additionally, they will find out all about their houses, lives and about the River Nile and why it was extremely important to them. 

Music

Children will be introduced to learning about the language of music through playing the glockenspiel. The learning is focused around exploring and developing playing skills.

Art and Design

The children will be going back in time to look at Craft and Design- Ancient Egyptian Scrolls. This unit focuses on exploring and creating Ancient Egyptian art, guiding pupils in understanding and applying the styles, patterns and techniques of Ancient Egyptian art through lessons that include designing scrolls, making paper and creating contemporary responses using zines.

Spelling

We follow the spelling patterns from Spelling Shed.

The children can then use the website to practice their weekly spellings choosing the level of support they need. Each child in Year 3 has a copy of the spelling lists in their school book bag.

Children who are having phonics teaching will get spellings from their phonic phase.

We will also cover the spellings from the Statutory Year 3 / 4 list.

Homework

Every week Year 3 children will be given homework on Friday (due in the following Tuesday):

• be expected to read their reading book and get their reading record signed x3 weekly
• Play on TT Rockstars and Spelling Shed games.
• Learn their times tables up to 12 x 12
• Learn their weekly spellings (each week has a different list focus that the children have been practising in school that week)

Black Book Homework.

Each term, Year 3 children will be given their ‘Black Book’ Homework, where they are to pick at least 3 activities to complete over the term.

Year 3 Spring 2026 Black Book Homework Tasks 

This is a chance to show off what you can do! Please write in pencil only in your book and colour in using coloured pencils or felt tips. 

Choose at least 3 activities from the list below to complete over the spring term and during the half term holidays (due in on Monday 23^rd March 2026).

You are going to share all your homework with your class mates and teacher. It could include art work, writing, computer presentations (printed out), 3D models, posters, photographs etc. You will have to explain to the class what you have done.

General Information:

Water

It is important that the children remain hydrated and there are areas in all classrooms for children to keep a labelled water bottle from home. Please ensure that your child brings a water bottle into school. 

PE Lessons

All children will be taking part in PE lessons. Please make sure that your child has a PE kit in school, which includes a change of footwear suitable for playing games. 

If your child wears earrings, these need to be removed for PE or covered up with tape – your child must be able to do this themselves.  Long hair should be tied back.

Nut Allergies

There are a number of children in school with nut allergies. If you send your child to school with a packed lunch, Please DO NOT send any biscuits and chocolate bars containing nuts, or nut-based spreads in sandwiches.