Year 3 Summer Term 2026 by Katie Saxon

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

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The parent newsletter is sent out, via email, on Mondays. Please read this every week for the most recent updates on events.

04.05.26 – Bank Holiday
25.05.26 - 29.05.26 - Half Term
02.06.26 – Class Photographs
22.06.26 – LP Sports Day
30.06.26 - Meet the Teacher Day
22.07.26 - End of Term, 12:30 finish

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

This term in PE, children will take part in Outdoor Adventurous Activities focused on developing communication and tactical thinking. In the first half term, they will complete activities such as orienteering, scavenger hunts, problem-solving challenges, and team navigation tasks. Working in pairs and small groups, children will use maps, clues, and instructions to find solutions together. These activities build teamwork, clear communication, listening skills, and the ability to plan and adapt strategies. They also develop resilience and encourage children to reflect on and improve their approaches. These skills link directly to future learning in invasion games such as football, hockey, and rugby.

Later in the term, Year 3 pupils will be practising a range of athletic skills in preparation for Sports Day. They will focus on developing their running, jumping and throwing techniques through a variety of fun and engaging activities. The children will work on improving their speed, coordination and control, while also learning the importance of teamwork and perseverance. They will continue to build confidence and will be excited to showcase their skills during Sports Day.

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

PSHE: This term's unit is Relationships. Children explore relationships, including family roles, friendships, and responsibilities. They learn to resolve conflict, negotiate fairly, and develop positive friendships. Pupils also begin to understand online safety, media influence, global connections, rights, and wellbeing, while building empathy, respect and awareness of different cultures.

We will then move on Changing Me. In this PSHE unit, children explore how humans grow and change, including physical development from birth through to puberty. They learn about personal hygiene and how to care for their bodies as they grow. Pupils discuss feelings about change, challenge stereotypes, and consider future transitions and support networks.

RE: This term the children will be learning about Buddhist teachings and the story of the Buddha. They learn how ideas such as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path guide Buddhists in understanding suffering, change, and happiness. Pupils reflect on how these teachings might help them live better lives.

Later in the term, children explore the question of whether everyone can be happy through the life and teachings of the Buddha. They learn how he discovered that wealth does not guarantee happiness and how selfishness can lead to suffering. Pupils reflect on kindness, meditation, and living thoughtfully.

To help your children at home you can:

Discuss real-life examples of kindness, helping others, and making good choices, linking to ideas from both PSHE and RE.
Explore questions together about beliefs, happiness, and different cultures, encouraging curiosity, respect, and open-minded thinking.

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

Throughout the first half of this term, children will be learning about who the Romans were and why they invaded Britain. They will explore what life was like in Iron Age Britain and begin to identify how Roman rule changed everyday life. Using videos, short texts and class discussion, children will consider early evidence of Roman influence and begin to think about whether these changes made life better or worse for people in Britain.

Later in the term, Year 3 children will learn about Boudicca and the Celtic rebellion, as well as key aspects of life in Roman Britain such as roads, towns, homes, food, religion and inventions. Children will use this knowledge to build a balanced view of the impact of Roman rule. They will then complete a written task answering: “The Romans made life better for the people in Britain. How far do you agree?”

Parents may wish to support learning further by visiting local Roman heritage sites within reach of the area, such as Silchester Roman City Walls, Verulamium Museum in St Albans, or Roman remains in London, to help bring the topic to life.

To support your child at home please can you:

Talk about one way the Romans changed life in Britain
Encourage them to explain their ideas using “because” and “for example”
Explore simple history videos or BBC Bitesize together to reinforce learning

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

Throughout summer term, the children will be reading The Castle of Tangled Magic. This rich and imaginative novel, inspired by Eastern European folklore, follows Olia as she discovers a mysterious castle filled with magic, secrets and shifting rooms. As a longer text, we will spend the whole of the summer term exploring it, allowing the children to deepen their understanding of a continuous narrative. To be successful, the children will focus on developing their book talk (discussing and justifying ideas about what they read), strengthening retrieval skills and thinking more deeply about characters, themes and plot.

Alongside this, we will read a range of non-fiction texts about castles to support the children’s understanding of the setting, as well as carefully selected poetry that mirrors the rich, descriptive language used in the novel. These texts will help children make connections and broaden their vocabulary.

Later in the term, the children will continue to explore a range of shorter extracts and poems, applying the same skills of discussion, inference and comparison across different text types.

To support your child at home please can you:

Read regularly together and ask questions about the story and characters
Encourage your child to explain their opinions using evidence from the text
Practise retrieving key information by asking simple questions about what they have read

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

This term, Year 3 will be focusing on developing their understanding of angles and shape. The children will learn to identify right, acute and obtuse angles, explore turns, and classify shapes based on their angles. They will use practical resources such as shape manipulatives, visual models and diagrams to support their learning, before applying this knowledge to reasoning and problem-solving tasks.

Later in the term, the focus will shift towards solving missing number problems involving multiplication and division. The children will use a range of taught strategies, including known facts, arrays and bar models, to help them reason mathematically. They will then move on to recognising and representing equivalent fractions, using concrete resources and visual representations to deepen their understanding and make connections between different fractions.

In addition to this, there will be a strong focus on arithmetic throughout the term. The children will continue to practise their times tables daily using Times Tables Rock Stars, as fluency in multiplication underpins many areas of maths learning. Weekly homework will also be set on Complete Maths to consolidate and extend classroom learning.

To support your child at home please can you:

Encourage daily times tables practice (10 minutes on Times Tables Rock Stars)
Support completion of weekly Complete Maths homework
Practise quick recall of number facts and discuss how they solve problems

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

Throughout the first half of this term, we will be exploring light, shadows and reflections. Children will investigate how we see things, how light travels and how it behaves when it reflects off different surfaces such as mirrors and shiny objects. They will carry out practical investigations, including a comparative test to find out what happens to shadows when the distance between the light source and an object changes. They will make careful observations, measure shadows, record results and look for patterns. This will build their understanding of how shadows are formed and how they can change in size and shape.

Later in the term, Year 3 children will be learning about rocks, fossils and soils. They will compare and group different types of rocks based on their properties, use scientific equipment such as hand lenses to classify them, and explore how fossils are formed over time. They will also investigate soils, including what they are made from and how they differ. This learning will lead into a composite task where children write an informative piece explaining different types of rocks and their features.

To support your child at home please can you:

Talk about and notice examples of light, shadows and reflections in everyday life
Encourage your child to describe and compare different natural materials like stones, soil or pebbles
Practise using scientific vocabulary such as “transparent”, “opaque”, “reflection” and “fossil”

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

This summer, Year 3 pupils will be learning Spanish through the topic “Let’s go to the beach.” They will build vocabulary linked to beach items, weather, and activities, while practising numbers in context. Children will learn to express opinions using phrases such as “me gusta” and “no me gusta,” and begin to extend their sentences using conjunctions like “y” (and) and “porque” (because). They will also explore simple grammar, including masculine and feminine nouns and key determiners such as “el,” “la,” “los,” and “las.” Pupils will develop their speaking and listening skills by answering questions like “¿Qué llevas?” and “¿Qué haces?” Phonics will also be a focus, helping children pronounce Spanish sounds accurately and confidently. Through songs, games, and speaking activities, children will build confidence in communicating simple ideas in Spanish.

To support your children at home please could you:

Practise key vocabulary and phrases little and often through games or flashcards
Encourage children to say simple sentences about likes, dislikes, and activities
Listen to Spanish songs or videos to support pronunciation and confidence

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

Music: We will be learning more skills on the ukulele including playing and singing in 2 part harmony songs from around the world. We will also be improvising and composing music for the ukulele.

How you can help: Listen to music from different cultures at home, you could also listen to a ukulele orchestra eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJabN8VP8Gk

Art: Art this term focuses on transforming 2D card shapes into 3D structures and sculptures. Children explore abstract shapes, space and negative space, and learn to construct free-standing forms. They manipulate a range of materials and develop joining techniques, inspired by the work of Anthony Caro.

DT: In DT this term, pupils design and build castles using geometric shapes. They draw and label features, understand how castles are made from 3D structures, and create nets by scoring, cutting and assembling. Children use glue to construct models, then evaluate their designs against simple success criteria.

To support your child at home please can you...

Support sketching and drawing at home to develop observation skills
Use recycled materials, LEGO or clay for simple modelling and building activities
Practise joining techniques using tape, glue or construction kits

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-16 19:18:15 UTC

Last term was a great success for Year 3, filled with impressive progress and memorable achievements. The pupils made incredible strides in their oracy skills, learning to control their voices to create tone and develop a strong stage presence as they rehearsed for The Jungle Book. Every child had the opportunity to role play lines from the play during weekly Guided Reading sessions, building both confidence and expression. It was wonderful to come together as a school community to celebrate the children during their performances, and I am sure you will all agree that the show was a great success. It marks an important milestone in their academic journey, as the children prepare to finish their time in Year 3 and move from Lower Primary into Upper Primary. We look forward to this new beginning and will continue to stretch and challenge the children this term as they prepare for a successful transition into Year 4.

ksaxon7 — 2026-04-19 12:23:46 UTC

Year 3 pupils will be studying Adventure at Sandy Cove, a suspenseful finding tale, exploring how tension is built through setting, character reactions and the gradual approach of danger. They will identify and apply key grammatical features, including expanded noun phrases, fronted adverbials and rhetorical questions. Through reading and writing activities, they will learn to structure their own adventure narratives, developing atmosphere and suspense in their writing.

Later in the term, Year 3 pupils will write an explanation text, learning to apply key non-fiction features. They will use clear headings, structured paragraphs and causal language to explain processes. Pupils will focus on using conjunctions, technical vocabulary and present tense to ensure their writing is clear, organised and informative.

Finally, Year 3 pupils will end the year by learning an extract from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, exploring language, character and performance, and building confidence in speaking and understanding classic texts.