Welcome to Year 3,

Saint Margaret Ward

Over the coming months, we are looking forward to working in partnership with both you and your child.

The class procedures letter below will hopefully give you all the necessary information you will require in terms of Curriculum and other important general information.  However, please do come and see me if you should require any further information.

St Alban's School Curriculum

At St Alban’s we provide a rich and varied curriculum programme that ensures your child receives the necessary skills to fulfil their potential.

We very much see this as a partnership between home and school.

Our curriculum is underpinned by our School Mission Statement below:

Useful Information for Parents/Carers

Over the coming months, we are looking forward to working in partnership with both you and your child.

The following presentation will hopefully give you all the necessary information you will require in terms of Curriculum and other important general information.  

This information can also be found in our School’s Procedural letter sent out by Parentmail and is also available below.

We do our very best to adhere to our timetable but there are occasions it may change owing to important events such as Masses for Holy Days of Obligation, school plays, school assemblies and school trips etc.  

We do our very best to adhere to our timetable but there are occasions it may change owing to important events such as Masses for Holy Days of Obligation, school plays, school assemblies and school trips etc.  

Year 3 Curriculum

Religious Education

At St Alban's we follow the Vine and the Branches.  This is a new Religious Education programme that we have recently launched. The children explore stories from both the Old and New Testament and examine the links between them.  This will allow your child to gain a deeper understanding of Jesus’ ministry, heritage and the origins of the Christian faith. We will ensure that this programme of study is enriched with a variety of activities that include links to history, geography, and art. 

The Vine and the Branches Curriculum

• Autumn:

Creation and Covenant

Prophecy and Promise  

• Spring:  

Galilee to Jerusalem

Desert to Garden

• Summer: 

Ends of the Earth

Dialogue and Encounter

Year 3 First Holy Communion Programme (FHC)

Our First Holy Communion Programme  starts in January of each year.  There is a ‘Come and See’ evening for parents on 7th November. Please ensure your child has enrolled on to the FHC Programme by 18th October.  Enrolment Forms are available from the School Office.  See our School Newsletter for important updates such as celebration Masses and Parents' Evenings.

English

Spelling  in Year 3

In year 3, we review spellings every morning through a variety of activities.  Spellings are set according to regular assessments to ensure that your child receives spellings appropriate to their needs.  In the homework sheet there is a list of spellings for your child to learn. Spelling tests are every Friday. As well as the spelling activities we do each day, please support your child in learning their spellings at home.

Writing

At St Alban's we use the Read to Write scheme which provides high-quality children's literature as a vehicle for writing.  The units of work centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts with a wealth of writing opportunies where we:

I hope you find the above booklet useful in giving you an idea as to the topics and type of activities we cover for spelling, punctuation and grammar activities. At St Alban's we do stand alone SPAG lessons as well SPAG activities in our Read to Write, Literacy Counts programme.  

Reading

At St Alban's we encourage reading for pleasure, as part of our reading curriculum.  Our new Literacy Counts 'Read to Write' scheme ensures that children are introduced to quality texts to enrich their vocabulary (please see the list of books covered under our 'Writing' section above.  These texts also ignite curiosity across a wide range of subjects. A special weekly assembly is held where children's achievements in reading our celebrated.  Reading events such as World Book Day are also used to promote further reading.

Accelerated Reader Scheme

This has proven to be a highly successful reading scheme at St Alban's School.  It is a scheme where children can earn points for the books they read.  These points contribute to your child being able to earn a variety of prizes and certificates of achievement.  In Year 3, we celebrate 250,000 word readers with special prizes and a place on our Accelerated Reader Achievement Board situated outside the school office in the main corridor.  

Guided Reading

Children are regularly assessed and grouped according to their reading ability. Your child will read every week to practise reading, inference and comprehension skills. During our daily reading carousel, children will do some follow-up work on the text studied. Your child will have access to a range of quality texts (both fiction and non-fiction) by established authors such as Michael Morpurgo, Roald Dahl, Anne Fine, Dick King-Smith, Ted Hughes and many more celebrated authors.  

Partnership with Parents

At St Alban's  parents and carers  play an invaluable role in supporting their child’s reading journey.  Please encourage your child to read on a daily basis for at least 20 minutes a day.  This reading is logged in a 'daily reading log' book and will be regularly monitored by myself.  Your child is able to borrow a rich variety of books from school to take home with them to share with you. 

Maths

Here at St. Alban's Catholic Primary School, we offer an enriching mathematic learning experience using the Maths - No Problem scheme. 

In Year 3 maths lessons, your child will be given the opportunity to explore, discuss, become fluent, to reason and problem solve through using a variety of representations and methods to achieve this.  Your child will be encouraged to develop their maths vocabulary and deepen their learning through discussion and exploration of tasks ensuring that challenge is aimed at depth of knowledge while aiming to support your child to make progress through the content at a similar pace. 

Please see Year 3's weekly homework sheet to find out the topic we are covering and to support your child with any activities given.

Times Tables

In Year 3 your child should know their x2, x5 and x10 tables (year 2 curriculum requirement) and their x3 x4, x8 tables (an end of year 3 curriculum requirement).  Although we will provide activities to help your child learn their tables (for example the school provides free access to the Times Table Rockstars webiste), it is imperative your child learns these at home.  Please see the links below to help your child learn their tables:

Times Table Rock Stars

Top Marks website

BBC Teach

For information on the rest of the subjects we cover in year 3, please go to the Parents' Evening Information Evening PowerPoint above.