Learning in Year 3

Year 3 is an exciting stage as children begin Key Stage 2 and develop greater independence, resilience and responsibility for their learning. Through a carefully sequenced, knowledge-rich curriculum, pupils build upon their previous learning while exploring increasingly challenging ideas.

Reading and writing lessons are enriched by engaging texts such as Greta and the Giants, The Pebble in My Pocket, Leon and the Place Between, Sam Wu Is Not Afraid of the Dark, The Dancing Bear and The Magician’s Nephew. Children develop their writing through poetry, first- and third-person narratives, non-chronological reports, formal letters, instructional writing, performance poetry and historical stories containing dialogue.

In mathematics, pupils develop fluency, reasoning and problem-solving as they work with increasingly complex number, calculation, measurement, geometry and statistics.

Across the wider curriculum, pupils:

• investigate rocks, animals including humans, forces and magnets, plants and light in science;

• develop fieldwork and Ordnance Survey map skills and explore the human and physical geography of the United Kingdom;

• study Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and examine the Roman Empire’s impact on Britain in history;

• develop creativity through drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, textiles, sculpture and three-dimensional art;

• design and make products involving textiles, mechanisms, systems, structures, and food and nutrition;

• explore singing, rhythm, musical texture, notation, composition, timbre and ensemble performance;

• begin learning Spanish through greetings, numbers, colours, classroom language, questions, instructions and everyday conversations; and

• learn about friendships, families, respectful relationships, personal safety, healthy choices and being ready to learn through PSHE.

Regular opportunities for reading, handwriting, spelling, physical education, creative expression and language learning ensure that children experience a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum throughout Year 3.

Further details can be found in our Year 3 curriculum overview.