Stokenham Area Primary School

Year 3 Outline Planning

Autumn Term 2025

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome Back to the Autumn Term!

We hope you and your families enjoyed a restful summer break and are returning refreshed and ready for the new school year. The Autumn Term is always an exciting time, full of new opportunities and fresh beginnings. Whether you are joining us for the first time or returning after the holidays, we are delighted to welcome you into our school community.

Over the coming weeks, we look forward to seeing pupils settle into their new routines, embrace their learning, and take part in the wide range of activities and events planned for the term.

Please find below the curriculum outline for this Autumn.

English

We will be using book-based planning sequences to provide comprehensive curriculum coverage, engaging children to write with a clear audience and purpose. This term we will be studying The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy and Leon and the Place Between by Angela McAllister. We have frequent opportunities to practise writing within each unit with a clear purpose and audience. We will build on and develop skills in vocabulary and grammar over time, using a layered approach. Each of our English units will culminate in us planning, drafting, editing and publishing our own writing.

Reading

Our class novel for the first half term is The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd. After half term, we will read Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman. We use these texts each week to work on the comprehension skills of summarising and predicting. In addition, each week we will use an extract to learn how to retrieve, explain and infer information from a text. We plan to use a variety of texts from different areas of the curriculum as well as poetry and classics. Together, this ensures we have a reading comprehension lesson each day. There will also be daily opportunities for us to pursue their enjoyment of reading independently. Please keep reading at home with your child as much as you can.

Handwriting

We practise handwriting three times a week. We have pen licenses at the ready for children who join consistently with correct letter size and formation. This means that they will progress from writing in pencil to pen. 

Spelling

From Monday to Thursday, we practise spellings using a variety of techniques for a spelling test on Friday. We give out new spellings every Friday.

Maths

In Maths we are recapping adding and subtracting through tens boundaries before moving on to numbers to 1000. We will be looking at using three addends and representing this with resources, images and equations. The next unit will involve us adding, subtracting and using multiples within 1000 as well as investigating volume and mass.

Science

This half term we will be studying Chemistry by learning about Rocks. We will make comparisons of types of rocks and how fossils are formed. After half term we will move onto Physics and will be learning about Light. We will explore the relationship between light and how we see and will investigate and learn about the formation of shadows.

Geography

We will be learning all about the UK in Geography this term. On maps and globes we will locate the UK, Great Britain and the British Isles, and regions and counties; identifying physical features and regeneration of the South West region.

History

Our History topic this term is Prehistoric Britain. We will be learning about

how settlements, food, communities and beliefs changed across the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Art, Craft and Design

In Art our learning will focus on gestural drawings with charcoal and we will be studying the artwork of Edgar Degas. We will be learning how artists create dramatic drawings through the use of chiaroscuro and will be making our own atmospheric and suspenseful artwork.

Design and Technology

After half term, we will build knowledge of frame and shell structures by designing and creating structures that can serve as picture frames that would be sold in a commercial context. In focused practical tasks, we will make and test different ways of making our structures stand (with a stand and ties) or hang on a wall.

Computing

This term we will develop our understanding of digital devices, with an initial focus on inputs, processes, and outputs. We will also compare digital and non-digital devices and the children will be introduced to computer networks, including devices that make up a network’s infrastructure, such as wireless access points and switches.

French

Our unit J’apprends le français will teach the children very basic phrases and nouns in French with the aim of providing them with a solid foundation before progressing to more challenging and ambitious units.

P.E.

This term our two P.E topics will be tag rugby and gymnastics. In tag rugby we will explore how to apply the principles of attack vs defence, with a particular focus on passing and moving to score a try. The children will develop their understanding of when, where and why they need to create space when they are attacking. After half term, our gymnastics focus will be exploring movements and balances in symmetrical and asymmetrical ways.

P.S.H.E.

This term will be learning all about different families and relationships. We will think about how families all look different and how families care for each other.

R.E.

This term we are learning about Christianity. Our key questions are:

What is it like for someone to follow God?

What is the Trinity and why is it important for Christians?

We will be reflecting on beliefs and the meanings of religious ideas and stories.

Music

We music we will be exploring a range of musical genres and thinking about how music brings people together. We will learning three different songs over the next seven weeks as well as practicing our harvest song and then moving onto our Christmas production!

Autumn’s curriculum is bursting with variety to enthuse the children and help them continue to develop a range of knowledge and skills. We always encourage children to extend their learning beyond the classroom and we welcome them to share this in class, as this is always inspiring for everyone. 

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss your child or have any questions.

Kind regards,

Mrs Susannah Taylor and Miss Becky Ryder

This Year’s Curriculum

Stokenham Area Primary School Curriculum Map

If you would like further information in relation to the curriculum please feel free to contact the school office.