Welcome To Year 3 

Please also see our school Instagram account (@ps12_stmichaels) or our class Seesaw account for further information and updates. 

Our Class Learning Journey!

Week Beginning Monday 17th November 2025

Skills Monday
We had a very busy Skills Monday! With Mrs Frowen, the children took part in orienteering and solved number problems up to 1000. With Mrs Sims, they explored France and its culture. We are excited to continue this learning next week as we begin speaking French!

Maths
This week in Maths we have been learning about time. We practised reading o’clock and half past on our own clocks before applying our skills to reasoning questions. Next week, we will be moving on to quarter past and quarter to, and we will also be solving problems that involve these specific times.

Literacy
In Literacy, we have been writing our own newspaper articles. Our focus was on Charlie winning the final Golden Ticket and the excitement this brought to the town. The children worked hard to write in the past tense and to include speech in their reports.

RE
In RE, we learned about the prophet Isaiah and the message he received from God. Isaiah’s prophecy explained that a young woman would give birth to a son who would be called Immanuel—given many years before Jesus was born. We then explored Joseph’s annunciation, where an angel told him that Mary would conceive a child through the Holy Spirit. We compared the similarities and differences between the messages given to Isaiah and Joseph.

Week Beginning 10th November 2025

LLC
This week we read Chapter 11 of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We discussed what happened to Charlie and explored how he might be feeling at this point in the story. To prepare for our newspaper writing, we focused on the 5Ws (Who, What, Where, When, Why) and collected exciting key words to include in our reports. We also worked on creating eye-catching headlines.
Next week, we will begin writing our newspaper articles all about Charlie winning a Golden Ticket!

Maths
In maths, we have been learning about Hundreds, Tens and Ones using counters. This hands-on approach has helped us understand place value in a new way. We also used this knowledge to tackle problem-solving questions by using the “think, draw, answer” strategy.

Topic
This week we explored earthquakes in more detail. We learned what an earthquake is, what people should do when one happens, and where they are most likely to occur—especially around the Ring of Fire.
We even discovered that earthquakes happen in Wales, but they are usually so small that we can’t feel them!

Week Beginning 5th November 2025

RE
This week, we have been reflecting on the big question:
‘Why do you think people listened to the prophets’ promises about Jesus?’

We began our new ‘Prophecy and Promise’ topic by exploring how Sunday is a special day of rest. We thought about the Creation story and discussed the importance of taking time to pause and enjoy God’s world. We created posters to show what we enjoy doing on Sundays, including attending Mass, playing rugby, swimming and spending time with our families.

In our next RE lesson, we learned about the four main parts of the Mass. We made our own booklets and used key vocabulary to help us understand each section more deeply. We reflected on why Mass is important to us and how it helps us grow in faith.

Maths
We continued our work with place value by partitioning numbers within 1000. We used our knowledge of hundreds, tens and ones to help us represent and understand numbers in different ways.

Topic

The highlight of our week was our fantastic school trip to Techniquest! We took part in an exciting workshop all about climate change, learning how small actions like recycling, using renewable energy and planting trees can make a big difference for our planet. We also had lots of fun exploring the exhibition floor—trying out the earthquake simulator, feeling the power of the wind room, discovering the giant mouth and teeth, watching the ants carry leaves through the pipes, and of course, experimenting with the water system!

We are very grateful to the parents who joined us on the trip.
A huge diolch! for your support—it helped make the day extra special.

Autumn Term (September & October)

Religious Education

In this branch – Creation and Covenant, children revisited the first Creation story from the book of Genesis. Earlier, they had learned that God is the creator of everything. This time, they looked more closely at what happens in the story. God brought order and life simply by speaking. Christians understand this as showing the presence of the Holy Trinity – God the Father, the Son (the Word), and the Holy Spirit.

The children also read parts of a psalm that praises the beauty of the world. The main message was that Creation is good. Everything God made is a gift. The story ends with God blessing the seventh day as a day of rest. This taught the children that they should take time to enjoy and appreciate the world.

They also learned that all people are made in the image and likeness of God. This means every person is special, and we are called to care for one another. The Church uses the phrase imago Dei to describe this idea.

Finally, the children heard about Pope Francis’ letter Laudato Si’, where he reminds us to care for our common home, the Earth. He teaches that our relationships with God, with others, and with creation are connected—and we must look after each one with love.

Next term they will be looking at Prophecy and Promise where they will be learning why Christians go to Mass on Sunday and how Catholics celebrate Mass. They will explore the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, hear some of the prayers and responses used at Mass, and learn about Advent as a time of preparing for the coming of Jesus. They will also learn how the prophets foretold Jesus’ birth and how Joseph listened to God.

Mathematics

In Maths, the children have been developing their understanding of place value with numbers up to 1000. They have been exploring what each digit represents, partitioning numbers into hundreds, tens, and ones, and using this knowledge to solve problems. This work helps build a strong foundation for number sense, which is essential for all future Maths learning.

The children have also been learning how to collect and present data. They created their own class tally charts and bar graphs based on their favourite chocolate, learning to interpret and compare the results.

Next term, the children will continue to deepen their understanding of place value and begin learning about time and temperature, applying their number skills to real-life situations.

Literacy

In literacy, the children have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They have discussed Charlie Bucket’s life and why he should win a golden ticket, as well as exploring the characters in the first chapters, including Prince Pondicherry.
 

Using their imagination, the children wrote postcards as Prince Pondicherry, asking Mr Wonka to help build a magnificent chocolate palace. They focused on using adjectives and “wow” words to make their writing more descriptive and engaging.
 

Before half term, the children also explored the features of a newspaper and why they are important. In grammar, they have been identifying past tense verbs to prepare them for writing their own newspaper reports next term.
 

Next term, the children will continue reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They will work on comprehension skills, writing a news report, and creating detailed character descriptions.

Topic

This term, our topic has been ‘Our World’. The children came up with their own questions about what they wanted to learn, including:

• Continents

• Volcanoes and earthquakes

• Wales and the world around us

• Christmas celebrations around the world
   

We began by exploring the continents and learning where we live. The children researched facts about different continents and learnt a fun continent song to help remember them.
 

We have also started learning about volcanoes, including their features and where they can be found in the world. Next term, we will continue this work and explore earthquakes, which link closely to volcanoes.

We look forward to our trip to Techniquest in November!

First week in Year 3

What a wonderful week we’ve had in Year 3!

We’ve been settling into our new classroom and learning spaces, exploring school and class rules, and getting used to our new routines.

This week, we enjoyed the story The Magical Yet. In the story, a girl struggles to ride her bike despite trying every day. Then, the Magical Yet appears to remind her that some goals take days, weeks, months, or even years to achieve — and that’s okay. It’s not that she can’t do it, she just can’t do it yet!

The children then created their own Magical Yets to remind themselves that they too can achieve anything with perseverance, even if it takes time. Their Yets are now displayed around the classroom to inspire and motivate them throughout the year.

The children also wrote letters to their future selves, describing what they can do now and what they hope to accomplish by the end of the year. It has been such a joy to read their goals — from learning to swim, to earning a Mrs. Taylor Award, to receiving a pen licence!

We also shared our first collective worship, reflecting on the story of Jesus visiting Mary and Martha. We discussed how Jesus remained calm when Martha was upset, and how we can follow Mary’s example by spending a few quiet moments each day in prayer and time with Jesus.