Welcome back Year 3! It has been an extremely positive start to the year, despite all the changes that we have been through and we look forward to a fresh start in our learning. Once you’ve read through our Year 3 information please don’t miss our lovely class videos and classroom video tours!
This year your class teacher:
In London Bridge is Makeda and your T-A is Jemima.
In Putney Bridge your class teacher is Rosie and your T-A Is Jay.
In Redbridge your class teacher is Vicky and your T-A is Gosia.
Communication
Now more than ever, it is vital that the school office has current and up-to-date contact details (phone numbers and email addresses). Please contact them if your details have changed.
Normally, we pride ourselves on our open door policy, but unfortunately current circumstances make this very difficult. Instead, if you need to speak to your child’s class teacher, you can either contact the office and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Alternatively, you could email us using the following email addresses:
For administrative queries such as reporting absences and appointments, informing the school of late arrival, school lunches, start times, after school club/activities, school payments etc, you should contact the office on 0208 888 8824.
Morning and End of Day Routines
Year 3 children start the day at 9.05am. When accompanying your child to school, we kindly ask that you wait outside the gates until any earlier year groups have entered the premises. As per the Will’s letter, if you have children in different year groups, please use the entrance gate identified for your youngest child and the older sibling can enter with you, however the older child will need to go to their identified waiting area.
The Year 3 waiting area is Zone 3. This on the AstroTurf (on the side closest to Park Road). To help us stay safe, please remember to wear a face covering on school site. At the end of the day (now 3.35pm), your child’s teacher will lead the class back to the ball court (by Zone 3). Please remain on the AstroTurf and wait for your child to come to you.
General Class Housekeeping
Will has covered much of the day to day in his letters to you all, but here are a few things specific to Year 3:
Year 3’s PE day is on a Wednesday. PE kits should be worn into school on this day.
Art. We are looking forward to teaching our own classes art this year and will do this on a Friday afternoon and where possible, it will be linked to our class learning in other subjects.
We are delighted that Elena will take the children for singing every Wednesday this half term. Each class will have a separate session so as not to mix the class bubbles inside the building.
We hope that Toby will be back with us as soon as he can so that the children can resume drumming but we will keep you informed about this during the coming month or so.
Home learning. We recommend that the children read for at least 15 minutes each day for pleasure. Pleasure is the key word so it should be relaxed and not a chore. You can listen to them read, spend time reading to them or let them read independently.
Continue to encourage them in their times tables – consolidating 2s,5s and 10s and learning 3s and 4s. We will teach them to practise using card games which may be fun for you to play with them at home too.
We will also give the children topic-related projects – one each half term – and they will have more time to complete them and the chance to share their hard work with the rest of the class.
From next week the children will be bringing weekly spellings home to learn for a test each Wednesday. So, each Wednesday the children will be tested on the spellings sent home the previous Wednesday, a similar routine to Year 2.
Water & Snacks. The children should bring a full water bottle in every day and this will be kept with them at all times of the day. They will also need to bring in a healthy break time snack to keep them going. No sugary treats or nuts please – ideally fruit.
Going to the toilet. Each class has designated toilets and children are encouraged to use the toilets during break-time if possible. Of course, we are being mindful of over-crowding in the toilets so we will be allowing children to go to the toilet during morning and afternoon sessions if they need to.
Curriculum
In Year 3 there will be daily coverage of: Maths, English, Reading, PSHE & The Daily Mile (½ a mile at current). Science, Humanities, Music (Singing), Art, R.E, Computing and P.E will taught every week. Alongside re-visiting Year 2 objectives and teaching the Y3 curriculum, we will also be implementing the Recovery Curriculum, created by our BG PSHE committee. This bespoke programme aims to provide opportunities to address any of the 5 losses that children may have experienced during the lockdown period (loss of routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom) and to improve children’s social and emotional well-being.
Reading
Children are encouraged to take books from our class book corners and are able to take these books home. Please ensure these books are returned so that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the books in our book corners.
This year, when a book is returned, the children will place the book in a ‘quarantine box’ kept in the classroom. All books will be quarantined for a minimum of 48 hours over the weekend before they are returned to the book corner.
Assessments
Despite there being a disruption to the children’s learning last year we are doing everything we can to close any gaps that there may be. This means starting Year 3 at slower pace; we have made sure that we are introducing the curriculum at a place where the children feel comfortable. For the time being there will be no formal testing of the children, however we will be assessing the children’s progress using our own judgement and observations in the classroom during day to day practice. We are considering including Year 3 in the next round of tests which happen in November.
Parents Evening
The first parents’ evening is scheduled for November. Here you will be able to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss how your little one is settling into the year. The school is considering how this meeting can be safely managed, and will keep you informed of the exact dates and details nearer the time. We look forward to meeting with you individually!
Story time is something we do a lot with your children at school, so we really encourage you to keep reading books at home. Children can also listen to stories online, which can help support them in their daily reading:
Last year for World Book Day, Rob Biddulph, an author and illustrator, visited Bounds Green and did an amazing workshop for our key stage one children. He is doing really amazing online art activities for children. Click the link below:
