Dear Parents and Carers,

Summer Term 2026

We hope you have all had a happy and healthy break. Listed below are the themes for each subject area that we will be following this term which we hope you will find useful.

Year 3

English

Our Tower by Joseph Coelho and Richard Johnson

The children will analyse the language and word choices used in the text as well as discussing the illustrations. To create their own descriptions and poems, the children will use Joseph Coelho’s word choices and phrases to inspire their own writing. They will go on to practise key narrative skills such as creating dialogue, using conjunctions, prepositions and adverbs to build cohesion in their writing. Finally, the children will use the narrative structure of this poem to create their own fantasy narrative, using a circular planning format.

Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit

The children will explore the main characters, including how their feelings change through the story, and will write letters of advice to help save them from the eruption. Through collecting banks of powerful vocabulary, the children will write a vivid description of the eruption of Mount

Vesuvius. In the final part of the learning sequence, the children will become journalists and write a newspaper article to report on the eruption, including quotes from survivors in the town.

The Thames and Tide Club by Katya Balen

A mysterious piece of jewellery is amongst some objects that have been found whilst mudlarking, which will kick off a mystery. The children will receive an advertisement from The Thames and Tide Club, asking for more mudlarks to join. The children will apply for a position in the club and will go on to write letters of advice, create setting descriptions (tourist brochure and a weather report), diary entries and practise writing dialogue as the narrative progresses. Based on the mysterious jewellery found earlier, the children will write their own fantasy narrative, following the plot structure of this exciting story.

The Zebra’s Great Escape by Katherine Rundell

As we begin to read the story, the children will create Wanted posters for the criminal stealing the animals from the park and write SOS messages to seek help from other animals to catch the criminal and find the stolen animals. The children will complete character comparisons for Mink (the protagonist) and Mr Spit (the villain) and practise the use of fronted adverbials by developing additional action scenes for the book as well as through describing settings. Possessive apostrophes are taught through the creation of poetry about Mr Spit’s ‘alphabet of animals’. Finally, the children will go on use roleplay to plan speech and dialogue before planning and writing their own version of a ‘great escape’ animal mystery.

Maths

Unit fractions and non-unit fractions

• count up and down in tenths; recognise that tenths arise from dividing an object into 10 equal parts and in dividing one-digit numbers or quantities by 10
• recognise, find and write fractions of a discrete set of objects: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators
• recognise and use fractions as numbers: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators
• recognise and show, using diagrams, equivalent fractions with small denominators

• add and subtract fractions with the same denominator within one whole [for example,  + =  ]
• compare and order unit fractions, and fractions with the same denominators
• solve problems that involve all of the above

Parallel and perpendicular sides in polygons

• draw polygons by joining marked points, and identify parallel and perpendicular sides

Time

• tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including using Roman numerals from I to XII, and 12-hour and 24-hour clocks
• estimate and read time with increasing accuracy to the nearest minute; record and compare time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours; use vocabulary such as o’clock, am/pm, morning, afternoon, noon and midnight
• know the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year
• compare durations of events [for example, to calculate the time taken by particular events or tasks]

Science

Forces and Motion

The children will be introduced to forces as pushes and pulls, understand what forces do and learn that forces change the shape of objects, the speed they are moving at, and the direction in which they are travelling. They will learn to use of arrows to show size and direction of a force and identify from these which forces are opposing and the same size (balanced).

Pupils will learn about unbalanced forces and their effects and use force arrows to identify which force is bigger or smaller and then use this to predict the movement of objects.

The children will be introduced to friction by feeling the effects of it by attempting to slide different objects, they will learn about friction as an opposing force and examples of helpful and unhelpful friction in everyday life. Pupils will investigate how friction affects movement.

Magnetism

We will spend some time experimenting with magnets and learn about the fundamentals of magnetism. Pupils will discuss why magnetism is a non-contact force and will see this in action with their own demonstrations. The children will learn the difference between contact and non-contact forces and explore some uses of magnets.

The children will investigate a range of objects made from different materials and use this to identify whether materials are magnetic or non-magnetic and use this information to make predictions about other objects.

The children will use magnets to show that the magnetic forces of attraction and repulsion are strongest nearest the poles. They will then investigate how distance affects the strength of the attractive force and be given opportunities to think about how they might set up investigations into magnetism.

History

European History: Ancient Greece

What did the Greeks do for us?

The children will learn about ideas and knowledge that the Greeks developed, and how this has shaped our lives today. For example, pupils will learn about:

Democracy, a key British value that was first widely used in Athens. Pupils will compare Athenian democracy with UK democracy today, focusing on the fact that the UK democracy is open to more people (women).

Architecture and classical Greek architectural orders.

Gods, goddesses and mythology. The focus is firstly on gods and goddesses, so that pupils can a) build the ideas that many civilisations in the past believed in multiple gods who each had their own responsibilities, and b) build a foundation for learning about Roman gods in Year 5. Pupils will then consider how myths continue to shape our culture today.

Knowledge, including science, medicine, language, mathematics and the night sky.

Geography

Looking at Europe and Tourism

We will focus on three contrasting regions within Europe. This unit will extend pupils’ knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to other areas of the United Kingdom and Europe. This will include the locations and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. The lessons should develop the pupils’ use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

Location knowledge – locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia), concentrating on Europe’s environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries and major cities.

Place knowledge – understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom and two regions in European countries.

Geographical skills and fieldwork – use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe the features studied.

RE

Summer 1

• Learn abut the Christian Creation story in Genesis and understand its place within the Bible’s “Big Story,” exploring beliefs about God as creator and the world being good.
• Explre what Christians believe about caring for the world, including ideas of stewardship and responsibility for the environment.
• Study the stry of the Fall (Adam and Eve) and consider how it explains why things sometimes go wrong in the world.
• Reflect n how Christian beliefs influence actions today, including caring for the Earth, making good choices, and asking for forgiveness.

Summer 2

• Explre why the world is not always a good place, considering different viewpoints and raising their own questions about how it could be improved.
• Hw religious and non-religious worldviews (including Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Humanist perspectives) encourage people to care for others and the environment.
• Investigate key ideas such as the Glden Rule, charity, and responsibility, and how these can guide people’s actions in making a positive difference.
• Cnsider real-life examples of individuals and organisations working to improve the world, and reflect on their own ideas about how they can contribute.

Art and DT

Art – Working in Three Dimension

• An exploration of artists (Claes Oldenburg and Nicole Dyer) who make sculptures of food, working at unexpected scales, working in a sketchbook to make visual notes to consolidate their experience.
• The children will then further develop drawing skills by drawing from still imagery and from life, and then will use modroc and other modelling and construction materials to make a shared sculptural feast.
• The children will then make a shared picnic drawing, before making time to present the work, reflect and share.

Design and Technology - Food

The children will build on and further develop their cooking skills for a practical and genuinely useful purpose as they learn to bake bread and to make and design their own sandwiches. The ingredients used in this unit (for example eggs, cooked meats and cheeses) provide a good context for discussions of high-risk foods and ‘use by’/’best before’ dates, as well as of food allergies and preferences.

Music

Bringing Us Together by Joanna Mangona and Pete Readman

The children will develop singing skills, explore rhythm and pulse, and work together using percussion instruments, building confidence and enjoyment in music.

In Summer 2, the children will revisit and build on their musical learning through Reflect, Rewind and Replay, helping them practise key skills, reflect on progress, and perform with growing confidence.

French

Les Fruits

• Name, recgnise and remember up to 10 fruits in French.
• Spell sme of these nouns with their correct article/determiner.
• Ask smebody in French if they like a particular fruit.
• Say what fruits we like and dislike in French.

Les Glaces

• Name, recgnise and spell up to 10 different flavours for ice creams.
• Ask fr an ice-cream in French using ‘je voudrais’.
• Say what flavur they would like.
• Say whether they wuld like their ice-cream in a cone or a small pot/tub.
• Say please and thank yu in French.

PE

Athletics

We will explore how we can use our bodies to run as fast as possible, exploring the correct technique individually and within teams. We will also begin to examine how to jump as far as possible and compare throwing accurately with throwing for distance.

Rounders

We will explore the concept of batting and fielding (attack and defence). The children will develop an understanding of the purpose of each team. We will learn how to apply a variety of fielding skills such as throwing and stopping the ball to keep the batter’s score low.

Computing

Desktop publishing

The children will become familiar with the terms ‘text’ and ‘images’ and understand that they can be used to communicate messages. They will use desktop publishing software and consider careful choices of font size, colour and type to edit and improve premade documents. They will be introduced to the terms ‘templates’, ‘orientation’, and ‘placeholders’ and begin to understand how these can support them in making their own template for a magazine front cover. They will start to add text and images to create their own pieces of work using desktop publishing software. The children will look at a range of page layouts thinking carefully about the purpose of these and evaluate how and why desktop publishing is used in the real world.

Programming – Events and actions in programs

This unit explores the links between events and actions, while consolidating prior learning relating to sequencing. The children will begin by moving a sprite in four directions (up, down, left, and right). They then explore movement within the context of a maze, using design to choose an appropriately sized sprite. This unit also introduces programming extensions, through the use of Pen blocks. The children will be given the opportunity to draw lines with sprites and change the size and colour of lines. The unit concludes with the children designing and coding their own maze-tracing program.

PSHE

In PSHE this term our overarching topic is called Health and Wellbeing.  Within this unit we will learn about choices that support a healthy lifestyle, and recognise what might influence these, how regular (daily/weekly) exercise benefits mental and physical health as well as identifying personal strengths, skills, achievements and interests and how these contribute to a sense of self-worth.