Lower Key Stage 2 · Ages 7–8
Year 3.
Steven Lenton Class & Nadia Shireen Class. The first year of Key Stage 2 — bigger ideas, longer projects, and the year swimming begins. Stone Age to the Romans, then out to Shoreham itself.
The team
Two classes, two children's authors.
Each Year 3 class is named after a much-loved children's author whose books we read together throughout the year. Our Year 3 teaching assistants are Mrs Greener, Mrs Edwards and Ms Dunster. They work across the Year 3 classes rather than in one class, so they can go where they are needed.
Lower KS2 · Year 3
Steven Lenton Class
Mrs Miller-Hudson & Mrs Dunford
Job-share class teachers
Lower KS2 · Year 3
Nadia Shireen Class
Ms Sharp
Class teacher
Curriculum
What they're learning, this year.
Year 3 marks the start of Key Stage 2. Topics get bigger and more ambitious — prehistoric Britain, volcanoes, Roman Britain, and a whole half-term spent getting to know our home town. Six topics across the year, building skills steadily as we go.
The year at a glance
Autumn 1
Secrets of the Stone Age
Autumn 2
Extreme Earth
Spring 1
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
Spring 2
Rise of the Romans
Summer 1
Super Shoreham
Summer 2
People and Places
Autumn term · this term
Secrets of the Stone Age, then Extreme Earth.
Earth-shattering events.
Year 3 began the autumn with Secrets of the Stone Age: prehistoric Britain, forces and magnets in science, and cave-art drawing.
After half term the topic is Extreme Earth. The children start by sharing what they already know about extreme weather and natural disasters, then learn about earth-shattering events and why they happen. Volcanoes are one of the main focuses, and towards the end of the topic the children make their own volcanoes and erupt them! They also find out what damage earthquakes can do and how tsunamis affect people.
Autumn 2 topic map: Extreme Earth
Later this year: Healthy Body, Healthy Mind and Rise of the Romans in the spring, then Super Shoreham and People and Places in the summer.
By the end of Year 3
What success looks like.
The National Curriculum sets out what children work towards across each year. These are the headlines for Year 3 — every child develops at their own pace, and these are the milestones, not a checklist.
Mathematics
Compare and order numbers to 1,000. Recall multiplication and division facts for 3, 4 and 8 times tables. Add and subtract three-digit numbers using columnar method. Tell time to the nearest minute on 12- and 24-hour clocks (including Roman numerals). Count up and down in tenths; compare fractions with the same denominator.
Reading
Comment on how characters relate to one another. Draw inferences from characters' actions, feelings and motives. Make predictions based on what they've read. Recognise plurals, pronouns, collective nouns and adverbs. Notice how commas and inverted commas change meaning.
Writing
Use conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to make writing flow. Use inverted commas to punctuate direct speech. Group ideas into paragraphs; write under headings and sub-headings. Use the perfect form of verbs to mark time and cause. Increasingly legible, consistent and fluent handwriting.
Just for Year 3 parents
Things only you need to know.
A few Year 3 specifics — swimming starts this year, lunches change from infant-free to paid, and the times-tables practice steps up.
Swimming begins
Year 3 starts our two-year swimming programme at Lancing College pool. Lessons run weekly during one half-term — the school office sends home dates, kit list and the cost contribution at the start of the term it falls in.
Lunches
From Year 3, the Universal Infant Free School Meals scheme no longer applies — lunches are now paid (£2.95 a meal, ordered on the FEED app). Children whose family qualifies for benefits-based Free School Meals continue free; the school office helps with eligibility checks if you're not sure.
Times tables
Year 3 builds the 3, 4 and 8 times tables on top of the 2s, 5s and 10s learnt in Year 2. Daily practice at home — five minutes is plenty — really helps. The Year 4 multiplication tables check (June of Y4) tests all tables up to 12×12, so the Y3 work is the bedrock.
Communication
Day-to-day messages come via SchoolPing. Anything urgent — call the school office on 01273 453176 and we'll get a message to the class teacher.
Want to see Year 3 for yourself?
Contact the school office to arrange a visit at a time that suits you — we're happy to help.