History: I’m a Roman emperor!
During our history learning, we’ve learnt about the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was huge and spread across Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Emperor Claudius was leading the Romans when they successfully invaded Britain (then Britannia).
We read a speech that Claudius may have given to the people of Rome (then Roma) while he was emperor. The children then had the opportunity to write their own speeches as Claudius themselves!
They stood in front of the colosseum and shared how they can successfully invaded Britain.
Here’s some photos:
Help at home by asking your child what benefits there were for the Romans to invade Britain.
Some clues:
Resources like cattle, tin, i_ _ _ and g _ _ _.
The Romans wanted land and p_w_r.
Science: What is a fossil?
Hello,
Our current science topic is fossils!
Last week, we learnt about what a fossil is and how they are formed.
A fossil is the remains or trace of a living thing that lived a very long time ago. They can be fossils of animals, plants or even animal poo!
We decided that fossils are important because they tell us a lot about the past. For example, we know a lot about dinosaurs, what they looked like and even what they ate because of fossils that we have found.
We used this video to help us understand the process of fossilisation…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2ym2p3
Mary Anning is our key scientist as she is known as one of the greatest fossil hunters to have ever lived. We’ve read about her as part of our reading fluency sessions. She found fossils in Lyme-Regis and she made amazing discoveries just from observing and studying them.
Help at home: When you are travelling somewhere, quiz each other on whether an object is living or not living and whether it could be made into a fossil! Is this pen living? No! Is this rock living? No! Is this apple living?
Authorfy
Authorfy is a website that we use in school to enrich the children’s reading.
Authorfy brings readers and writers closer together through exciting author videos, creative resources, downloadable book extracts and more. Whether you’re a teacher, parent, student, librarian, aspiring author or reluctant writer, there’s something for everyone on Authorfy.
In Year 3, we often use Authorfy during our Friday Book Club sessions. We’ve watched interviews with authors that we’ve learnt about and we’ve completed 10 minute challenges. It’s also a great place to look for inspiration of what to read next!
Authorfy is free for the National Year of Reading 2026!
Help at home by visiting the Authorfy website and exploring the different sections. Can you and your child complete a 10 minute challenge together? Can you find an interview from your favourite author? What book will you read next?
PE: Yoga
This half term’s PE begins with yoga. Yoga has lots of benefits including building strength, improving flexibility and coordination and being mindful.
The session looks like this:
breathing exercise
warm up stretches
learn new poses
Yoga flow (create a routine with the poses)
guided meditation
Help at home by practising Yoga at home. There are loads of videos available online!
Here’s the children having a go at these different stages of Yoga!
New class novel
The children have voted for their new class novel…
Anglo-Saxon Boy by Tony Bradman
It links directly to our new history topic: Romans and Anglo-Saxons.
Help at home: Read this blurb and information about the book.
An action-packed Anglo-Saxon tale of one boy’s journey to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
The story of one Anglo-Saxon boy’s journey to the Battle of Hastings in 1066: Key Stage 2 History brought to life as battle-packed adventure.
1065: Magnus is the son of Harold Godwinson, lord of the Southern Saxons and ruthlessly ambitious claimant to the throne of England. Overnight, Magnus finds himself cast centre-stage in the blood-soaked family feud that led to one of history’s most famous battles.
This is the family tragedy behind 1066: live it with Magnus, as the wolves of history close in on his Anglo-Saxon boyhood.
Living and Learning: I know what democracy is.
During our Living and Learning lesson this week, we discussed…
- the British values
- how democracy is important
- how democracy is precious and what life would be like without it
Democracy means ‘rule by the people’.
In a democracy, like the UK, the people elect the government and have a say in how it is run.
They do this by voting in elections.
We watched this video which explains democracy in a clear and concise way: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z76gr2p#zbxddp3
At school, the children participate in votes and elections:
- voting for the Junior Leadership Team
- voting for class rewards
- voting for the new school charity
Help at home by finding out some facts about democracy in the UK.
Spring term after-school clubs
UPDATE 21.01.26
The following clubs have availability and can still be booked.
Tuesday
Foot-Tech Football Y1-Y3 – last 3 places
Table Tennis Y3-Y6 – last place
Wednesday
Foot Tech Games Reception-Y3 – last 2 places
Dodgeball Y3-Y6 – last place
Thursday
Wake up Shake up Y4-Y6 – last place
The after-school clubs for next term will be available for booking on Monday 29th December ready to start w/c 12 January.
We hope your child/children can get involved with our extra-curricular activities. We will update you with club availability after the holidays.
Please contact the office if you have any queries about the after-school clubs.
Topic: art sculptures
Year 3 finished of the half term with creating their sculptures using the skills they’ve practised.
They’re abstract sculptures because they’re made up of shape, line and colour. They look fantastic and the children were very independent when creating them.
Here are some photos:
Help at home by discussing what type of colours they used.
Write like a poet – British Library
Today, Year 3 had a visitor from the British Library. We learnt a lot about the British Library like what they do, how they are different to a “normal” library and where they are based. Luckily for us, they have a base in Boston Spa!
The British Library have a copy of every single book, newspaper, magazine or even leaflet that has been published in Britain. They want to keep a record of all of these so that in years to come, people can look back and see what things were like over the years.
We read a poem – I Don’t Like Poetry by Joshua Siegel – and picked apart the vocabulary. We discussed what we liked and disliked about it. Then it was our turn to write our own poems. It can be quite tricky just to sit down and write a poem so we played lots of games to help us generate some ideas.
Some of us wrote about our day, our emotions, a hobby we like or just something random! The children really enjoyed it and were desperate to share their writing at the end.
Help at home by playing the word association game. Start with ‘apple’ and see what word the other person can think of that links to it and continue for as long as you can.
Basketball Christmas camps
City of Leeds Basketball Club, who run one of our after-school clubs, are holding Christmas camps locally over the holidays.
