Our unit of work this term is 'What in the World!'

During this term, the children will use the story ‘Leon and the Place Between’, to improve and develop their skills in creating persuasive invitations, setting descriptions, thought bubbles/diary entries, dialogues and fantasy narrative writing. This story follows a boy called Leon who volunteers to be in Abdul Kazam's magic show and gets transported to a mysterious world. 

In addition to literacy lessons, children will participate in guided reading sessions where they will be reading ‘Earth Shattering Events’. The children will learn about the features of non-fiction text, for example, text boxes, main headings, subheadings, contents pages, glossary and index pages. 

During guided reading children will also have daily phonics and high-frequency word practice, to build confidence with sound and word recognition. Each child will continue to choose a reading book from the library to read at home and school. Please ensure that reading books are brought to school every day.

For Welsh this year, we will continue daily Helpwr Heddiw sessions, providing the children with lots of opportunities to deepen their knowledge and confidence when using incidental Welsh in and out of the classroom.  This term, we will be focusing on ensuring that we engage in lots of Welsh reading and writing alongside oracy when we look at the theme ‘Joio yn yr haul a glaw’/ ‘Fun in the sun and rain’. The children will also be learning Welsh poems, songs and dances in preparation for the St. David’s Day celebration. 

In the first half of the Spring term, Year 3 will look at 3D shapes and be able to identify their properties. They will also explore acute, obtuse and right angles as well as clockwise and anticlockwise turns. The children will also look comprehensively at multiplication to develop their skills in exploring and understanding multiplication. They will do this by looking at multiplication as equal groups, making arrays, checking multiplication using repeated adding, multiplying equal groups as well as identifying multiples and using the term multiples. Pupils will use a range of concrete materials such as Numicon, Base-10 and counters to explore patterns in the 2, and 4 times tables, the 5 and 10 times tables as well as the 3 times table.

After half term, the focus will turn to division. The children will again use a range of apparatus to explore division by sharing into equal groups and by making equal groups, using arrays and dividing numbers by 2, 3, 4, 5 & 10, including those giving rise to remainders. The children will then use their understanding to recall 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 multiplication tables to solve problems using multiplication and division. 

Practising times tables daily will support them in calculating problems more efficiently. Pupils should know their 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 times tables in Year 3.

Towards the end of the Spring term, the children will look at area and perimeter. They will begin to recognise that perimeter is the distance around a shape and find areas by counting squares. Children will also be encouraged to use their times tables knowledge to calculate area, demonstrating higher-end learning.

As part of our unit of work 'What in the World!' the children will be learning about the global environment and focus on how we can create a sustainable planet for the future.   They will investigate the impact they have on the world around them, and look at physical elements of the environment. Children will look at similarities and differences between countries, communities, societies and historical periods in order to understand the impact of; 

• Global warming

• The ozone layer

• Greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect 

The unit of work will start by appreciating our wonderful world including our local communities, followed by examining the effects of human activity on the environment. Linked to our work will be experiments looking at changes of state, and atoms and particles in order to understand how our natural world is diverse and dynamic, so needs to be protected.

During PE, we will be focusing on circuit training looking at challenges that explore cardio and strength building. In the sessions, the children will look at the effects of exercise on heart rate and body temperature. As well as discussing the positive impact exercise has on our wellbeing, both physically and mentally.

In Expressive Arts, the Bridgend Music Service will be teaching the children to  play the P-bones. This is part of the National Music Services 'First Experiences'. project  To support this work, Miss Ellett will be teaching the children about the rhythm and pitch systems.

This term, we will continue to  make use of the learning lodge to develop our outdoor experiences, whilst Mr. Murdoch, our Wellbeing Champion will be taking small groups of children to complete outdoor 'forest schools' activities. We will again incorporate the 4D room into our learning experiences wherever possible to capture the children's interest and imagination.  During Friday's enrichment time, the children will experience a range of indoor and outdoor activities to enhance their well-being, e.g. playing an instrument, sketching, board games and Minecraft Education.

The school values over the term are Community and Service, Cooperation and being a good citizen, and Learning and Effort. We will explore these values through our daily thoughts as well as school assemblies. 

PE will take place on a Thursday and children should come to school in their PE kits on this day.  Please avoid wearing jewellery on this day if possible and ensure long hair is tied back.

Children should bring a water bottle to school with them every day, this should be a sufficient amount to last them the whole day. 

Children should bring their reading books to school with them every day. 

Please ensure that all school uniform is clearly labelled with your child’s name.

Download our School App via the Play or App stores - The School App will provide you with up to date information about activities and events at Oldcastle Primary School.  Please look out for our weekly newsletter issued via The School App and available on our website on a Friday afternoon.  The newsletter contains all forthcoming diary dates for the school.