Welcome to Class 3

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the Autumn term of 2023! I hope you all enjoyed the Summer holidays, and are ready for a fresh new academic year, there are great things to come. We are looking forward to the upcoming Harvest festival, MacMillan coffee morning, swimming, class assemblies to watch, Rota kids events, book bus, sports competitions and events at William Howard school, and to finish with; Christmas plays!!

Phew, what a lot to do!!

We had a great summer term, with a fantastic residential visit and the leavers celebrations, where we said our goodbyes to the old year 6, now it is the turn of the new Year 6. We welcome all the new year 4’s and 5’s to class 3 also. The daily routines of class 3 will soon become familiar for both children and parents too.

All routines and arrangements will be as follows:

• Maths homework will be given out on a Monday and needs to be completed and handed in by Wednesday morning; Literacy given out on Wednesday and completed/handed in Friday (it may switch around, depending on work completed in the class)
• PE will be Tuesday with Rowan and we will be swimming on Wednesday, but children need their kit in school all the time, as we will have different activities as and when.
• Spellings will be given out on a Monday for a test on a Friday – it is much easier for the children if they look at them every night rather than cram on a Thursday night (we will do definitions and sentences in class, but they may need to be finished at home);
• Times tables will be tested on a Friday. This skill is also vitally important.
• Rowan’s after-school football is continuing on a Tuesday.

The curriculum: This term’s topic is called Amazing America. We will enjoy learning about lifestyles, foods, geography of the USA, the tourist industry amongst other things.

• RE: Learning from the Carlisle Diocese scheme of work: Pilgrimages, Harvest, Christmas
• Science: Earth and Space.
• PE: football, swimming and lots of other outdoor activities.
• Geography and History: The Pilgrims and the Mayflower, Native Americans, Modern USA mapping with a study of physical and human geographical features of the USA.
• Music: Music express- Stars, hide your fires, Performing together.
• Art and DT: Drawing and painting using different media.
• Literacy: ‘My Brother is a Superhero’, to include retelling, recount, instructional writing, comprehension skills, letter writing, persuasion, and study of Poetry;
• Maths: place value, numbers, addition and subtraction strategies, multiplication and division, problem solving, measures.
• PSHE: Keeping safe, Being my best.
• French: General use of the French language avec Mdme Sweetman
• ICT: Scratch, programming and coding

Assessments: We will conduct our usual end-of-term assessments before the Christmas break.

PE Kit: Trainers and school PE kit in school on Monday for use either on the field or on the top playground if the field is unsuitable. They would also benefit from a spare pair of socks in case the ones they are wearing get wet during the session. Football boots cannot be worn for PE sessions, but they can be for Rowan’s after-school club.

Residential: We are in the process of finalising details for a week-long residential visit in the Summer term at Holly How YHA, Coniston. Details will follow later;

Reading: I would like the children to read every night, as it really does help their writing abilities. However, I appreciate this can be difficult, so a minimum of twice a week recorded in the reading records would be beneficial. If you do hear your child read (a delightful experience) please do sign their reading records, we do reward children who manage to do this.

Equipment: All stationary children require for their daily tasks is provided by school. We are a large class with storage space at a premium, so please can children only bring into school items they are required to, including reading books and records daily, spelling records and yellow spelling activity books, and Friday test books for spelling and times-table tests on Fridays.

Please check book bags as letters often remain in there for several weeks!

Spares, wellies and bottles: Thank you to all parents for providing children with the above items at the start of term, we have now 100% of children fully equipped. Water bottles are still required to travel home after school, and return refreshed the next morning. Please do make sure that spares are waterproof trousers, and not just a set of joggers or tracksuit trousers going over the top of school uniform.

Snack Money: Children can buy snack at morning break, consisting of either plain crackers, digestive or rich tea biscuits. They cost 4p each or 7p for 2, it would be handy if children could have loose change in a named purse or wallet to purchase this.

Finally, my email address is mark.harrison@irthingtonvillage.cumbria.sch.uk If there is anything you wish to let me know about, please stay in touch. I check my emails daily, or catch me in the morning as I see in the children.

Yours Sincerely,

Mark Harrison