Welcome to Year 3

Can you believe it?  Your children are now part of the Juniors! They have to make that long journey up the stairs several times a day! We have had a fantastic start to year 3. The children have settled in very well and have shown Mrs Gallagher, Mrs D’mello and myself how grown up they have become over the summer and are rising to our high expectations of them. We are supporting the children to become more independent and organised. So far, so good! The points below may help you to support your child throughout their time in Year 3.

Behaviour

In year 3 we set targets for the children to achieve either individually or as a group. Good behaviour (eg. listening well, staying focussed) is rewarded by a raffle ticket and team point. There is a raffle draw for a small prize every Monday.  As a class, if everyone does well (eg. lining up quietly, tidying up quickly) then they earn marbles collectively towards a whole class reward (eg. extra playtime, games session etc.).

If someone is not following the rules then they get a warning. If the bad behaviour persists then they get a yellow card which means that they miss part or their entire break. If the bad behaviour still persists then they will get a red card which will be dealt with by Miss Sennington or Mrs White. You will be notified of a red card.  More details are available in the behaviour policy on the school website.

Homework

Every child has been given a homework folder and a homework book. These must be at school every day.  Every week, the set homework will be stuck into the homework book. The children can tick daily which homework activities they have completed.

 The children will have a page from a Grammar workbook and a Maths skills workbook to complete on alternate weeks.

I will hold a homework help session on a Tuesday, if necessary, so that children who find a particular question tricky can get help from me. It is very important that the children have attempted their homework at this stage, otherwise it will be difficult to support them where needed. Please circle any questions that your child has struggled to answer, even with support from you. We will also spend part of this session preparing for the next weeks homework which may include crossing out questions around topics that have not been taught yet.

Children will also have spellings and mental maths (times tables or other) to practise daily. The homework book may be used to practise spellings and times tables or for any other working out. There will be a spelling test every Thursday and TT rockstars daily Monday to Wednesday. The homework timetable is attached below.

Reading

Children in year 3 must read to an adult every night who needs to sign/initial their reading record. Encourage your child to fill in all the details of the reading record themselves. The reading records should be in school every day.

Children can change their Reading band (Oxford Reading Tree)book on  a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday. They sign up for a slot in the morning with slots available for every child to change their book at least once a week. The children are responsible for this themselves although we keep track of who is not changing their book so that we can help the children who may forget.

library books can be changed daily during lunchtime.

Becoming Independent

We are trying our best at school to make the children responsible for their own belongings and their own behaviour. You can help us with this in a number of ways.

• Please ensure that your child’s name is on all of his/her belongings including a water bottle.
• If he/she leaves something at home, then please let them face the consequences!  This will help him/her to learn not to make the same mistake again which will help the child and you.
• Increase your child’s responsibility at home. Give them jobs to do. They are very enthusiastic to help me at school!

If they are worried about anything at school encourage them to tell me or another adult that can help. Usually issues are then sorted out very quickly which saves upset.

No Free Fruit!

The Kent Free Fruit Scheme only applies to the infants. This combined with longer between playtime and lunch (lunch for the Juniors is at 12.15pm) means hungry children! Please provide your child with a healthy snack for playtime.

Christmas Carol Concert

For those of you who have not had children in the Juniors before, the children from years 3 to 6 take part in a Christmas Carol Concert at St. Vincent’s Church. This year it will be on at 7pm on Wednesday 11^th December. Parents and carers are all invited to the service. All children are expected to take part.

PE

PE for this first half term is on a Friday, however, PE kits must be in school throughout the week. After half term we will be having indoor PE every Monday.

If your child is taking part in an after school club please send a separate club kit for them. This ensures that their PE kit is in school all the time. Please make sure that all items of PE kit, including trainers, are labelled with your child’s name.

Mrs Gallagher, Mrs D’Mello and I look forward to working in partnership with you over the year.

 If you have any questions or concerns then please do contact us.

Best Wishes,

Mrs Munday