Autumn Overview
Autumn Curriculum 2026
Welcome to the Autumn Term in Year 3!
Our Autumn term is full of exciting learning, new experiences and opportunities for the children to build their skills, confidence and knowledge across the curriculum.
Our first literacy unit will be based on the book Stone Girl Bone Girl, the illustarted biography of Mary Anning, one of the most famous fossil hunters from the 18th century. The children will explore the her fasnicating and eventful life, before completing their own piece of descriptive writing. Along the way, they will recap and build their knowledge of similes and expanded noun phrases to make their writing more engaging for the reader.
In maths, we follow the White Rose Maths scheme, beginning the term by developing and securing our understanding of place value. The children will explore numbers up to 1000, learning to recognise the value of each digit in a number and understand the important role of zero as a placeholder. Alongside this, the NCETM Mastering Number programme will help develop strong number sense, fluency and confidence with numbers. Times tables will also be a regular part of our daily maths sessions, with a particular focus on solidifying quick and confident recall of the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, as well as applying this knowledge to solve problems.
Our science topic, Rocks, Soils and Fossils, will encourage the children to think about how they can group different types of rock. They will learn how to describe how fossils are formed, and recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter. Beyond that they will study magnetic forces, and observe which everyday materials are attracted to a magnet.
In geography, we’ll be asking the children an important question: Would do people live near volcanoes? To help them answer the question, they will study how mountain ranges and volcanoes are formed, and recognise the positive effects of living near a volcano, such as rich, fertile soil and the opportunities for tourism.
Our history learning will explore how life changed from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. They will examine archaeological evidence to investigate what life was like, and explore how bronze transformed life in prehistoric Britain. We will also explore why trade increased during the Iron Age, the impact this had, and why coins were introduced.
The more creative parts of the syllabus are just as exciting. In Design and Technology, the children will learn about cooking and the benefits of seasonal food. They will learn to evaluate seasonal ingredients, and even design and make their own puff pastry. In Art, we will explore prehistoric art, and how natural products produce pigments to make different colours.
The next few months are sure to be busy and exciting, with plenty of opportunities for discovery, creativity and learning. I’m really looking forward to the term ahead and watching the children grow, develop and thrive along the way!
