St John
and St
Francis Church School 
Year 3 - Jay
Cheddar Caves Visit
What a fantastic day! We learnt so much about life in Stone Age Times and also about rock formations within the Cheddar Caves. The museum of prehistory taught us all about Cheddar Man, who's remains were found in Gough's Cave and the visit to Coxes Cave helped us to understand the story of water and how the Cheddar Caves and Gorge were formed. We saw stalactites and stalagmites and even columns formed where the calcite met in the middle. Lots of pupils thought the cave formations were beautiful and they could see all sorts of strange formations within Gough's cave as pointed out by our guide Sophie, including ice-cream scoops, melted cheese and a dragon's head. There was even a cinema where we watched a film called 'Beyond the View' all about life within the Gorge.
Jay Class Cheddar Caves
Rocks and Fossils workshop
Today, Natasha from Somerset Heritage and Learning came to share her knowledge on rocks and fossils. We started our session by watching a video about how fossils are made and then moved on to three different activities. The first activity was working with Natasha to identify different rocks and using magnifying glasses to see what small particles the rocks were made up of. The second activity was a game of rock bingo, and the third activity was rubbing fossils to make our very own prints. We then had to identify what type of fossil we had been given. There were lots of opportunities to walk around the room and read the information that Natasha had brought out as well. What an exciting morning we had learning more about rocks and fossils.
STONE AGE DAY
Today we spent the day as Stone Age people dressed in costume and experiencing life like they would have done 3 million years ago. In the morning, we used natural materials to create paintings, made sparks for a fire using flint stones and crafted clay pots. Because it was so cold outside, we had to have hot chocolate and marshmallows to warm us up when we came back inside! During the afternoon, we pretended we were inside a cave by going under the tables and drawing on the 'cave roof', we also made a fruit stew-it tasted delicious. Next week, we will be writing the instructions for how to make fruit stew in our English lessons.
SASP Sports Festival 13th November 2024
We were really lucky to be invited to Bridgwater College Academy on Wednesday to participate in a range of skill development games alongside two other Somerset schools. The sun shone and the pupils enjoyed the activities, they represented our school so well. It was great to see several Year 9 and 10 ex-pupils and siblings running the activities, they enjoyed reminiscing about their time at St John and St Francis.
Oracy Session- Sharing our Dream Giver stories! - October 2024
Over the last two weeks Year 3 have been writing their own narratives linked to the 'Dream Giver' video. They have worked hard to ensure they have added inverted commas, adverbial phrases and subordinating conjunctions. To finish our unit today, the children headed back down to their Year 2 classes to share their narratives with the current children. They used their fantastic oracy skills to confidentially share their narratives and it is safe to say that everyone in Year 2 was impressed!
Geography Walk in the Local Area
As part of Geography work this term, we went for a walk to see how local land is used. We were surprised to see a range of buildings including residential properties, shops, farms and industrial units. There were a range of transport links that we spotted including the canal, train line and motorway. Our favourite parts of the walk were Dunwear Ponds and the park where we stopped for a bit of fun.
Super Hero Instructional writing: September 2024
Today we had a visit from a super hero Wonder Woman who helped us to solve a mystery of a missing glasses case. This was the start of our English unit on writing instructions, we started by learning how to be a superhero and we will go on to write about how to be a super learner. Then we will share our instructions with the younger children in the school.
Year 3 super hero instructional writing
Bristol Museum Trip : July 2024
It was a fantastic day at Bristol Museum looking at all the exhibitions especially the Egyptian artefacts, the rocks and minerals and the stone age display. We then spent an interesting hour finding out about Amelia Edwards and her travels across Egypt. We used our enquiry skills to investigate what artefacts were made from, whether they were real or replica and who would use them. Take a look at the pictures of our day.
Jay Bristol Egyptian Day
Sports Day
Despite the weather, we enjoyed a fun filled sports morning participating in a range of team building activities and then came the races. Quantock were the lucky winners and everyone tried their absolute best. There was a great team spirit in all house groups and pupils cheered each other on across all of Key Stage 2.
Year 3 Sports Week 27.6.24
On Thursday, we took part in a tennis workshop. We worked with the coach to develop our skills. We enjoyed the challenge of bouncing the ball and having to clap before we caught it. Well done to all the children for great participation!
Year 3 Sports Week 26.6.24
On Wednesday, we had a brilliant afternoon working with a group of Year 6 children and Miss Bryant. The Year 6 children were developing their leadership skills and ran a carousel of activities for the Year 3 children. We all had a wonderful time outside in the sunshine and were very pleased for the cloud cover that came over!
Year 3 Sports Week w/c 24.06.2024
On Tuesday we enjoyed a great day at Bridgwater College in the sun where we learnt new skills such as archery and football golf. We practised our teamwork and communication skills during relays and a 'cross the pond' challenge. Everybody loved the spin bike challenge as well!
Bones and Teeth Workshop
Year 3 enjoyed a Bones and Teeth Workshop where they were able to examine bones and teeth, look at some animal skeletons and use an app called virtuali-tee which enabled us to see the bones within our bodies!
Year 3 Have Talent
Year 3's Talent Show did not disappoint! We were so impressed with the standard of the acts which performed. A huge well done to all the children who took part and put in so much effort preparing. It was lovely to see the other children encouraging and supporting them. Within PHSE, we are learning about what makes us special and unique and today definitely showed that! Thank you to the parents who clearly had spent time supporting the children to be ready for their showcase. It was a wonderful afternoon of talent!
Cricket workshop : May 2024
This morning we had a visit from Somerset Cricket to give us a taster of the game and to let us know about the All Sports Cricket sessions that will be taking place at Bridgwater Cricket club this Summer. The children will be bringing home a flyer with further information today.
Year 3 Mini Marathon : April 2024
Year 3 have really enjoyed running multiple laps of the playground to complete our mini-marathon. We are excited to see how much money we can raise especially the children who ran more than the allocated 24 laps. Well done everyone!
World Book Day : March 2024
What a wonderful effort made by all the children to celebrate World Book Day! Where's Wallly?
Share a Story
For World Book Day, we used all the oracy skills we have developed over the last few lessons such as expression, eye contact and gestures to become Storytellers and share a story with Year 4.
We had a wonderful time telling Year 4 the story of Blodin the Beast and listening to their Ride of Passage stories.
Rocktopus
Year 3 had a fantastic morning creating our own song for the 2 times table. You will be able to watch the video online later this week as the children will be bringing home an access code. In the meantime, have a look at the pictures and video so far.
| Video 1 | Video 2 | Video 3 | Video 4 |
Christmas!
The children have had a brilliant time over the past few days creating a calendar, Christmas bauble and a Christmas card. In class this morning, we have been getting in the Christmas spirit this morning with our very own photo booth, musical statues, 'hoop a reindeer' and some singing! Mrs Rendell and Mrs Wells wish all of the children and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2024 :)
Stone Age Day
Year 3 immersed themselves in a Stone Age Day where they:
- made a campfire and drank hot chocolate
- used flints
- made shelters
- made paintings from natural products
- made clay pots
Children in Need
It was lovely to see the children in their spots to raise money for Children in Need! Thank you all!
Rocks and Fossils Workshop
Today, Sharon from Somerset Heritage and Learning came to share her knowledge on rocks and fossils. We started our session by watching a video about how fossils are made and then moved on to three different activities. The first activity was working with Sharon to identify different rocks and using magnifying glasses to see what small particles the rocks were made up of. The second activity was a game of rock bingo, and the third activity was rubbing fossils to make our very own prints. We then had to identify what type of fossil we had been given. There were lots of opportunities to walk around the room and read the information that Sharon had brought out as well. What an exciting morning we had learning more about rocks and fossils.
Cheddar Caves Visit
Take a look at all the photos from today's super visit to Cheddar caves and museum of prehistory. We had a great guided tour of Gough's Cave and an immersive experience in the Dream Hunter's Cave which was a bit scary with wolves and bears projected onto the walls around us. The museum of prehistory showed us all about life in Stone Age times and the Beyond The View film show gave us more details about the history of Cheddar Gorge.
Year 3 Forest School Day
Jay Class had a fantastic day of outdoor learning where we had the opportunity to create wands, build dens, make tree faces from clay and use a range of natural materials to make Mandala art. We showed perseverance and great team working skills.
The Carnival of Animals
Please click on the link above to see our fantastic carnival display! We are sorry we couldn't do it with you all there!
Science - Light
Year 3 have been investigating which materials are most visible in the dark and which materials reflect well.