Year 3 - Woodpecker

Trip to Cheddar Caves- November 2025

What an incredible day we had in Cheddar! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the first-hand experiences of being inside the caves, learning about the rock formations and then being immersed in the life of stone-age times during our workshop. We were able to see how flint was used to make tools and even learnt how to make a fire using limited resources. During our time in Cox's Cave we found out more about the journey of water and were relieved to be able to visit Gough's Cave and see the replica skeleton of Cheddar Man as this cave was flooded only 2 days ago. 

Take a look at the pictures to see what we got up to during this fantastic trip. 

Trip to Cheddar Caves- November 2025

Rocks and Fossils Workshop- November 2025

Today, Lydia 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 Lydia 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 Lydia had brought out as well. What an exciting morning we had learning more about rocks and fossils.

It's the Carnival of Animals! - October 2025

The children were very excited to parade to Years 3 and Years 4 this afternoon to showcase their nature lion masks. The classes worked hard to collect natural materials to then create a lion mask to fit in with our theme. A massive thank you also to Mrs Edmends for creating an amazing elephant mask for the children to parade with!

Oracy Skills- September 2025

Woodpecker class have spent the first few weeks of the new year practising their Oracy skills. They have thought about what words and phrases to use depending on who their audience is, how to speak confidently in front of a group of people and then shared their own set of instructions with another class to practise these skills. We are so impressed with how the children have settled back into school life after the summer holidays and are looking forward to them continuing to use their Oracy skills throughout their learning as the year progresses. 

Art Portraits- Frida Karlo- July 2025 

Year 3 were inspired by Frida Karlo to draw and paint their self-portraits. We explored how Kahlo drew on her cultural background for her artwork. Then we created our own self-portraits incorporating our favourite animals and flowers inspired by what we might find in our local area.

Year 3 Play Pod Session- June 2025 

As a year group we went out to enjoy some 'play-based' learning using the play-pod equipment. The children really enjoyed working collaboratively and using their imagination to create work spaces, bases and dens. It coincided perfectly with the hottest day of the year, therefore we stayed in the shade. There was lots of creativity, bargaining and sharing and everyone developed their personal and social skills.

Year 3 Playpod

Health and Sports Week- June 2025

What a fun, sunny and sporty week we have had! It all started with a visit from a professional basket ball player who showed us his skills and taught us how to spin a basketball on our finger or a pencil. Next came a range of fun activities including orienteering, a sports festival and team games. The week ended with Sports Day when we saw great participation and perseverance from all of Woodpecker Class in races, team games and events. Well done to everyone. 

Woodpecker Sports Day 2025

Forest School Morning- June 2025

Woodpecker class enjoyed learning outside of the classroom today for their Forest School morning. They whittled sticks down, made dens, created pictures using foraged items and even found a baby frog hiding near the twigs area. They were impressed with all the resources that they could find on the ground to support the activities. A big thank you to Mrs Nurcombe for hosting Woodpecker class- they loved being outside in the sunshine!

Woodpecker Forest School Morning 2025

Bristol Museum Trip- June 2025 

Woodpecker Class had a great introduction to our work on Ancient Egypt today with a workshop all about Amelia Edwards who travelled from Bristol across Egypt exploring many different places and daily life. We were lucky to handle artefacts and ask enquiry questions. Take a look at the pictures in our photos to see if you can work out what the objects were used for. Whilst we were at the museum we also visited the Egyptian Exhibition and discovered more about life and death 5000 years ago. There were other exhibits that we enjoyed visiting too as they supported our prior Year 3 learning such as the rocks and minerals, fossils, stone age and animals.

Dragon Eye Sculptures- May 2025 

We researched the features of dragon eyes, particularly looking at how to make them 3D and how to create the texture of dragon scales. After that, we designed our individual dragon eyes based on our research. Then, we made our sculptures using clay. We learnt coiling, slabbing and drawing pattern onto clay. To bond the clay together we learnt the technique of slip and score. Finally, we painted them. We hope you enjoy looking at them.

Easter Parade- April 2025 

What a fantastic day we've had celebrating all things Easter! Starting off with our Church service this morning where the children wow-ed us with their beautiful singing and finishing with our amazing Easter Parade where they got to show off their bonnets. A huge thank you to you all for the effort that was put into making these. We hope you have a brilliant Easter holiday when it arrives. 

Puxton Park- March 2025 

We all enjoyed a fantastic day at Puxton Park near Weston, finding out about animals diets, habitats and which animal group they belonged to. We were able to make enrichment boxes for the marmoset monkeys and then watched them hunt through the boxes to find vegetables and mealworms. We had an animal show where we met a couple of reptiles, a furry mammal and a creature with 250 legs. After lunch, we enjoyed a tractor ride into the cow barn to learn more about the newly born calves, a train ride and a play in the different outdoor play park just for fun. We were so lucky with the weather and had a brilliant time as a class. 

World Book Day -March 2025 

For world book day this year, the children were set with the task of writing a character description of any fairytale character they could think of. The only rule they had was that they could not name who they were writing about. The children included fantastic adjectives and descriptive language to create their paragraphs and then headed up to Year 4 to share their writing to see if they could guess which character they had chosen. The children spoke confidently and shared their ideas well. It was a lovely way to celebrate world book day! Thank you to everyone for their amazing costumes- you really blew us away with the effort made. 

Wessex Water Visit- February 2025

During Science Week, Woodpecker class were lucky enough to have a visit from Sue who works at Wessex Water. She spent time explaining her job, what happens with our water system and showed us lots of pictures of our local area. The children then had the opportunity to see how different materials dissolve (or do not dissolve) in water and compare this to what would happen if we flushed these at home. 

Cheddar Caves School Trip- December 2024

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.

Woodpecker Cheddar Caves Trip 2024

Antler Head-dresses- November 2024 

The children had a fantastic afternoon on Friday 29th November when they created their very own head-dresses. We loved their enthusiasm and how supportive they were of each other. 

Rocks Workshop- November 2024

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- November 2024 

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. The children looked absolutely amazing. What a great day we had!