Year 3 – How does the Jewish Shabbat link to our half-term holiday?

In RE today, Year 3 learnt about the Jewish day of rest called Shabbat (or Sabbath) and we talked about how important it was to rest and to take time away from working hard. We listened to the Jewish creation story and made links to the Christian story of creation that most of us already knew. We talked about what days of the week we rest on and how our families do this differently … although it did seem that ‘having a lie in’ at the weekend was a very popular choice!

The Jewish Shabbat begins at sunset on Friday and runs through to nightfall on Saturday, and so it seems a perfect excuse to close our week and to begin our half-term holiday on a Friday!

A huge well done to all of the boys and girls in Year 3, you have been absolutely amazing and we have learnt so much already – you should all be super proud of yourselves, just like we all are! Here’s to a peaceful and relaxing break with your families, and hopefully lots of sweet treats for Halloween … we can’t wait to hear all about your adventures and costumes when we return to school.

Shabbat Shalom (peaceful Sabbath), Mrs Dutton and Miss Cooper xx

Year 3 – Diwali Artwork

Today has been a special focus on the Hindu faith and on Diwali – the Hindu celebration of light. In Year 3, we learned about how Diwali is celebrated, as well as the story behind all of the fun and festivities … Rama and Sita. Why not ask us to retell the story of Rama and Sita, and how Rama overcame evil to win back his wife?

We looked at some examples of the beautiful Diwali lamps which might be used to celebrate Diwali 2025 (this coming Monday), and we created some beautiful artwork using oil pastels on black card. Well done everyone, we are so impressed with your gorgeous creations!

Year 3 – Let’s Play Expedition!

It may have been our last week before the half-term but Year 3 have still been mega busy with lots of learning so it was really nice to capture some of our Year 3 children ‘playing Romans’ on the playground … Max (a Roman soldier) capturing Nasrin (a Celtic rebel) to make her a slave actually looked way more fun than the textbooks make it sound!

As well as playing, we have been finding out about the Roman army and what life was like as a soldier … why not ask us if we’d rather be a legionary or an auxiliary soldier? And, we’ve been using both primary and secondary sources to learn about slavery in the Roman empire too … you could ask us if all Roman slaves were treated the same, and if they could ever find freedom?

Sharing our Stories 17/10/2025

Beautiful work this week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!

To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

We are Scientists @ Green Top

Plover is proud to receive the ‘Choose Kindness’ award! @ Plover

Pumpkin Carving @ Carcroft School

Authors in the making! @ XP

Two NJS Teams enjoy success! @ Norton Juniors

Expert Visitor – Ed Miliband @ Norton Infants

Crew Peake – Shining stars! @ XP East

Congratulations to Hannah in G28 Crew Frank! @ XP Gateshead

Share your stories with us!

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It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!