--- title: "Friendship, acceptance and helping hands" url: "https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/blog/2026-11-13-15-43-friendship-acceptance-and-helping-hands" school: "St Stephen's C.E. Primary School" --- # Friendship, acceptance and helping hands ![](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/images/blog/DSCI0002.JPG) 13 November 2026 [Year 3 Blog](https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/blog/category/year-3-blog) Second week into this half term and we’re on a roll. Year 3 are fast becoming geology experts and their knowledge of the structure of our earth, rocks and soil is developing exceedingly well. Children should be able to tell you about sedimentary rocks this week, how these rocks are formed by layers of sand, gravel, bones, shells and so on being compressed until, after many years it becomes rock. We know that examples of this rock include sandstone and limestone. We’ve also talked about metamorphic rock, rocks which were once either igneous or sedimentary but have transformed into something new for example, marble or quartz. It’s lovely to see how fascinated children are by this and thank you for all of the examples brought in for our rock table. Fox, Magpie and Dog are the new characters in our text for this term. Children have explored different character traits and compared to characters from other stories. Our focus this week is on using speech marks when recording direct speech in our writing and using synonyms for *said.* Children should be able to explain how to punctuate their work and hopefully give you a range of words we can use instead of *said.* We have started a Christianity unit in RE and we are exploring how Jesus changes people’s lives. This week we have found out about one of the disciples, Matthew, who worked as a tax collector before Jesus chose him as one of his followers. It is one of my favourite stories as it gives us an opportunity to reflect upon the attitudes of Jesus’ early disciples when Matthew was invited to join them. They took a long time to accept him because he was from a slightly different background to them. We talked about what Jesus saw in Matthew, how he was encouraged and given a chance, and how he became one of Jesus’ most prominent disciples. We thought about what this might look like today and what we can learn from this story; things like trust, tolerance, forgiveness and support for each other. The Christmas songs have started. Ding Dong merrily, everyone. [![](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/year-3-blog-13-11-26/DSCI0002.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/images/gallery/year-3-blog-13-11-26/DSCI0002.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/year-3-blog-13-11-26/DSCI0003.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/images/gallery/year-3-blog-13-11-26/DSCI0003.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/year-3-blog-13-11-26/DSCI0004.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/images/gallery/year-3-blog-13-11-26/DSCI0004.JPG) [Year 3 Blog](https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/blog/tag/year-3-blog) [![](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/imagecache/100x100c/blog/IMG_0484.JPG)](https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/blog/2026-11-13-15-39-geography-fieldwork-observation-of-landmarks-and-features-in-our-village) Previous ### [Geography – Fieldwork – Observation of landmarks and features in our village.](https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/blog/2026-11-13-15-39-geography-fieldwork-observation-of-landmarks-and-features-in-our-village) [![](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/imagecache/100x100c/blog/Rememberance_Day_(2).JPG)](https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/blog/2026-11-13-15-49-lest-we-forget) Next ### [Lest We Forget](https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/blog/2026-11-13-15-49-lest-we-forget) - [![Local Offer](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/images/partners/Local-Offer-logo-small.jpg)](https://www.durham.gov.uk/localoffer) - [![Click CEOP](https://files.schudio.com/st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school/images/partners/Click_CEOPS-Footer.gif)](https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre) ##### Location St Stephen's C.E. Primary School Hall Lane, Willington Crook County Durham DL15 0QH ##### Contact Us 01388 746 426 ##### Stay Connected - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/ststephensce/) © Copyright 2024–2026 St Stephen's C.E. Primary School School & Trust Websites by [ ![Schudio logo](https://st-stephen-s-ce-primary-school.schudio.com/img/logo/light.png) ](https://www.schudio.com/)