Headteacher’s Welcome

Effective Home Learning 

Learning at home is an essential part of good education. Regular homework is important as it gives children the opportunity to practice at home the tasks covered in class; helping towards improving important skills. It also helps children and young people to become confident and independent in their learning, which will support throughout their time at school, both Primary and Secondary and onto adult life.

In Primary Schools, the focus of Home Learning should be on the important skills of English and maths. Regular reading at home, especially reading with adults, is particularly important. Statistically, children that receive support with this and have books in their home make much better progress.

If you require any material to support your child’s learning at home, please do not hesitate to contact their class teacher. A termly Curriculum Map is shown on the school website to help you know what the children are learning. Additional information will also be provided on specific subject areas as required.

Home Learning is an important part of our curriculum time. We will dedicate time to share your child’s work with the class, provide feedback and rewards for quality work according to individual ability.

The Government’s recommended time allocation, based on current good practice, is set out in ‘Homework: Guidelines for Primary Schools and Secondary Schools’, as follows:

Topic Tasks  

As part of the school’s commitment to encourage curiosity and a love of learning, all teachers will send home a termly Topic Task/s near the start of the term. This will provide plenty of time for tasks to be completed at home and then presented to their class. The children’s final work will be shared at the end of term celebration.

Please visit our Curriculum >> Class pages for more information.

The Curriculum and Home Learning in Reception and Year 1

Reading

In Reception and Year 1, our priority for developing language and literacy skills at home is to try as far as possible to read daily with your child. Please note any comments or positive experiences in your child’s Reading Record Book. Daily reading will support your child in learning reading, spelling and language patterns, improve their vocabulary and help them to develop comprehension skills through discussion of the text. Even before your child is able to sound out words using their phonic knowledge, they will be able to use the pictures to talk about what is happening in the story and make predictions about what they think will happen next.

You can also put on sub-titles to favourite films, listen to and sing nursery rhymes, read road signs and take the children to the local library- it’s free!

Key Words

Key words are sent home to practise daily and children will be moved on when they are able to read the words accurately by sight.

Supporting Writing at Home

• Encourage your child to draw, paint etc.
• Show children and encourage your child to write, shopping lists, things to do; cards
• Develop fine motor skills by cutting, sewing, dot-to-dots etc. and gross motor skills through physical play; climbing, skipping, cycling, cooking (stirring)

Supporting Maths at Home

• Point out numbers around you, on houses, cars, television channels, cookers and microwaves,
• Say number names in order as you climb the stairs, count teddies on a bed, plates on the table.
• Compare quantities, who has the most sweets, which shopping bag is heavier?
• Get them to help with cooking- finding ingredients in supermarkets, getting them to weigh out the produce etc.
• Play board games (using a dice) e.g. snakes and ladders, cards and dominos.

The Curriculum and Home Learning in Reception and Year 2

Reading

In Year 2 our priority for developing language and English skills at home is to still try, as far as possible, to read daily with your child. Please note any comments or positive experiences in your child’s Reading Record Book. Daily reading will support your child in learning spelling and language patterns, improve their vocabulary and help them to develop comprehension skills through discussion of the text.

We hope all children are given the opportunity to read with an adult every day and take some time to talk about what they have read and ask/answer questions about the text.

Key Words

Key words are sent home to practise daily and children will be moved on when they are able to use and apply all words accurately in their work. Key vocabulary that relates to specific topics will also be sent home to practice reading and spelling.

Number Bonds & Times Tables

Number bonds and times tables will be sent home to practise and children will be tested regularly. Once your child has completed a set, they will move on to the next challenge where different times tables/number bonds will be sent home and tested in class. More information will be sent home when your child reaches this stage.

Maths

Children are set weekly homework via the MyMaths website. They will have a week to complete this. The maths may link directly with the maths they have covered during the lesson or be stand alone.

The Curriculum and Home Learning in Reception and Years 3 and 4

Reading

Please encourage your child to read daily and write about it in their Reading Record Book and try to share their book with them as much as possible. Adult engagement with a child’s Home Learning can make a real difference to their progress. Your child can change their book as often as you feel they need to.

Spellings

To help to embed spelling taught during the week, spellings will be sent home each week to learn.

Maths

A maths task will be set each week on the 'MyMaths' app. Children will be regularly tested on their times tables. Please make sure that children practice their times tables frequently. By the end of Year 4, children should know all of their times tables to 12x12.

Topic Task - A grid with several topic activities will be sent home and children will select the tasks they would like to complete. It will also have links to Maths, creative subjects such as Art or D&T and English.

The Curriculum and Home Learning in Reception and Years 5 and 6

Half termly mini project based on the Topic Task.

Reading

Please encourage your child to read daily and record findings . At this stage, it is still important to share the book with your child. Adult engagement with a child’s Home Learning can make a real difference to their progress. Your child can change their book as often as you feel they need to.

Maths

A maths task will be set each week on the 'MyMaths' app.

Times Tables

Children will need to practise these as often as possible to ensure they are embedded in the long term memory.

What is MyMaths?

MyMaths is an engaging, supportive online learning resource targeted to the current UK Maths National Curriculum.

Teachers will set specific activities related to the maths objectives being delivered in class. As well as these specific set activities, there are also games that the children can play to help improve their fluency in performing calculations such as times tables.

Time spent on My Maths as well as scores that the children have achieved will be logged for the teacher to see and responded to in class, when relevant and necessary. All children in Years 1-6 will be able to use this resource.