Together we build understanding
Homework
During the academic year 2016-2017, we started to rethink our approach to homework and undertook a range of research activities, which included parent questionnaires, pupil learning conversations, homework scrutiny and collecting different research articles about the benefits of different types of homework.
During summer 2017, Ms Sinclair and Mrs Ali started to collate all of the research collected and revised our school policy. From the feedback we received, the overwhelming majority of parents liked the homework journal tasks, which are linked to our Enquiry Curriculum and this will continue. All of the children from Year 1 to Year 6 will bring home a fortnightly task or question set by their teacher in their homework journal. The aim of the homework is to give them the opportunity to decide how they want to respond to the task or question by making decisions about how to present their work and consider what information they will collect or use. The idea is for the children to think about how they want to present their work and it may be on a single or double page. Children could:
- Draw pictures
- Create a poster
- Take photographs
- Make models
- Put together an information booklet
- Draw tables or charts
- Use technology to put different texts together
As a school we have spent the last few years developing our writing curriculum and through our approach to homework, we aim to give children the opportunity to sometimes use the text types they have learnt in class within their homework. For example: writing instructions, a report, diary entries, an information booklet or a story
In addition to the weekly task or question there are other types of homework that children have access to. Through the responses in the questionnaire lots of parents felt that they wanted additional work as well as the homework journal. We will review our homework provision annually, but below are the other types of homework that children have access to.
Bugclub
This is an online eBook system, where each child from Reception to Year 6 has their own username and password. When children login they will have a set of books that they can read and comprehension tasks that they can complete. Each week a new book will be released into each child’s space and class teachers will set the level of book which best suits individual children. If there are any problems with login details, book allocation or access at home, parents need to speak to their child’s class teacher. This is not a replacement of the home reading books that children bring home, but a reading extension. Home reading books are sent home on a weekly basis.
School Library
Each class from Reception to Y6 have access to the school library, where they can choose to take a book home. Children can change their book on a weekly basis or they may choose to keep their book for longer. Our Word Warriors open the library on a weekly basis and support children to change their books. Children can only change their book by returning the last book they took home. The school library can be viewed online through the link on the reading page and the librarian login details sent home. If you need a new copy of the library login details, the admin staff can provide these.
Maths Packs & Workbooks
KS1 Maths Packs
At the start of each half term, children in Year1 and Year 2 will receive a pack of maths games and activities. These are aimed at developing specific mental skills that the children need to secure and are short activities/games that can be repeated throughout the weeks to build up rapid recall skills. The more that children can overlearn key maths facts, the quicker they will become mentally.
Year 3-6
Children from Year 3-6 will receive a maths task in their workbook on a weekly basis. The tasks are linked to learning being undertaken and aim to consolidate learning. In addition to this, there are games and maths activities that children can access on Abacus using their Bug Club login.
Spellings
In year 1 and 2 children will receive a personalised list of High Frequency Words at progress meetings at the end of the first half term. These words are words which need to be regularly gone through at home and will be reviewed in school on a regular basis by the class teacher. In year 3-6 children will receive a list of words to go over on a weekly basis. The words will be based on what has been taught in class. There will be no formal weekly spellings test, but across each half term teachers will ask children to spell a selection of words from their spelling list to assess if spelling patterns and rules are being consolidated.
