Useful Information

 Changes to Homework

Over the last few weeks, we have been reviewing our approach to homework.

We recognise that homework can be very stressful for all involved – parents, children and teachers! 

From the school’s point of view, homework has limited value. Some children complete their homework to a very high standard every week, whilst with others it can be difficult to get any homework completed at all.

Some parents give such very high levels of support that it is difficult to see what the child achieved independently whilst some are able to give very little support for various reasons. Research from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) suggests that the impact of primary school homework is limited.

We know that the following skills and knowledge are vital for every child to be able to access other parts of the curriculum and to make progress at school:

• Daily reading;
• Fluency with number facts (times tables and number bonds);
• Spelling practice (using joined handwriting as appropriate)

We ask that you continue to work with your child at home in supporting their development in these areas. Each child will have a daily reading record for you to complete. Age appropriate spellings will continue to be sent home to be learned and tested at school regularly.

Children will be given a Maths activities booklet appropriate to their age. Activities will include regular practice of times tables facts or number bonds, depending on the need of your child as well as other more practical and (we hope) fun things to do linked to an area of maths. Children will continue to be encouraged to make use of the Times Tables Rockstar site to improve recall of tables facts and this knowledge will be tested in class as well.

Similarly, each child will bring home a Reading Activities booklet with various activities designed to increase the enjoyment of and engagement in reading.

Activity squares in each booklet should be initialed by the adult at home who “supervised” the activity; in class, the activity square  will be stamped.

In addition, children will bring home a Home Learning Grid after half term that lists a variety of home learning activities, linked to a topic in class or another focus. The point of this is to encourage children to express themselves in a variety of ways, be it through a poster, a powerpoint presentation, a model or written piece of work – the choice is theirs! The grid will contain a variety of activities – it is not expected that children should complete them all but it does give them a choice of home learning activities to undertake. Opportunities will be given in class for children to share their home learning activities.

The exception to this new approach to homework is Y6 who, at this point in the year, will be revising for their national tests in May (SATs); however, after SATs are over, they too will have the flexibility to choose their home learning activities. Y2 children may also have additional practice work to prepare them for their national tests as well.

We very much hope that this different and more flexible approach to home learning will reduce the stress some children feel when faced with homework and encourage a more active participation in their learning at home.

As ever, if you have any questions, please do speak to your child’s teacher in the first instance.