A little bit at home helps a lot at school
Across school, we ask that you help us to help your child by doing a few things regularly at home. In all the classes we ask that you can help do the following:
- read regularly - 5 times a week and put an entry in your child's diary. As the children move into Year 3 there is an expectation that the children become more independent and fill their diary in themselves. There are sheets to support both you and your child with the sorts of comments to enter. It isn't just about the reading - but also about talking about the book and sharing what you have found out.
- practise spellings or word cards. Children all have weekly spellings - but not straight away in Class 1. Often in Class 1 to start with we send word cards to practise and read at home. Play games, stick them up around the house or anything which will help and make things fun. As the children get older, they have spellings to learn which follow our Spelling Scheme of Work. It is useful to look up words in dictionaries, put them into sentences, practice them on an Ipad - again anything to help and make it fun.
- Maths facts. From Class 2 onwards, the children can start practising times tables. This is called Medal maths. In reception the focus is on learning numbers, counting and sequences. By Year 4 the national expectation is that all children know their times tables facts up to 12 x 12. Medal maths sequence of medals:
- on your marks (number order and recognition)
- get set (counting in 2s, 5s, 10s)
- bronze (Facts: 2s, 5s, 10s)
- silver (Facts: 3s, 4s, 6s, 8s)
- gold (Facts: 7s, 9s, 11s, 12s)
- platinum (all facts including fractions, decimals, prime, square)
Written homework
- In Key Stage 2 the children will come home with a piece of written homework - either maths or literacy or theme related on a Tuesday. It will be expected to be returned the following Monday to allow staff to mark the books before giving new homework on the Tuesday.
- All children have a homework book - details about written homework will be put in here.
- Please support your child as needed to complete the homework - but allow them to be independent. Put a note in the homework book if there was a problem or contact school.
- If your child is stuck and you don't know how to help - encourage them independently to talk to their teacher. That is fine - teachers are there to help.
- Children who do not hand in their homework on time may be asked to complete it that evening and return the next day, or ultimately asked to complete it in their own time in school, which would be during break time. There are occasional exceptions to this, and of course from time to time things happen which mean it may not be completed. Please come to talk to us about it if there is a problem.
- Homework timetable: This may vary from time to time.
- Class 3 - given on a Friday - due in Thursday
- Class 4 - given on a Friday - due in Wednesday
- Class 5 - given on a Tuesday - due in Monday
Homework projects
- Once a year there may be a project for your child to complete over a holiday. There will be several weeks given either before or after the holiday to complete this, as we are aware that sometimes holidays are busy for families, and we know that it is also a time to relax.
- There will always be a written Homework Project help sheet which details the task.
- Sometimes the projects will be part of a larger project in school - like our Science Exhibition last year
