In order to assist parents to support children with homework, we are publishing our homework guidelines
Children are given their new spellings on a Tuesday. Children are tested on the new spellings to ensure they are being appropriately challenged and to identify areas for focused learning over the week. On the following Monday children are then tested on the spellings sent home on Tuesday. Spellings are usually based on set spelling pattern or a particular theme (science vocabulary). The number of spellings given is dependent upon which year group a child is in.
Reading Record Book
All children have a reading book that they should take to and from school each day, children who are developing their phonetical knowledge will also have access to online books through the Bug Club website. There is no set limit regarding how much a child should read at home however, the national expectation is that all children should be able to read by the age of 6 and be able to read a wide range of texts with a strong degree of understanding, using high order inference and deduction skills by the age of 11. We would like our pupils to read to an adult every single day! However, we know that this is not always possible. As a thumb rule, 3-4 times per week is something that we would like to achieve. Inside reading record books, parents, pupils, teachers and teaching assistants have the opportunity to record the date, book and page number and to write a comment. This does not need to happen every single time that a child reads however, a healthy reading record book should include records from all involved on a regular basis, particularly for pupils in KS1 and lower KS2. As pupils move further up the school, greater emphasis will be placed on pupils being more independent and they will generally be expected to make records and comments of their own, although we would like these to be initialled by a parent/guardian. These books will be checked on a Friday.
Reading for pleasure!
We would of course like to encourage pupils to read their own books. Reading for pleasure is proven to have an impact on pupils’ overall academic attainment and on their personal development. If parents and pupils would like to record and comment on their own books that they are currently reading, we openly encourage this also.
Home School Record
All pupils across the school have a ‘Home School Record Book’. They should take this to and from school each day. Older pupils are expected to write in their books to record notices, events and homework. Younger pupils will have a summary sheet of their homework and the learning that they will be experiencing added to their books each week. We believe that using Home School Record Books will help develop our pupils’ independent skills. If parents need to make a comment of any kind, there is a space to do so in the new Home School Record Book. Younger children’s Home School Record Books will be checked every day, however, as pupils move up the school, books will be checked less frequently as children are encouraged to be more independent.
Homework is set on a Thursday and should be returned to school on a Tuesday. The school’s homework guidelines can be found by clicking the link below.
As parents ourselves, we fully appreciate the challenges of maintaining a healthy balance between work, family life, children’s out of school activities and homework.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs A Baines