Learning at home
Leaders have made reading a key priority. Children in the early years start learning phonics as soon as they begin school.'
Ofsted 2023
Home Learning is set for the following reasons:
- To reinforce learning
- To strengthen our partnership between home and school
- To provide opportunities to extend learning
- To provide opportunities to prepare for future learning
- To provide 1:1 learning opportunities
- To foster a love of learning that takes place not only in school
The majority of Home Learning activities are set on a Tuesday and the children are expected to have completed it by Monday of the following week. Home Learning books are used to record the activities.
In Key Stage 2, a child may be asked to use some of their lunchtime break to complete any outstanding homework.
Early Years
Short take-home activities are set for children in early years once they are settled in school, to encourage their learning and development at home. These are sent out via Tapestry, our online learning journal.
Reading
Reading is an important skill and finding time every day to read is the best way to make progress.
We ask that all children read at least 5 times a week and record this in their Reading Journals. For younger pupils, parents are asked to make a record of the reading, commenting on their strengths and any areas of concern. For older children parents are asked to sign the reading record to indicated their child has read at home.
Initially children will bring home books to share with parents/carers that may be too challenging for them to read. We would ask that adults read to their child. As children become more confident decoding and blending, they will bring home books that are suitable for them to read themselves.
Read Write Inc Phonics: a guide for parents
Writing
Spelling is a major focus for Home Learning and throughout their time at the school children will have opportunities to practice their spellings at home.
Here are some ideas you could try to help them learn their spellings.
- The 'look, say, cover, write and check' method can help your child to remember how to spell words that they find difficult
- Look at the shape of the word. Can you see any patterns or groups of letters that go together? Are there any words within words?
- Say the word carefully and slowly to yourself. Try to listen for the sounds in the word.
- Cover the word. Try to picture the word in your mind, closing your eyes might help you to do this. Say the word to yourself again and then.....
- Write the word down.
- Check to see if it is correct. If the word isn't quite right don't worry, just try again. It can often take a few attempts to get it right.
- Draw a rainbow of words. Write all your words in each arc using a different colour for each arc.
- Type It! - if your child loves using the computer, encourage them to type up their spelling words.
- Mnemonics: Think up a rhyme or saying to help your child learn a tricky word. They will have great fun with this! For example...
- rhythm ( rhythm helps your two hips move)
- because (big elephants can always understand small elephants)
- Find little words in big words (island is, land, soldier sold, old)
- Find the tricky bits and highlight them in colour (beautiful)
- How many syllables?
- Write each spelling word and then divide the word into syllables. Write the number of syllables each word has. For example: (im / port / ant) 3
Younger children will also be encouraged to practise their handwriting and letter formation at home.
Maths
Learning number facts and times tables are vital for success in Maths.
We would ask that children practice these daily to help them get this knowledge into their long-term memory. We expect children in Year 4 to know all their times tables up to 12 x 12.
Theme or Topic
Occasionally, children will be set additional tasks linked to their class Theme.
These may be longer research projects or activities for them to share with a parent. More information about class themes can be found on the class pages of the website.
SpellingShed