Why do we promote Home School learning?

We have a unique approach to homework which is designed to be family friendly, engaging, easy to manage but with a purpose, as it focuses on life skills and developing a love of learning. Each child from Year 1 upwards has a Brain Builder into which the children will be given open-ended, creative tasks to complete. The tasks can be done independently or with support from someone in the family. A variety of topics and tasks are used and, depending on the task, we encourage the children to use photographs, research or draw pictures to illustrate their findings. Very often there is a choice of activities or ways of presenting what they find out and all we ask is that they put their best effort into the task. The more effort they put into each task, the more they will gain. 

Children will be given two weeks to complete a Brain Builder task which should then be returned to school to be shared and celebrated with the class. There will then be a week’s break before the next Brain Builder is given out. Each class also has a Brain Builder club for any child who needs support.

In Reception, the children have more practical Home School activities to complete which complement the things they are learning.

Please ask us for help or advice at any time but most of all, enjoy the tasks!

In addition to our Brain Builder tasks, we ask families to support their children with reading, spelling and maths activities.

Reading

We expect the children to read at home at least three times a week and to have their Reading Diary signed. This should predominately be from their school book but reading from other books can also be completed - all reading is good reading! Please write in your child’s Reading Diary when your child has read so we can be sure they are reading at home.

Spellings

To supplement work in class on grammar/spelling rules each year group has a set of spellings which should be learnt over the year. Please work with your child to develop their instant recall of these spellings. Certain groups of spellings will be sent home for children to focus on. This frequency will be dependent on the difficulty of the words and will therefore be decided upon by the class teacher. Children from Year 2 onwards have access to  EdShed spelling activities 

Please use the links below to access the spellings for your child’s year group.

Common Exception Words Year One

Common Exception Words Year Two

Spelling Word List Years 3 and 4

Spelling Word List Years 5 and 6

Maths

Depending on the age and ability of your child there are many things that you can practise with them that can make a huge difference to their mathematical development. Practising key facts such as times tables can be done on the walk to school or for a few minutes before tea, but this can have a big impact on your child’s learning. You can also support your child with real life aspects of Maths, for example, by helping them to know the days of the week, tell the time, use money when you go shopping together or play a board game.

Children from Year 2 onwards  also have access to Times Tables Rock Stars which helps them to develop their mathematical ability whilst also having fun. Children should ideally be aiming to achieve a 1000 points per week and will earn a certificate for achieving this.

Using Computers to Support Learning

There are many websites that can be used to support a child’s learning at home.

These include:

http://www.spellingframe.co.uk/

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/

https://www.bbc.com/education/levels/zvbc87h

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button (for key maths facts practice)

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/#

https://www.tutorhunt.com/tutor-bot/ 

Please note that these are external websites and the school cannot be held responsible for their contents. If you think that they are not working or see anything inappropriate, please contact us.