Home Learning
Helping your child at home with their learning is very important. It supports and extends the learning in the classroom and enables parents and carers to be more closely involved with their child’s education.
Early Years
Within Early Years, we use Tapestry as a way to support parents with home learning. We send challenges home with examples of how teaching looks in practice for parents/carers to try at home. This might be examples of fine motor skills activities or ways to encourage your child’s communication skills.
In Reception the children will be given reading books that match the phonics they are learning. We ask that parents read daily with their child to support their reading progress. Further activities that can be done at home are counting, through games or verbally, speaking in full sentences and answering questions as well as building independence by getting dressed and feeding themselves. Staff in Early Years are always on hand to offer advice on how best to support their child at home.
Year One
In Year One, children will be expected to read daily for up to 20 minutes. This may be to an adult, to younger children, or independently as the children develop into fluent readers. We would expect parents/carers to record daily reading in the child’s reading record, which should be brought to school each day, as directed by the Class Teacher.
In addition to reading daily, in Autumn 2, we would encourage the children to practise their number bonds at home using the resources given by their class teacher. In school we complete Cracking Number Bonds once a fortnight. This is a levelled system for learning number bonds and children progress through the levels to gain certificates.
Upon completion of the Cracking Number Bonds levels, Year One children will gain access to a Times Table Rockstars (TTRS) login. This is where children can begin to practise their times tables, focusing on the 2x, 5x and 10x table initially. They will continue to use this as they progress through the school. All children will receive a login for TTRS in the Autumn Term of Year Two.
Year Two
In Year Two, children will continue to be expected to read daily for up to 20 minutes. Again, this may be to an adult, to younger children, or independently as the children develop into fluent readers. We would expect parents/carers to record daily reading in the child’s reading record, which should be brought to school each day, as directed by the Class Teacher.
In addition to reading daily, the children will have access to Times Table Rockstars online to practise their times tables (logins will be communicated with children in the Autumn Term). We understand that some children may not have completed the Cracking Number Bonds levels or that some children may need further support to learn their number bonds fully. This will be continued in Year Two to consolidate their number bond knowledge.
KS2 (Years Three-Six)
For Home Learning in KS2, pupils will complete:
- Home Learning log or Microsoft Teams Quiz and Assignment (pupil preference)
- Daily reading
- Times Table Rockstars (TTRS) practice
- Spelling practice linked to the spelling rule for the week
- Spag.com challenge
For their home learning logs (or Microsoft Teams assignment), the class teacher will set a question each week that will link to an area of the curriculum that they’ve recently studied. The pupils will answer that question across a double-page spread in their logs or via Teams. They can be creative with their responses, using text, pictures and diagrams to share their knowledge.
Pupils are expected to read daily for approximately twenty minutes and this can be a combination of one-to-one reading and independent reading. Pupils are encouraged to practise TTRS regularly and will also have opportunities to access it in school. Pupils in Year Four and Year Five will have weekly Spag.com challenges related to an area of grammar for their year group. This will be introduced to Year Three later in the year.
Feedback
We recognise that feedback is a valuable tool in motivating children in their learning, and moving their learning forwards. As part of our home learning approach, children who submit assignments on Microsoft Teams will receive feedback from a member of staff in their year group. Those children who submit it as part of their home learning log will also receive feedback and/or acknowledgement before the next piece of home learning is set.
Useful websites