St Andrew’s CE Primary School Home Learning Policy 27/12/2018
ST. ANDREW'S C.E.PRIMARY SCHOOL
Yetminster
HOME LEARNING POLICY
Reviewed September 2013
Adopted by the Governing Body November 2013
It will next be reviewed by November 2015
Biannual
St Andrews CE Primary School is a Rights Respecting School. We work together to learn about and respect children's rights both locally and globally. Our homework policy reflects the following articles:
‘Article 29
Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and
abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for
human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and
other cultures, and the environment.’
Why do we promote home learning?
Developing and sustaining a positive home-school partnership is of great importance to St Andrew’s CE Primary School, and contributes greatly to the confidence, self-esteem, work ethic and progress of our children.
The expectations of both teachers and parents for all children can be supported by regular home learning opportunities. It must be recognised that during the Primary years the varied out-of-school activities that our children already take part in play a vital role in their continuing education, and that supported learning at home is a most important part of this process.
The Home Learning Policy of St. Andrew's C.E.Primary School seeks to provide a framework for supported learning activities whilst recognising the great importance of all the other learning opportunities for our children. Its application, therefore, is a matter of flexibility and based firmly on an understanding of the capabilities of our children.
For the rising fives, careful and judicious use of home learning is important in providing a successful bridge from home to school, and it is influential in creating a strong base for support and extension of the curriculum throughout the primary years.
By the time children reach Year 6 their home learning programme will cover a wider range of tasks and curriculum content. This approach will benefit their learning and also ensure that the transition to Year 7 is as smooth as possible.
Through this Policy we aim to:-
Ensure consistency of approach through the school
Ensure progression towards independence and individual responsibility
Ensure the needs of each individual child are taken into account
Ensure parents/carers have a clear understanding about the expectations from themselves and the child.
Extend and support the learning experience via review, challenge and independent activities.
Provide continuing opportunities for parents, pupils and school to work in partnership.
Provide opportunities for parents and pupils to work together to enjoy learning experiences.
Encourage children to develop long term organisational skills for future needs.
To prepare children for secondary transfer after Year 6.
Guidelines
Reception
Literacy(Reading, writing & spelling) / For parents and carers to encourage their child to read and enjoy their home reading books with support and take part in storytelling, such as having stories read to them or retelling stories to an audience. Children will also begiven regular opportunities to practise their writing skills in parallel with school practice.Amount is at the discretion of the parent / carer though ideally should be offered on a regularbasis.
Maths / Counting to 10 then 20, counting in 10’s and 2’s (and
5’s to challenge more able);Ways of making a number
by adding two amountstogether. We call these
number bonds. E.g. How manyways can you make 5?
4+1= 3+2=
Social skills / This is an intrinsic part of a child’s learning which should be promoted whenever possible. Social interactions, social problem solving and successful independent group play opportunities should be built into a child’s regular routine as often as possible.
Other activities / Examples could include: Counting up and down stairs; reciting nursery and counting rhymes; tidying away and other sorting activities; identification of shapes in the environment; fastening and unfastening buttons and zips and tying shoelaces; using the toilet independently. Sorting socks/shoes into pairs to help with their two times table. Counting the fingers on gloves. Matching buttons to buttonholes when they are getting dressed for school.
Year 1/2
Literacy(Reading, writing & spelling) / Reading most days with an emphasis on encouragement and discussion. Discussion is a vital part of reading development – talking about, for example, the message behind a story or a different ending, are important motivational and developmental tools in developing reading.
Complete reading journal and activity / comment sheet each week to develop and broaden comprehension skills.
Maths / Counting in 2’s, 5’s, 10’s then moving on to 3’s and 4’s
when ready; Mathletics;Knowing different ways to
make numbers over 10. E.g. How many ways can you
put 12 flowers in three pots? Counting on when adding
numbers. E.g. I have 6 dinosaurs, how many more do I
need to make 11?
Topic/project work / At discretion of class teacher to fit in with class topics and pupil interests.
Other activities / Examples include: real life numeracy and literacy related problems e.g. shopping, car, bus and house numbers; encourage storytelling of known or made up stories related to child’s interests.
Year 3/4
Literacy(Reading, writing & spelling) / We recommend reading every day during term time and at discretion of parents / carers at weekends / holidays. Complete reading journal and activity / comment sheet each week to develop and broaden comprehension skills.
Regular spellings practice and testing
Maths / Regular practice of all tables practised earlier plus
the 6 and 8 x tables; if children are secure in these
then they should move on to 7,9,11 and 12x tables;
Mathletics.
Topic/project work / At discretion of class teacher to fit in with class topics and pupil interests; parents can encourage their children to share any hobby/interest they pursue outside of school with their teachers.
Year 5/6
Literacy(Reading, writing & spelling) / Regularly (approximately one book per week at an appropriate level). Complete reading journal and activity / comment sheet each week to develop and broaden comprehension skills; Regular spellings practice and testing;
The continuation of reading at home is hugely important. Children should be encouraged to read a variety of texts such as comics and newspapers as well as fiction and non-fiction books
Maths / Regular practice. It is expected that children should
know and use the multiplication tables from 2 to 12
by the end of Year 5. Regular review and practice will
help to reinforce these skills; Mathletics.
Topic/project work / At discretion of class teacher to fit in with class topics and pupil interests; parents can encourage their children to share any hobby/interest they pursue outside of school with their teachers.
This programme can be supported and extended using the class links section of the school website. There is also a school library loan facility which would enable your child to develop their work.
READING
At St. Andrew's we encourage a partnership between teachers and parents to help our young readers to learn and develop the necessary skills to become independent readers. Children have a book for home-school reading and we would encourage all parents to sign and date this each time they read with their child.
In the Reception class, books may be for sharing with your child. For very young children this is an opportunity to demonstrate how a book works, how we read from left to right, as well as making reading a pleasurable experience. Once a child has mastered the early letters sounds, a Reading book will follow. Please find the right moment for your child to read. In the hurly burly of school life, they can often become very tired and teachers would prefer five minutes of enjoyable sharing than fifteen minutes of struggle. Encourage 'sounding out' a new word rather than telling the child straight away. Sometimes you can help by getting your child to read a whole sentence, 'missing out' the difficult word and guessing what would fit in the gap. This helps children use their growing knowledge of grammar and syntax. It is also useful to discuss the story, perhaps asking what has already happened or what might happen next. We are keen to maintain home reading in the KS2 classes. Although children are becoming fluent readers the support and encouragement of parents is a key factor in developing the more difficult higher reading skills.
Read when child is fresh and please do not pressurise.
Allow a few seconds for child to 'have-a-go' at an unknown word
Talk about what they read, do they like or dislike it? Can they tell you why?
Praise and encourage all efforts. Learning to read is very difficult and children need our support.
Reading journals
To ensure we are enhancing and developing comprehension and understanding of texts read (alongside word reading/ spelling activities) please help and support your child complete their reading journal task or comment sheet each week (one may be set specifically by the teacher or left for you and your child to choose). This approach allows children to explore their books further and develop their understanding and enjoyment of books and reading in general.
SPELLING
Learning to spell words correctly is a complex process. Children begin in the Early Years by learning all 44 phonemes including digraphs and trigraphs. Daily phonic sessions allow children to practise their phonic skills and develop their writing/spelling skills at an appropriate level. By Year 1 they are beginning to learn the alternative spellings of these phonemes.
In Key Stage 1 developing early spelling capability is a high priority and developing phonological awareness is a regular feature of everyday work. Lists of key words will be sent home to provide you with an opportunity to support your child and you will also find excellent links within the classes section of the website to support spelling
In Key Stage 2 your child will bring home some words to learn as spellings on a regular basis. These may be tested or used in an investigation or activity.
When supporting spelling please encourage the children to use the 'look, cover, write, check' method to practise the words, either on a piece of paper or in their homework books. This helps to develop the visual skills necessary to spell English words correctly. Encourage your child to talk about why some words are easier than others, English is a very irregular language and as we all know some words do not follow the rules!
MATHS
As a core subject, mathematics has a very important place in the curriculum, the children will spend approximately five hours a week learning and consolidating new concepts.
The children will be asked to continue the consolidation of this work at home. This homework will take a variety of forms dependent on the year group concerned.
In Reception and Key Stage 1, children will be consolidating and extending their number skills in an everyday playing context. By playing a wide variety of practical games such as dice and numbered track games, they will be reinforcing their understanding in a fun situation. As a result no formal maths homework will be given.
In Years 3 and 4 the home learning will become more regular. Our children will be given maths activities to support their class learning as appropriate.
In Years 5 and 6 the work will become more demanding, but will still be based on the work covered in the classroom. We expect each child to complete a piece / task of homework each week (whether literacy or maths, sometimes both if the classwork encourages it).
Multiplication tables practice should not simply be rote repetition of the tables (e.g. 1 x 3=3, 2 x 3=6 etc). This should be included as well as other ways of showing knowledge and familiarity with multiplication facts. Other ways include:
- Repeating the tables forwards and backwards;
- Saying the tables as 3, 6, 9 etc whilst using fingers as signifiers of 1 x, 2 x, 3x etc;
- When a child has a secure awareness of saying the table forwards and backwards, asking for random, out of sequence multiplication facts (using varied mathematical language) is the next step to show instant mental recall (e.g. What is 4x3?; Multiply 7 by 3; What are 2 groups of 3? etc). This will develop a child’s ability to calculate quickly without using slower ‘counting on’ methods;
- Asking associated division facts is vital in extending and embedding number knowledge. E.g. What is 15 divided by 3? How many 3’s are in 24? Group 18 into sets of 3 etc.
- Extend division fact questions by asking questions with remainders e.g. What is 16 divided by 3? 5 remainder 1; 26÷3=? 8 rem. 2
If you have any questions about how to support your child’s learning in any area please ask your child’s class teacher. We are all happy to help.
How can parents / carers help make home learning a meaningful, positive and lifelong process?
In order for your child to pursue their home learning successfully, and for the process to be enjoyable, manageable and worthwhile, the following advice may help:-
Talk about the work your child has done during lesson time and discuss how the home learning fits into their schoolwork.
Question your child about what methods they are going to use to complete the home learning.
Discuss alternative methods if they are appropriate.
If your child has a problem or query encourage them to talk about possible ways of solving them and let them try out these methods even if they are not correct. Learning from their mistakes can be a powerful learning experience.
Encourage your child to check their answers carefully to see if they are reasonable and sensible. If your child has made a mistake, encourage them to correct it themselves.
If it is appropriate, let your child show their working out as errors and misconceptions can be identified if the children show their calculations rather than just presenting an answer.
Keep it a positive experience. If the home learning becomes an insurmountable problem then leave it and try it again at a later date.
Feel free to add comments about the work if you feel they would further inform the teacher about your child's understanding and ability.
Above all enjoy the experience of working with your child.
At St. Andrew's we value opportunities to develop and extend links between home and school. We welcome parents active involvement in their children's learning by supporting what children are asked to do at home.
For children in Key Stage 1 short activities of different kinds - reinforcing social skills, simple games, learning spellings and, of course, reading together - provide a very important opportunity for younger children to talk about what they are learning to an interested adult, and to practise key skills in a supportive environment.
As children get older, home learning provides an opportunity for children to develop the skills of independent learning. It is important that children should gradually get into the habit of regularly devoting periods of time to reading for pleasure and learning or investigation on their own. This can be school initiated or as a result of a child’s own interest or family experience or conversation.
We recognise that there are many activities led by parents / families which provide valuable educational and experiential learning. These are vital to a full and rounded life journey. Work set by school should complement these experiences.
We hope that the principles contained within this document help to maintain and develop the high level of support for children's learning and to encourage an even closer home/school partnership.
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