Homework 

Practising at home

Research tells us that homework has minimal impact on outcomes for primary aged children. What has a greater impact is home and school working together on distinct, shared goals – every child reads at home every day.

We teach, families practise.

Nursery and Reception (10 minutes every day)

In Nursery parents borrow books to read at home with their children.

In Reception, children take home two books a week – one they read, one is read to them. Children keep the same book for a week to achieve fluency. By the end of the week the child should be 100% accurate, they are reading with meaning, using all the punctuation marks and reading with expression. Teachers send home keyring cards with words on for the children to practise out of context. These are the everyday words.

KS1 (10-15 minutes every day)

At the start of each term, teachers send home the Number Sense sheet – this stays at home.

Every child has a spelling book which comes into school every day. Assessments happen throughout the week. Each child is reviewed at least fortnightly.

Teachers send home a weekly email, reminding families to read every day. They tell families which spellings are the focus and remind them to practise spellings every day. They send home the word of the week and anything relevant to the learning that week – for example, letting families know the class are learning about space.

Children read at home every day and bring their reading record to school every day for checking. Most children keep the same book for a week to achieve fluency. By the end of the week the child should be 100% accurate, they are reading with meaning, using all the punctuation marks and reading with expression. A minority of families may not be able to support reading records between home and school. These children have a home and school reading record. They read every day in school and we write in their reading record.

For October half term, February half term, Easter holidays and May half term, teachers send home an optional task – this is a making or doing task.

During the summer holidays, we want all children to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge

KS2 (20 minutes every day)

At the start of the year, teachers send home a ‘Practice at home’ book. Children keep this at home and use it to practise their weekly spellings. We know that children sometimes like to practise their handwriting, do extra maths or write stories. They can also do this in these books. The books stay at home until they’re full. The children bring them to school and we send home another one.

At the start of each term teachers send home the spelling sheet for the whole term – this stays at home.

Teachers send home a weekly email, reminding families to read every day. They tell families which spellings are the focus and remind them to practise spellings every day. They also remind families that children should practise their multiplication fluency on TT Rockstars daily. They send home the word of the week and anything relevant to the learning that week – for example, letting families know the class are learning about space.

Reading records are brought to school every day and checked. A minority of families may not be able to support this. These children have a home and school reading record. They read every day in school and we write in their reading record.

For October half term, February half term, Easter holidays and May half term, teachers send home an optional task – this is a making or doing task.

During the summer holidays, we want all children to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge

Y6 (30 minutes every day)

As part of our transition package, Year 6 homework is increased. Every Thursday teachers send home a grammar sheet and an arithmetic sheet in their ‘Practise at home’ folder. Children bring this to school on a Tuesday and it is marked in class.

We expect Y6 children to read and practise spellings every day at home, and bring their reading record every day.