Home learning expectation at St. Peter’s:

The Education Endowment Fund Teaching and Learning Toolkit (2018) tells us that, “Overall, homework in primary schools does not appear to lead to large increases in learning.” When it is done poorly, the children learn nothing, teachers have unnecessary marking and parents have the battle to get it done on their hands. This research underpins our homework expectations – i.e. focused, manageable and effective. Below is an overview of the home learning expectations at St. Peters. Whilst we appreciate that it will take time to read and implement the instructions below, weekly home learning for the remainder of the year will be accessible and effective.

Reading – all year groups

Following our establishment phase at the beginning of term, from Friday 13^th September, your child will begin to bring home a reading book. If you are in EYFS, KS1 or Year 3 this will be a book from our reading scheme. At St Peter’s, early readers are allocated purely decodable books, enabling children to feel successful from the very beginning.  Your child will not encounter words that include phonics they have not been taught within EYFS or KS1.

The school’s main reading scheme is ‘Oxford Reading Tree’. Reading books within EYFS, Yr. 1, Yr. 2 and Yr. 3 are changed once a week on a Friday.  All children will receive a minimum of one book a week which has been carefully selected by their class teacher - we firmly believe that reading must be practised so will ensure the book that we provide reflects what your child can comfortably read. These books must then be returned on Thursdays.

All children will also have the opportunity to take home a school or class library book. This is a reading for pleasure book. You may find that this is a book your child cannot independently read so we would invite you to share this book as a family. Unlike the scheme reading books, we are happy for these books to be kept over several weeks as they tend to be longer.

Home reading must be recorded in your child’s Reading Record. We expect children to be reading 4x a week minimum and this can be recorded by simply writing the date and signing. Comments are encouraged but not mandatory, especially for those strong, confident readers although I strongly encourage parents in KS2 to still make time to hear their child read each week.

We place huge emphasis on reading. As such, Reading Records must be handed in so that we can track and support both parental engagement and reading progression. Reading records must handed to the class teacher each Thursday and will be returned each Friday signed by their teacher.

Example of a week’s reading:

It is important to note that your child’s school reading book is not the only book that you can enjoy with your child. Please continue to share high quality picture books, audio books, magazines and poetry with them.

Reading books in school

For pupils in Years 4-6, we ask that all children in KS2 bring their reading book in daily. This could be a book from home or from school and should they wish to leave a book in school, they are welcome to choose to have separate reading books at home and school.

Phonics/Spelling

Phonics EYFS/Year 1: Each week, on Friday, teachers will upload to Class Dojo the phonic sound that your child has worked on that week in class. Accompanying the sound, will be a short video of one of the phase team pronouncing each sound. The first video will be uploaded to Class Dojo Friday 13^th September. To truly enhance their learning in school, it is important that children have multiple opportunities to practise this sound at home.

Spelling (Year 2 to 6 only): Spelling and word knowledge are key components in the process of learning to read and write. Weekly spelling tests however, all too often put too much emphasis on a score causing needless anxiety for all at home. In addition to this, a prescribed list of words, we believe, does not allow for the individual need of each child. As such, this academic year we have increased the number of spelling lessons within the weekly timetable. In addition, each child will have target spellings displayed on their tables that are tailored to them.

Due to this increased focus within school, there is no prescribed amount that children are expected to practise at home.

Despite this, we remain mindful that many parents appreciate the opportunity to consolidate learning at home. As such, every Friday, teachers will upload to Class Dojo the spelling rule that your child has worked on that week. The first spelling rule will be uploaded to Class Dojo Friday 13^th September.

Maths

EYFS: Homework in this phase is minimal. Later in the year, Miss Penrose will lead a workshop to introduce some maths games that you can play with your child at home. There will be more to follow on this later in the term.

Year 1-2: We use the Number Sense KS1 fluency programme in our maths lessons to help children become confident and flexible with numbers. It focuses on building fluency with addition and subtraction. The homework for these year groups will match what they’ve learned during the week and could be a simple game or activity sheet. The homework will be posted weekly on Class Dojo.

Years 3: During the Autumn Term, Year 3 will focus on building fluency in addition and subtraction using the Number Sense program. Weekly activities will be shared on Class Dojo, reflecting what they’ve learned in class. Starting in January, they will be moving on to the Number Sense Times Table Fluency Programme and the focus will shift to times tables. The homework will then focus on practising times tables through Times Table Rockstars. In-year competitions may also be included to motivate and engage the children as they strengthen their times table knowledge

Years 4-6:

From Year 4 upwards, we will be using a platform called Atom Prime in order to set additional home learning for maths, grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) and occasionally science.

Next week, you will receive an email with the details of your child’s account, and these will also be stuck in their reading record with their other logins. You can also create your free Atom Prime Parent Portal directly from your child’s account. Your Parent Portal will allow you to access your child’s login details at any time and be able to view their progress.

Children will be set two home activities to do based on their class learning - one in maths and one in GPS except in science week, where one piece of homework will be replaced with science. Atom Learning is an adaptive platform which means questions will become more or less difficult depending on how your children is performing. The platform also provides a help sheet and an instructional video if children are stuck, as well as explanations after each question of how to work out the answer correctly.

Children will find the homework that they have been set on their homepage when they log in, under the heading of ‘To do list’. 

Additional to this, all children in Years 4-6 have a Times Tables Rockstars account, which we would encourage them to access as much as possible in order to improve their mental maths fluency.