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.

Home learning is not compulsory in primary school, and children will never be penalised for not completing it. However, we do strongly encourage children to take part. We celebrate and reward those who complete their tasks, as this helps build good learning habits and readiness for the next stage of education. This is especially important in Upper Key Stage 2, as children begin to prepare for secondary school, where homework will be a regular expectation.

Throughout the week commencing 7^th September, all children have been establishing routines and settling in. In the spirit of this this, until the end of the first week, we will not begin our usual home learning schedule.

Following this establishment phase, from Friday 11^th September, your child will begin to bring home a reading book and our home learning schedule will commence.

Reading – all year groups

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 we 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 how to fill in a reading record:

Example of a week’s reading:

Mon	Tues	Weds	Thurs	Fri	Weekend
Read at home and record	Enjoy a wide variety of reading, speaking and listening experiences e.g., audio books, magazines, picture books, role play or practise phonics.	Read at home and record	Reading books and reading records returned to school and given to class teacher.   Enjoy a wide variety of reading, speaking and listening experiences e.g. audio books, magazines, picture books, role play or practise phonics.	New reading books and signed reading records placed in child’s book bag by class teacher.   Read at home and record	Read at home and record.

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

Please ensure that all children bring their reading book to school every day. This enables children to read regularly in school with an adult. As we have a finite number of copies of each book and reading stage, it is important that children have their reading book available in school each day.

In Key Stage 2, children are welcome to have one reading book at school and another at home if they would prefer not to carry their book back and forth each day. This means that they can continue to read at home while also having a book available for reading in 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 on Thursday 17^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): In the past, we have sent home weekly spelling lists for children to learn and then tested them in school the following week. However, this often placed too much emphasis on a test score, which could cause unnecessary anxiety at home. In addition, a fixed list of words did not always meet the individual needs of every child.

Now, spelling is taught throughout the week in school following Essential Spelling and Word Knowledge, which leads on from our phonics programme. This is a spelling programme that enables pupils to understand the patterns in the English language using a combination of morphology, etymology and application of phonological rules rather than memorising a set of words. Children explore this rule in different ways, and their understanding is checked in a variety of activities such as games, sentence dictations, and applying the rule in their independent writing.

We remain mindful that many parents appreciate the opportunity to consolidate learning at home. As such, every Thursday, teachers will upload to Class Dojo the spelling morpheme that your child has worked on that week. The first spelling rule will be uploaded to Class Dojo Thursday 17^th September.

Maths

EYFS: Homework in this phase is minimal. There will be the opportunity to come into the EYFS classrooms throughout the year to learn more about how Number Sense is taught and how you can support at home. Look out for more information coming 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 starting Thursday 17^th September.

Years 3-6:

In Key Stage 2, we will be using a platform called Anton to provide additional home learning in maths, grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS), and occasionally science and humanities.

Following feedback from both parents and children, we have decided to move away from Atom Learning this year. While the platform offered a wide range of questions, we found that some could be confusing, did not always align closely with the curriculum being taught in school, and varied considerably in difficulty. We have therefore chosen a new approach to home learning that we feel will provide more purposeful, accessible and appropriately challenging activities for all children.

Your child will bring home their Anton login details in their reading record. Anton can be accessed either through the downloadable app or via a web browser. Children can log in using their individual QR code, which will take them directly to the activities that have been set for them.

The children have already had an opportunity to explore and use Anton in school, so they should be familiar with how to access and complete their home learning.

Each Monday, children will be set two home learning activities based on their class learning: one in maths and one in GPS. During science weeks, one of these activities will be replaced with a science activity. On some weeks, a maths or GPS activity may also be replaced with a humanities activity.

If children are unsure how to answer a question, each activity includes hints to help them. Please also encourage your child to speak to their teacher if they need further support or do not understand something.

Children will find the home learning activities that have been set for them on their homepage when they log in, under the heading ‘Content’.

Anton also gives children access to a wide range of additional learning activities if they would like to do more. If your child chooses to complete additional activities, we recommend that they work from a previous year group, as they may encounter content from their current year group later in the school year as part of their planned home learning.

The first homework will be set on Monday 14^th September.

Additional to this, all children in Years 4-6 (and Year 3 from January) 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. Competitions may also be set up throughout the year to motivate and engage the children as they strengthen their times table knowledge

All children from EYFS to Year 3 will have access to a Numbots account. Numbots provides an enjoyable way for children to practise and develop their maths fluency through short, engaging activities.

There is no expectation for children to use Numbots at home, but we encourage you to make use of it if your child enjoys practising their maths skills in this way. Even a few minutes of regular practice can help children to develop their confidence and fluency with number facts.