Parents Area : Homework

Homework Policy

Although homework or working at home has a valuable contribution to play in children's learning, children also have a right to time out of school to socialise, pursue their own interests and to relax.

Our homework policy is set within this belief, that many of our children are occupied in valuable learning experiences out of school hours. We therefore ask a minimum of homework from the children but that which we do ask we expect to be done.

For children in Key Stage 1 developing a partnership with parents / carers and involving them in their child's learning is the key purpose. Short activities of different kinds provide a very important opportunity for young 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 homework provides an opportunity for children to develop the skills of independent learning and this should increasingly become its main purpose. Children should gradually get into the habit of regularly devoting periods of time to study on their own. Not only will their learning benefit but also the transition to Year 7 will be smoother.

Purposes of Homework
 

to help develop an effective partnership between home and school in pursuing the aims of the school
to consolidate and reinforce skills and understanding, particularly in literacy and numeracy
to exploit resources for learning of all kinds at home
to extend school learning through, for example, additional reading
to encourage the older children to develop the confidence and self discipline to study on their own in preparation for the requirements of the secondary school.
We do not expect children to finish off work at home, other than in exceptional circumstances. The work that children are set in school is appropriate to their ability and all children should therefore be able to complete their tasks in the allocated time.

We do not expect children to be set a task which requires a parent / carer to teach the child a new
concept - that is the teacher's role. An exception could be when a child is experiencing a particular
difficulty and the teacher has asked that explanation and help be given.

We do not expect that a great deal of written homework will be set unless it is, for example, research which will inform a child's learning in school and may be fed back to other children. Teachers have a heavy workload without the extra task of marking large amounts of written homework.

Time allocation
 

We recommend

Years 1 & 2            1 hour per week           focusing on reading, spelling and other

                                                            literacy and numeracy work

Years 3 & 4            1.5 hours per week       as above with occasional assignments in

                                                            other subjects

Years 5 & 6            0.5 hours per day         continued emphasis on literacy

                                                            and numeracy but also ranging over the

                                                            whole curriculum

All children, including those in Reception, take home their reading book and Reading

Record Book every night. Parents are encouraged to use the Reading Record Book as a

means of dialogue between home and school.

Children in Key Stage 2 have a Homework Diary in which to record their set activities.

This should go home every night for parents to see and annotate if they wish, sharing any problems or providing positive feedback.

Homework, particularly for the younger children may take the form of games to be played with an adult.

For Key Stage 1 homework largely consists of reading in its broadest sense i.e. looking at books together, talking about stories, predicting, empathising and practising newly learned skills.

Alongside children reading their school book are the many opportunities encountered in everyday life - reading road signs, recipes etc.

All children should read every night with the most fluent readers reading on their own for 10 - 20 minutes.

All but the youngest children learn spellings as a part of their daily morning routine. However, the older children may like to learn them at home as well. There is a spelling test each week.

Children in Key Stage 2 receive maths homework on a routine weekly basis in the form of tables or facts to be learned. The learning is followed by a test a week later.

Older children may be asked to undertake some research for history / geography or possibly prepare a presentation.

Individual children may be asked to work at home to overcome a specific problem / difficulty e.g. handwriting.