Homework

What are the aims of homework?

Homework is important for the following reasons:

To involve parents in the learning process and provide opportunities for parents and children to work together;
To increase partnership with parents;
To raise standards of achievement;
To consolidate skills and understanding learnt at school by overlearning key knowledge;
To pre-learn key concepts that are coming up in our learning sequence;
To ensure that teachers, parents and children have a clear understanding of what children are learning in school and of the learning outcomes;
To ensure that parents are fully aware of the role they play with regard to their child’s learning.

We have a consistent approach to homework across the whole school. The reading and spelling elements of homework are compulsory, but the other paper-based homework tasks are non-compulsory. The reasoning behind this is that some parents have expressed that they feel homework is too much for their primary age child, whereas other parents feel that homework really supports their child to move their learning forward. It is therefore the parents prerogative to decide whether their child completes the non-compulsory aspects of weekly homework tasks.

How to access and submit homework sheets:

Homework is set by the class teacher each Friday and, for those wishing to hand the homework in, submission date is the following Wednesday. We will provide paper copies, but also aim to set the homework as assignments on individual Teams accounts for those pupils who can access homework electronically – each child’s login for Teams is provided on labels on the inside cover of their reading diaries. For pupils choosing to access homework on Teams, submission can be as simple as reading the worksheet, writing the responses by hand on a piece of paper and taking a picture on a mobile file to upload the homework assignment.

In terms of homework, our expectations are as follows:

Nursery

Reading: Nursery children will bring home a ‘love-to-read’ book. This will not necessarily match their phonic ability but is a story they want to read for pleasure which they will need support from their parents and carers to enjoy. Library books will be changed on Fridays.

Topic and Maths: This is age appropriate and is based on the learning that the class teacher has delivered that week.

Reception

Reading: As the compulsory part of homework, we expect every pupil to read their home-school reading book at least three times a week. For pupils undertaking the Read Write Inc programme (RWI), they will receive a RWI book that is exactly matched to the phonic sounds they are learning in school with colours/levels changing as children progress through the programme. They will also bring home a ‘love-to-read’ book from our recently developed library. This will not necessarily match their phonic ability, but is a story they want to read for pleasure which they will need support from their parents/carers to enjoy. Both RWI home reading books and library books will be changed on Fridays.

Topic and Maths: This is age appropriate and is based around learning that the class teacher is delivering to pupils each week.

KS1 and KS2

Reading: As the compulsory part of homework, we expect every pupil to read their home-school reading book at least three times a week. For pupils undertaking the Read Write Inc programme (RWI), they will receive a RWI book that is exactly matched to the phonic sounds they are learning in school with colours/levels changing as children progress through the programme. RWI pupils will have the opportunity to change these books once a week in their RWI lessons each Thursday. They will also bring home a ‘love-to-read’ book from our recently developed library. This will not necessarily match their phonic ability, but is a story they want to read for pleasure which they may need support from you to enjoy. For pupils who are not on the RWI programme, they will have a book that is closely matched to their reading age. In recent years, more focus has been placed upon whole class lessons and group interventions, rather than listening to 1-2-1 readers, to develop reading fluency and comprehension skills. This means that we may not listen to your child read their home reading book as regularly as we previously have. Can we please emphasise that this isn’t because we are not focussing on your child’s reading, it is purely because we are listening to pupils read in alternative contexts daily, and actually your child is being exposed to more reading within our weekly timetables. Having said that, pupils who are highlighted as needing a little more support with their reading may read to an adult on a one-to-one basis more frequently than other pupils. The books that your child brings home will still continue to be changed as regularly as it is needed to be, and challenges will still be set for them to work on at home with you, but this method of reading will largely become more of a home learning tool rather than a tool for teaching and assessing in school.

Spellings: Pupils in RWI lessons will not receive spellings to learn at home, as all of their learning around spelling is delivered on a daily basis within their sessions. They will however have a few common exception words to learn each week. For pupils not on the RWI programme, in Year 2 and in KS2, teachers will send home their spellings to learn on a weekly basis for a test each Thursday. New spellings will be sent home each Friday and tests will be on the following Thursday. Spellings are a compulsory element of homework and can be found on the weekly homework sheet.

Times Tables: Each pupil in Year 1-6 has been allocated a login for TTRS (Times Table Rock Stars). Their login will be provided on a sticker that can be found on the inside front cover of their homework diary. Their teacher will allocate times tables that they have been rehearsing in class. There will be a weekly certificate given on a Friday to the pupil who has accessed TTRS the most each week, has gained the most points that week, or has improved the most that week.

Literacy and Numeracy: Homework is age appropriate and is based around learning that the class teacher has delivered to pupils that week.

Rewards

Homework rewards may be allocated for the following reasons:

For pupils who consistently read three or more times a week;
For pupils who consistently return or submit their weekly homework sheets;
For pupils who win the most coins or make the most progress on their TTRS accounts.

Thank you to all parents for their continued support with homework.

Dovecotes Primary School

"Spread your wings, learn new things, fly as high as you can"