Home Learning Policy
Our Home Learning Policy can be viewed belowDownload our Home learning policy
Home Learning Policy
Research into the impact of home learning demonstrates that:
• When homework tasks are specific and focused on the learning taking place in school, they have the most impact.
• Independent homework projects or activities preparing for future learning have the most impact.
• Giving children daily worksheets which consolidate previous learning has low impact on children’s learning.
• It is important for teachers to monitor homework.
In addition, research shows that home learning can have the following non-academic benefits for children:
• Learning the importance of responsibility for learning
• Managing their time effectively
• Developing study habits
• Developing perseverance – staying with a task until it is complete
In light of this and curriculum changes with the implementation of the new national curriculum from September 2014, we are setting out our expectations for home learning in this policy.
The Importance of Talk
Research supports the importance of vocabulary development from an early age. We would therefore encourage parents to daily converse with their children about what they have learnt at school, for example, by holding the following sorts of discussions:
• Tell me about the most interesting thing you have learnt today.
• How could you have improved your learning today?
• What did you enjoy most about today’s learning?
• What do you predict you are going to be learning about next?
Out of School Learning Experiences
Providing children with rich experiences outside of school helps their holistic development. We would recommend parents take every opportunity to enhance their children’s learning outside of school through a range of activities, e.g.:
• Taking advantage of the huge range of free entry museums, galleries and public spaces in London.
• Children being involved in sporting clubs, scouting or guiding.
• Children learning an instrument or singing in a choir.
• Travelling to interesting places, for example the seaside, the countryside or other cities.
Reading
We expect all pupils from Reception to Year 6 to read daily for 20 minutes to an adult. We would expect parents to record daily reading in the child’s reading record, which should be brought to school regularly, as directed by the class teacher. We would recommend the adult holds the following sorts of discussions post reading:
• Can you summarise the story so far?
• Why do you think that the author chose that word?
• What effect does this sentence have on the reader?
• Does this remind you of any other books you have read?
Spelling
Class teachers in Years 1-6 (and Reception in the Summer Term) will provide children with weekly spelling lists to be practised at home. These spellings will be linked to the Letters and Sounds spelling programme, the curriculum spelling requirements for each year group or key topic words relating to the curriculum.
Maths
Counting and Number bonds – We expect all children in Reception to practise counting from 1 to 20 and to practise recognising and writing these numbers. We expect all children in year 1 to practise their number bonds for ten minutes every day. This can include using objects or counters, pictures and number bond cards
Counting
Reception • Practise counting from 1 to 20
• Practise recognising numbers from 1 to 20
• Practise writing numbers from 1 to 20
Number bonds
Year 1 • Practise number bonds to 10. (Example: 3 + ? = 10)
• Practise number bonds to 20. (Example: ? + 12 = 20)
Times Tables – We expect all children in years 2 to 6 to practise their times tables for ten minutes every day. This can include chanting, singing, copying out and practising on online games and apps.
Search for: BBC Times Table Grid Game or Hit The Button
Which times tables?
Year 2 2, 5 and 10 times tables up to 12 x 2, 5 and10
and division facts up to (e.g. 50 ÷ 10 = 5)
Year 3 3, 4 and 8 times tables up to 12 x 3, 4 and 8
and division facts (e.g. 24 ÷ 4 = 6)
Year 4 6, 7 and 9 times tables up to 12 x 6, 7 and 9
and division facts (e.g. 30 ÷ 6 = 5)
Year 5 Practise all times tables and division facts up to 12 x 12
Year 6 Practise all times tables and division facts up to 12 x 12
Home Learning in Early Years and Year 1
All children in Reception and Year 1 will be provided with a home learning scrapbook. Each week, these books will be sent home with a home learning activity stuck in them. This is an opportunity for parents/carers to contribute to their children’s development, promoting quality talk and out of school learning experiences. This will be done in the format below:
Date_____________________________________
This week’s home learning activity is:-
Draw a picture, take a photo or write about what you did.
Key questions to ask your child during the activty
•
•
•
How did you and your child get on?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Independent Project Learning
All children in Year 2-6 will be provided with a home learning scrapbook. During the year, children will undertake a home learning project each half term linked to their curriculum topic. Class teachers will outline the skills which should be demonstrated in each project. Teachers will mark each project in detail, giving feedback on what was good and ‘even better if’. Children will be given the opportunity to reflect upon their learning and will use the teacher’s feedback to develop their learning in their next project. This will be done in the format below:
This half term our topic is _____________________________
In all home learning projects we expect:
• A mixture of hand written and computerised information.
• High quality presentation.
• No copying (put information into your own words).
• Diagrams drawn by yourself.
• Captions with any pictures (hand drawn or computerised
In this particular project we expect:
•
What Was Good:
Even Better If:
Reflection
What was easy about this project and why?
What was difficult and why?
What will I do differently in my next project?
When might this learning be useful?
Reviewed: January 2015