Home Learning Expectations
A genius is a talented person who does his homework. Thomas A. Edison
At Blue Coat C.E. Infant School, we value all of the enthusiastic and supportive guidance parents give to their children at home and we want to assist with this to ensure all children meet their potential. This guidance is to enable and support learning at home.
We believe that home learning supports, extends and consolidates the learning covered in the classroom while supporting children to develop self-discipline, independence and the ability to take responsibility for their own learning.
The main purpose of home learning is to:
- encourage pupils to develop the skill, confidence and motivation to study independently at home effectively
- consolidate and reinforce the skills and understanding developed at school.
- extend school learning through activities such as additional reading
- keep parents informed about the work and progress of their child
- maintain good channels of communication between home and school.
- consolidate spellings
- develop children’s excitement and passion for their learning
Homework Guidelines for each key stage.
Please click the link for our policy:
Home Learning Policy October 2021
We believe that the most important homework activity is regular reading. Suggested reading times are 5-10 minutes in Reception and 15 minutes in Year 1 and 2.
The nature and content of homework set, and the amount of time needed to complete homework will vary from year to year and from child to child.
Early Years
Reception
Each week the children will come home with an exercise book. The children will have the following to complete:
- a maths task linked to their current learning
- handwriting linked to the sounds in class
- a reading activity (phonics) to embed what they have been learning in class
- a weekly reading book
KS1
Year 1 and 2
All the children will access their home learning via Purple Mash. Purple Mash is an award-winning website for children aged 4 to 12, packed with creative tools, educational games and themed resources.
Each week the children will be assigned a piece of work for literacy and maths (mental or written). These are known as 2dos. The work is fully mapped to the curriculum and reflect what the children are doing in class. Teachers will regularly check online learning to ensure children are using the activities.
In addition to this, children will receive a reading book and a phonics book that they will be able to take home and read each night. The will books will be linked to the child’s reading age/ phonic band.
Children will also have their spelling list in their school planner. Their scores will also be recorded on the day of their test. Please ensure planners are brought into school on a daily basis.
Finally, a termly Home Learning project will be set. This will be an opportunity for your child to demonstrate their understanding of the wider curriculum.
Each term there will be a creative task that is linked to the wider curriculum.
Pupils are expected to:
- Tackle home tasks promptly and with a positive attitude
- Take pride in presentation and content
- Listen carefully to the description of tasks and ask for help if they do not understand
- Take responsibility for handing in completed tasks on time
Remember: Homework is about reinforcing, practising and confidence building… Enthusing your child about undertaking homework and modelling the high value of homework to them is of key importance. Make it fun!
Targets
Each term we will select an age-related target (for reading, writing and maths) that is linked to the National Curriculum. Practising these skills at home can be a great way to boost your child’s confidence and complement what they learn in the classroom. Your child will achieve their targets more quickly if they are being worked on at home and at school. Work will be set via Purple Mash (online platform). If you do not have access, please ensure that you notify the school so we can support you using an alternative method.
Termly Targets
Please find a PDF version of our targets for KS1 below:
Alternatively you can find them in your child’s planner.
How staff support this policy by:
- providing a range of homework tasks and activities to consolidate and extend learning in the class
- ensuring the children have a clear understanding of the tasks involved and a common understanding of the high expectations held of them individually,
- according to their ability
- communicating with parents and keeping them informed of children’s progress, projects and topics to be covered and their children’s individual targets
- ensuring that all resources are looked after and remain in good condition
Reading
Reading is so important in the lifelong love of learning. When children learn to read at an early age, they have greater general knowledge, a wider range of vocabulary, they are more fluent readers, and they have improved attention spans and better concentration.
There is no more important activity for preparing your child to succeed as a reader than reading aloud together. At Blue Coat Infant School, children are given two reading books; one is based on their phonetic ability and linked to our reading Read Write Inc. The other book is based on their reading age. You can find out at what level your child is working on at the back of this document (Appendix 1).
Your child should be heard reading regularly, 5 times a week, either being heard read or reading independently. Books will only be changed if your someone has acknowledged their child has read the book. This can be done by writing a comment or Initialling in the planner that you have heard your child read.
All reading books and planners/reading recorded need to be brought in on a daily basis in your child’s book bag. It is important for parents /carers to read with children and to discuss books, pictures and stories, even if a child is confident reading independently.
Books are a fantastic resource to have and we are very proud of the books we have to offer. If a book is lost or damaged, we do ask for a £5 contribution to replenish the book that needs replacing.
Contacting Us
Homework is an extension of what your child learns in school. If your child is having difficulty with the work set or is unsure of what to do, please talk to their class teacher. They will always be happy to help. Alternatively, you can contact teacher using the year group email addresses below:
Nursery@bluecoatfederation.co.uk
Reception@bluecoatfederation.co.uk