The aims and objectives of homework are:
- to enable pupils to make maximum progress in their academic and social development;
- to help pupils develop the skills of an independent learner;
- to promote cooperation and communication between home and school in supporting each child's learning, enabling parents to support their child with their learning;
- to enable all aspects of the curriculum to be covered in sufficient depth;
- to provide educational experiences not possible in school;
- to consolidate and reinforce the learning done in school, and to allow children to practise skills taught in lessons;
- to help children develop good work habits for the future.
We set a variety of homework activities:
Early Years Foundation Stage
- Reading – daily, if possible, or at least three or four times a week;
- Numeracy or literacy based activities, such as maths challenges or Firm Foundations activities;
- Collecting things and/or carrying out simple research prior to, or during a topic.
Key Stage 1
- Reading – daily, if possible, or at least three or four times a week;
- Learning weekly spellings;
- Collecting things and/or carrying out simple research prior to, or during a topic;
- Half termly menu of activities to deepen knowledge of topics;
Lower Key Stage 2 (Y3/4)
- Reading – daily, if possible, or at least three or four times a week;
- Learning weekly spellings;
- Practising multiplication tables;
- Half termly menu of activities to deepen knowledge of topics.
Upper Key Stage 2 (Y5/6)
- Reading – daily, if possible, or at least three or four times a week, completing a reading journal, collecting "magpie" or challenge words;
- Learning weekly spellings;
- Practising multiplication tables;
- One formal piece of maths or English work a week;
- Revision for national tests;
- Half termly menu of activities to deepen knowledge of topics.
Parents and Carers can also support children’s wider experience by planning simple family activities together. Children find it so much easier to read or write about the sights and sounds of a train journey if they have experienced it first hand, or to turn a walk in Guisborough Forest into a spooky adventure. Please see our list of “Top 10 Family Activities”, in the home-school agreement.
