Our policy for home learning at Branfil is to provide you with a menu of options so you can choose how best to support your child at home. This enables parents/carers to make their own decision about how much time they want to invest in home learning and the approach that best suits their child.
We will be encouraging children to complete some home learning each week and rewarding those who do so regularly. There will not be consequences for those children who do not do this since we acknowledge that it is not always possible to do so within the demands of family life.
We also believe that home learning should be fun and not be an area that causes conflict at home. If your child is struggling to complete their home learning then please stop and let us know – we do not want you to feel that you have to battle on!
If you feel that your child needs additional challenge in their home learning then please speak to your child’s class teacher and they will provide you with some ideas of how to deepen your child’s understanding.
Science and the wider curriculum
Following parental requests, each year group produces a termly list of activities, visits and websites that support learning linked to the science themes and the main topic being studied that term (see documents at the bottom of this page).
English
Reading
We follow the Read Write Inc scheme from Reception. Children progress through the colour bands until they become a confident and fluent reader. They then move on to our Branfil colour banded scheme: bronze, silver and gold. These books form our school library and encourage the children to become more independent with their reading. Children in Years 3-6 are encouraged to complete one of our Reading Routes (Alphabet of Authors and Explosion Books); both routes encourage children to read varied texts by a wide range of authors, share these with their classmates and gain rewards as they go.
We expect children to read at least 5 times a week as we know that reading is key to a child’s success. Younger children should read for a minimum of 10 minutes, with this time increasing as the children get older. As well as reading their school book, we encourage them to read anything; comics, newspapers, non-fiction, fiction and poetry are all important. We want them to love reading so it must be made an enjoyable experience.
All reading should be recorded in the reading record alongside the parent/carer signature and any related comments. Children who read at least 5 times in a week are recorded on the Star Reader chart in their classroom and those who do this consistently, every week, are rewarded at the end of the term.
Y6 children have CGP comprehension books and grammar, punctuation & spelling (GPS) books (purchased after October half-term) which are used alternate weeks for English homework.
Phonics and Spelling
We follow the Read, Write Inc phonics scheme (RWI) from the start of Reception. In the first half of the autumn term in Year 1, children take home a list of common exception words to learn to spell. They then continue to take home five words each week, linked to RWI, to practise spelling – these are then checked each Friday in class.
After children have completed RWI and secured their phonetic understanding, they will learn spellings in line with the Literacy Tree’s Spelling Seeds. This programme works in partnership with the Literacy Tree Writing Roots scheme. Children learn spelling patterns and statutory words from the national curriculum through a contextualised sequence of lessons that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts.
The class teachers will upload the spelling pattern and a selection of words each week onto Google Classroom. Please practise these spellings at home with your child.
Maths
Please choose from the following activities to support your child’s maths learning at home:
- Times Tables Rock Stars (www.ttrockstars.com) – a carefully sequenced programme of daily online times tables practice – additional support is available on the maths section of the website
- Family Maths Toolkit – a resource designed for parents/carers and children to enjoy everyday maths activities together (Y1-5) – sent home each half-term
- Rapid Recall practice to support the timed tests completed in the classroom – additional support is available on the maths section of the website
- CGP SATs revision books for Y6 only – pages will be set each week (purchased after October half-term).
The maths section of the website will also provide ideas and website addresses for additional information and activities (Y1-6).
Please note: if you would like to do more formal work with your Y3-5 child at home, CGP do a variety of maths books for each year group (www.cgpbooks.co.uk). You will be able to match this to the weekly learning objectives on the year group page of our website. We recommend the following:
Y3: KS2 Times Tables 10-Minute Weekly Workouts – Year 3
Y3: KS2 Maths 10-Minute Weekly Workouts – Year 3
Y4: KS2 Times Tables 10-Minute Weekly Workouts – Year 4
Y4: KS2 Maths 10-Minute Weekly Workouts – Year 4
Y5: KS2 Maths 10-Minute Weekly Workouts – Year 5
Y5: KS2 Mental Maths Workout – Year 5
Google Classroom Activities
Additionally, teachers post a weekly activity on Google Classroom for your child to complete and turn in. By encouraging your child to access Google Classroom regularly and submit their home learning to the teacher, you will ensure that your child can access their remote learning in the event of having to self-isolate/quarantine or a local lockdown.
If you have any questions about home learning, please speak to your child’s class teacher.