Homework Policy
CROSSLEY STREET PRIMARY SCHOOL
HOMEWORK POLICY
This policy is in line with and quotations are taken from “Homework: Guidelines for Primary and Secondary Schools” published by the DfES November 1988.
Homework is “any other work or activity which pupils are asked to do outside lesson time, either on their own or with parents or carers”. Such activities shall always include reading and may include written work or may be a small piece of research, discussion with parent or carer, learning some spellings/tables or developing mental strategies.
“Research over a number of years has shown that homework can make an important contribution to pupil’s progress at school. There is evidence that pupils in the highest achieving schools spend more time learning activities at home, that pupils in other schools”.
Homework set by the school has a range of purposes. These include:
We support the DfES recommendations that children in Years 1 to 4 spend between 1 hour and 1 ½ per week on homework and that children in Years 5 and 6 spend approximately 2 ½
hours per week.
Homework may also be set when it is felt that a child needs to make up work through absence, or needs extra practice in a specific area or if work has not been completed satisfactorily in class.
At Crossley Street Primary we recognise the value of the many activities that our children are involved in after school and at weekends, through family activities or their membership of clubs and organisations. We would not want any homework to cut across these activities that play such an important part in the children’s development. We ensure sufficient time is given to complete tasks to avoid conflicts.
As part of the normal admission to school arrangements, parents are given information about home/school links and how best parents can support their child’s school work at home. There will be weekly reading homework set and an optional maths task.
Reading practice; daily if possible – five to thirty minutes as appropriate.
Spellings and number bonds/tables practice – 3 – 4 five-minute sessions per week.
A formal homework task, one a week will be set for Years 1 – 4 either English or topic based.
Years 5 and 6 have 1 English and 1 Maths task per week.
Informal homework will be set from time to time. Children may be asked to think about ideas for a story, look for pictures to support a topic, find out information from an encyclopaedia or atlas etc.
Teachers provide a variety of open-ended tasks where children explore and investigate and there might not be a right or wrong answer and all homework will vary.
Teachers provide differentiated activities where different groups are asked to do different tasks appropriate to ability. The children are given clear instructions about what homework is required and every child has a homework diary for this purpose. Homework is set on Wednesdays and handed in on Mondays. Set pieces of homework will be marked and stored in homework files. Homework timetables will be included as part of the curriculum news given to parents at the beginning of each term
These children, in discussion with their parents, may be asked to do additional homework to support their work in school. The activities will usually be differentiated tasks designed to give the children extra practice in reading, writing or number work.
Support from parents and carers in valuing homework, encouraging its completion and praising the child when it is completed will increase the effectiveness of the work set. School will undertake to be reasonable and fair in all homework demands and value the contributions in class as a result of homework completed. It is hoped that parents will read with their children as often as possible and perhaps visit a library. We cannot over-emphasise the value of regular and varied reading at home and hope it is seen as a pleasure rather than work. We encourage parents to write in homework diaries and to develop channels of communication.
Children need the experience of looking at a wide range of books and other publications, talking about books, looking at the pictures, talking about what has happened, predicting what might happen, empathising with the characters – are all very valuable activities which greatly assist the teacher in the task of teaching reading.
The reading scheme is only one part of the child’s reading experience. Shared, Guided and Individual reading are all integral parts of the child’s daily Literacy activities.
Guided and Independent Reading
Guided reading is where a group of children read the same book with a teacher. The children read in turn and the teacher leads a discussion of the text. Guided reading texts are normally at a higher level than the books that the children are reading independently.
Because teachers now have more direct whole class teaching to do and because guided reading forms part of Literacy lessons, less on-to-one reading occurs. At Key Stage 2 only SEN children are heard read on a one-to-one basis. In Key Stage 1/
Foundation the number of times a child reads will also depend on the amount of support available from LSA’S/parents.
It should be noted that spelling is an integral part of the Literacy Strategy. There are lists of ‘key words’ which children of different ages are expected to know. These are taught through Literacy lessons and teachers will be assessing the children to ensure that they are making good progress in learning these words.
Spelling Homework – is set in addition to the spelling work done on a day-to-day basis in the Literacy Hour.
The children are encouraged to learn their spellings through the ‘Read, Cover, Write, Check’ method. The children read the word, see how it is spelt and think about any tricky bits. The cover the word up, write it down and then check to see if they have spelt the word correctly. The child repeats this process over a period of time until the spelling is fixed in his or her memory.
Children should be encouraged to have several short sessions of learning spellings rather than one long one.
Foundation - use Jolly Phonics/PIPS scheme.
Years 1 and 2 - Differentiated spellings given weekly from Literacy Strategy Key Words, Word Boxes, patterns of words from Jolly Phonics and patters from PIPS as appropriate.
Given out on a Friday to be tested the following Friday.
Years 3 & 4 – Individual spelling lists are set for children to learn which progress in difficulty from Spelling Bank. Given out on Monday to test on Friday. SEN children use Jolly Grammar and a teaching assistant tests these.
Years 5 & 6 – Spelling lists of key words are set from topic word lists or spelling banks. Spellings are learnt through the literacy strategy. Given out on Friday to be tested the following Friday.
By the end of Year 4 the majority of children will be expected to know all the key words in the Literacy Strategy, if not they will continue to be reinforced.
Homework on Number Bonds and Tables – Instant Recall
Number bonds are all the sums – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division which one can make within a range of number e.g. 1 to 20. When children are set homework on number bonds and tables the aim is that the child should have ‘instant recall’ i.e. they know the answer almost instantly, with minimal thinking time.
Produced by the Head Teacher in collaboration with staff – 16.11.05
Accepted by Governors – Spring ‘05
Reviewed – September ‘08