Homework - Birley Primary Academy

At Birley Primary Academy, we want our pupils to develop into well-rounded individuals. It is important that they get time to take part in co-curricular interests both in and out of school and they need time to relax and spend time with family. However, if time allows, we believe that homework can have a real value as it also gives children the opportunity to share and consolidate what they have been learning at the academy with supporting parents or carers; a view reinforced in the results obtained from our parent survey around the topic completed this academic year. Previously, the academy ran a ‘pick and mix’ approach to homework with parents and carers indicating that they preferred a more structured approach. As a result of this, we have taken your feedback on board and have now introduced the following graduated approach throughout the academy. Please see the table below.

Year Group	Time Allocation (Per Week)	Suggested Activities
Early Years (Foundation Stage 2)	30-45 minutes	Reading to parents/carers daily which is recorded in your child’s home/school diary Little Wandle Phonics activity provided in home learning books, that reinforces the sounds learnt at the academy that week. Practical maths-based activities e.g counting, sorting Spend time engaging with activities found on the Numbots app. (Evidence of these can be uploaded onto Tapestry to share with your child’s class teacher should you wish)
Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2)	60 minutes per week	Reading to parents/carers daily which is recorded in your child’s home/school diary Little Wandle Phonics/Spelling reinforcement activity – recorded in home learning book and brought back into the academy. Spend time engaging with activities found on the Numbots app. Spend time engaging with activities found on Reading Eggs app.
Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 and Year 4)	75-90 minutes per week	Daily reading to parents/carers or independent reading, which is recorded into your child’s home/school diary. Children receiving phonics will receive a Little Wandle Phonics reinforcement activity. Regular practising of multiplication and division facts using Times Tables Rockstars Grammar Activity – recorded in home learning book and brought back into the academy for marking OR Maths Arithmetic Fluent in 10 activity – recorded in home learning book and brought back into the academy for marking. Active Spellings practised and recorded in your child’s home/school diary.
Upper Key Stage 2 (Year 5 and Year 6)	90-120 minutes per week	Daily reading to parents/carers or independent reading, which is recorded into your child’s home/school diary. Children receiving phonics will receive a Little Wandle Phonics reinforcement activity – to be recorded in home learning books. Tables /number facts practise using TT Rockstars Grammar Activity – recorded in home learning book and brought back into the academy for marking OR Maths Arithmetic Fluent in 10 activity – recorded in home learning book and brought back into the academy for marking Active Spellings practised and recorded in your home/school diary (Please be aware that children in Y6 may bring home extra additional activities linked to SATS preparation/revision closer to the time of the tests)

Additional Information

We cannot stress the importance of regular reading at home – no matter what the age or confidence of your child/ren. Once completed, please remember to record this in your child’s home/school diary as we do reward regular reading throughout the academy with reading initiatives.

We also fully appreciate that some children also love undertaking practical and creative home learning tasks that were on the previous Pick and Mix Homework Sheets. Please continue encouraging your child to complete these if they show an interest in doin so. If your child is inspired with something they are learning about in class and want to continue this at home, we would love to see it. This will always be celebrated and rewarded at the academy. This can be shared by children bringing their work into the school or if you would rather take a photo of it, the picture can then be shared with your child’s teacher by using Tapestry (Foundation Stage 2) or Class Dojo (Year 1-6).

Online Support

As an academy, we also subscribe to a number of online portals where pupils are encouraged to practise key skills from core curriculum subjects. Children should use their individuals log-ins found in their Home-School Reading Diary to log into the following sites.

Times Tables Rockstar:
https://ttrockstars.com/

Reading Eggs:
https://readingeggs.co.uk/login/

Purple Mash:
https://www.purplemash.com/sch/birleycommunityp#/portal/birleycommunityp/child