Reception, Year 1 and Year 2

At Leamington Hastings C of E Academy, each year group has optional homework that is set for families. The most important piece of homework that can be completed by families is reading; both by hearing children read and reading stories to them. Reading supports the children to develop a secure knowledge of stories, stimulates their imagination and develops their vocabulary. 

Each week, children in school will read a reading practice book that is aligned to their phonetic knowledge. Once the children have read this book in school three times (reading for decoding, prosody and comprehension), they will take this book home to celebrate their reading with their parents. Children will also bring home a sharing book which they have chosen from the school library. This is a book to be shared between an adult and the child, with the adult reading, developing a love of reading. 

Please record children's reading in their reading diaries. This can be reading that the child has carried out independently, or where the child has listened and engaged in a story read by an adult. When the children have read 5 times, they will be rewarded with a raffle ticket to enter the half termly reading raffle held in school. There is a winner from each year group drawn every half term! 

In addition to reading homework, children who are in reception, year 1 or year 2 will bring home a phonics sheet containing graphemes (written representation of sounds), words and sentences for the chidlren to practice the learning they have completed within class that week. Examples of these sheets can be seen below:

Reading taking place by using the phonics practice sheets can also contribute towards a child's 5 reads. Please feel free to record this in the reading diary.  

If children and parents would like to complete further homework, there will be a pick and mix grid sent home towards the start of each half term. This grid will detail what curriculum areas the children will be focussing on at school during the half term, and what you can do to support them further at home with additional pieces of homework. Within the maths section, you will be directed to specific games on a maths app called Whiterose 1 minute maths. This is a downloadable app that can be added to tablets, phones and accessed on the computer. The games within the app are targeted across the Primary age group; your child’s class teacher will include which games are appropriate for specific year groups and different points within the year.

Children will be provided with a homework book, where you can stick in any homework sheets or activities that the children have completed.

Nursery

Nursery children will not receive homework but will access the library where they will choose a book that interests you to share at home. Research has found that reading stories to children is one of the most important activities for developing the knowledge required for success in reading. Reading to children has been found to be related to language growth, speech development and reading achievement. Please record your child’s reading in their communication book.