Frequently asked questions about Homelearning…

‘Can I get it wrong?’

No. This is unique to each child and we want to see creative and fun ways of interpreting the challenges whether it written, drawn, created out of cardboard, recorded on DVD or anything at all.

‘I don’t understand what to do’

Each week the class discuss the new challenges and share ideas so your child should know what is expected.

The first thing to do is speak to your child’s teacher who will help explain.

The challenges will have an example with them as well to give you an idea if you are stuck.

Remember there is no right or wrong way to complete them. These are unique and individual pieces of work.

‘My child takes all weekend’, is this normal?’

The Government gives Guidelines of 30 minutes each day for a child in Years 5 or 6 which we try to stick to.

We have a time guide for each challenge and so you and your child know the approximate time. If you want to do more or don’t have time that week, there is no worry.

‘The teacher hasn’t marked the work.’

All work is viewed and discussed with the rest of the class and the teacher views all the home learning. They will however give a mixture or verbal and written feedback but will not always writing down in the book.

Your child’s classmates will give feedback on what went well and suggest an even better if. This is a good way of the children understanding good features and how to improve their own learning.

‘How do I stretch my child?’

As the approach is open –ended, this allows the every child to achieve the same task at their own level. We include a three step guide of things for your child to try and achieve. This means they will all be able to show the ‘must’ criteria; while others will be able to demonstrate the ‘should’ and the ‘could’.

This is always about creativity to try to encourage your child to use different styles of writing or presentation.

‘My child doesn’t like other children writing on my book, what can we do?’

A large part of the home learning is developing the children’s ability to judge successes of their own and others’ work.

If a child does not want to have another child writing in their book, they can use post-it notes or child comment slips which are not permanent.

Obviously, children do not all have perfect handwriting and spelling errors are common at this age, all the children are trying their best.

'My  child doesn’t have any lists of spelling to learn’

Good practice is that children learn spelling patterns and how words are built (for example, what happens to words when you add –ing), rather than the traditional approach of just learning lists of words.

Spelling and word level work are taught daily in class looking at one focus a week. From now on, spelling homework will be sent home weekly to practice and apply this learning through collecting examples or investigating words.