Helping your child at home

Helping to creating a complete learning environment.

The Governors and staff believe that homework is an important aspect of a child’s education. We believe it encourages children to realise that learning can take place outside the classroom as well as promoting independent learning thus encouraging the child to take great responsibility for their personal progress. Homework allows parents, carers and the school, to work in partnership for the benefit of their child.

While homework is important, it should not prevent children from taking part in the wide range of out-of-school clubs and organisations that play an important part in the lives of many children. We are well aware that children spend more time at home that at school, and we believe they develop their skills, interests and talents to the full only when parents encourage them to make maximum use of the experiences and opportunities that are available outside of school.

How can parents help?

• Homework is designed as a task for you and your child to complete together and the support your child receives is invaluable, placing him/her at a real advantage
• Set aside some time every day for homework. On most days this can be fifteen to twenty minutes to read with your child and to work on spellings and tables. Once a week, a longer session will be required, but this will be at the weekend. A maximum of one hour is suggested for this. If the work appears to be taking much longer, you can ask your child to stop. Please then indicate, when you sign, that an hour was spent on it.
• Make sure that you and your child can work together without distraction
• Talk with your child about how to tackle the assignment
• Help your child with the work. Homework is not designed as a test of your child’s ability, but rather as an activity for partnered work
• Try to make homework fun, if possible
• Some Mathematics tasks are of a practical nature. Help your child to gather together the materials required
• On completion, please sign and date the work to show that you have seen it and been involved in it. Constructive comments are welcomed, too. If the task is purely practical, please sign after the written instruction in the home-school diary.
• Help your child to maintain the same high standards of presentation expected in school.

Points to remember

• Homework helps your child to improve in a variety of ways and it helps the school in its work.
• The help you give your child with homework is appreciated and highly valued by the staff of the school.

In addition to your support with homework, all parents are asked to sign the Home/School Diary on a weekly basis.

Any messages that you put in the Home/School Diary for us should be initialled by a member of staff to indicate that they have been seen. If your message has not been initialled, please check with your child that it has been shown to a member of staff and then contact your child’s class teacher.

Year 6 SATs Information Evening

Thank you to the Year 6 parents who attended our Y6 SAT information evening where we shared what lies ahead for the Y6 children and how both the school and parents can support them.

We want to ensure that when the children come to the SATs they are ready. They will not be experiencing anything new or unexpected and should not be daunted or anxious. It is a chance to shine and recognise their academic achievements while at St Cuthbert Mayne.