At Fairfield First School we want our children to spend their time out of school playing, exploring and getting recharged for the next day – being children.

Traditional homework limits valuable family time, and may even be detrimental to students’ mental health, whereas playing and exploring is greatly beneficial for this. At Fairfield First School we want to make sure that any homework assigned always serves a purpose and is beneficial to our children's development.

Learning should still take place at home with or without homework. Our policy gives families the freedom to let their interests and passions guide their learning. Science experiments, playing outside, cooking and reading books together become an equally important part of a child’s development, along with the curriculum they learn at school.

It is expected that parents will support their child’s learning through nightly reading/[phonics, times table/number bonds and practising spelling words etc. Children will also have the option to complete a termly topic project, which will then be showcased to parents at the end of each term.

 

Expectations for homework at Fairfield

Reading

Reception and year 1: Children will receive a shared reading book and an online reading book each week. Please read the online book with your child every day. Shared reading can be parent to child, as well as child to parent.

Year 2, year 3 and year 4: Children will receive a reading book from school based on their assessments from Accelerated Reader, which they should read every day. Children will be taking quizzes as they finish their Accelerated Reader book, to test comprehension skills. It is also encouraged for them to read their own books, comics and magazines at home too, to develop a love of reading and an experience of a range of genres. 

Spelling

Spelling follows SpellingShed from year 2 - year 4. The spellings of the week are set on SpellingShed, and should be practised as frequently as possible. There will be a test every Monday.

Times tables

Children begin learning their multiplication and division facts from year 2. Children should be using the online platform Times table Rock Stars - https://ttrockstars.com/ regularly to practise these, so that they know all of their facts up to 12 x 12 by the end of year 4.

Year 2: At least twice a week (2, 5, 10)

Year 3: At least three times a week (2, 5, 10, 3, 4, 8)

Year 4: Every day (all tables to 12 x 12)

Homework Projects

At the start of each term, a project will be assigned to your child, linked to the curriculum they are currently learning about in school. These projects will be open-ended, enabling your child to be creative in a way that they enjoy and gives the opportunity to earn house points along the way. These projects will be due in by the end of term, where they will be showcased to families and celebrated as part of 'Open Classrooms'.

An example of a homework project is attached below:

Online Platforms (if you wish to do extra!)

 

 

 

 

Whole School Challenges

Throughout the year there are a range of special challenges e.g. make a bird feeder, carry out research etc. related to whole school initiatives. These tasks are optional and are in addition to homework set by class teachers.

Intervention

It may be deemed necessary for a child to carry out additional support work for a number of reasons. This will be done in conjunction with the parents/carer.

Google Classroom

All communication will happen via our online platform ‘Google Classroom’, which every child has a login for once they start school in Oak Class. Please speak to your class teacher or the school office if you are having difficulty accessing your child’s Google classroom account.