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Homework at WCPS A guide for parents

Our homework ethos

At WCPS, we believe home learning should be done to inspire pupils to want to learn more, stretch those pupils who want to deepen their understanding and support pupils who want improve on what they have been learning in class.

We want pupils, families and carers to be excited to share their homework rather than force pupils to complete tasks that they do not value.

Homework will be primarily focused on reading, spelling and times table practice.

Reading

At WCPS we believe that reading for pleasure can be a huge step to unlocking a pupils potential. We want to encourage pupils to discover a wide range of texts and fall in love with reading and share their passion. We believe that using reading records is still the best way for families and pupils to do this, however similarly to home work we believe that using seesaw can help pupils share their reading journey but offer them a variety of ways to do so.

Families have the flexibility to respond by writing in the reading record as normal but then can use all the fantastic features through seesaw such as recording a video or recording their own voice. Video evidence of reading is useful for us as can provide evidence of fluency and the use of expression.

Pupils now have a number of folders on seesaw where they can save their home reading, saving it into either homework or LIRA would help us.

Spellings

At WCPS we have a paid subscription to Spelling Shed giving pupils their own log on details so they can improve their spellings on any electronic device.
This is an example of what will be sent home. Keep this somewhere safe at home! Pupils can enter their log in details or just use the QR code to log straight in.
Pupils can select words from different stages. The stage should match up the year group that they are in, but pupils can choose to spell words from earlier stages to build their confidence and review words that they are still struggling with.
Pupils can decide for themselves their own difficulty level ensuring that their spelling homework is never too difficult for them.
If pupils select the easiest setting they will be shown the correct spelling and a definition
They will then be given the correct letters jumbled up that they have to spell out in the correct order.
As the difficulty increases more and more letters are added. On the extreme level the pupils will get no visual prompts and will only hear the word being read and will then have to spell the word out from a full keyboard of letters.
Here is an example of a pupil who has played the game and spelled some words correctly and some incorrectly. Teachers, parents and carers can see how words have been misspelled so they can help address the issue and give extra practice to those words.
Teachers can see how regularly pupils are using spelling shed and how accurate they are being with their spellings.

Times Tables

To encourage parents and carers to support learning times tables at home we have a paid subscription for Times Tables Rockstars (Year 1-6) and Numbots (EYFS and Year 1). Pupils will access the software in school, but they will also be given log ins so that they can practice at home.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my child get into trouble for not doing homework?

No, children will not be in trouble if they have not completed a task. Of course we would like to encourage families to engage in extending their learning and reading at home, but it is the families ultimate decision. We want to offer a wide and varied set of opportunities, not set a monotonous set of weekly tasks.

Does the homework have to follow the exact tasks set on seesaw?

No - we want pupils to follow their interests and use their creativity. If reading a book has inspired them to create a piece of artwork then seesaw allows them to share that with their teacher and their peers.

I don't have access to digital resources, can I still do homework?

Yes! Reading records can still be brought in to school and shared with class teachers. Homework books and work done on paper can still be shared in class and every class has an area to display brilliant work from home.

What are the benefits of using digital resources?
  • If reading records are lost or left at school, reading can still be uploaded to seesaw and completed digitally or on paper and a photo can be uploaded.
  • Class teachers can 'like' uploads to show that have seen it and add comments if they believe it will help further their learning or to praise the pupil's hard work.
  • Class teachers can upload activities that are linked to current learning to further pupils knowledge and deepen their understanding.
  • It will keep a digital record of all you child's home learning. Rather than keeping it in a book which can easily become lost or damaged there will be a digital log of what they have achieved at home.

Credits:

Created with images by Juuucy - "woman mother daughter" • libellule789 - "girl english dictionary" • LubosHouska - "books bookstore book" • Joshuamiranda - "scrabble words wood"