Lindridge Primary School
Policy for Home Learning
Date of this policy:
Date of last Review:
Person Responsible for this policy:
January 2011
November 2013
Head Teacher
At Lindridge we recognise the vital role parents play in their children’s
learning. We strongly believe in the value of a home-school partnership,
of which our home learning policy is an important element. At Lindridge
CE Primary School we see homework as a positive way of extending
children's learning and a way of strengthening our partnerships with
parents/carers. Children will be given homework on a regular basis, in
accordance with DSF guidelines.
The Government believes that a sensible programme of homework
activities for children in Key Stage 1 should be designed to take, on
average, about 1 hour a week. At Key Stage 2 the demands should
gradually increase so that by Years 5 and 6 children are spending about
30 minutes a day (two and a half hours a week) on homework. This should
include time spent reading and learning spellings.
However, we also acknowledge the important role of play and free time in
a child's growth and development. Whilst homework is important, it
should not prevent children from taking part in the wide range of
activities provided by clubs and organisations, which can contribute
greatly to a child's all-round development.
What is Home Learning?
At Lindridge, home learning refers to any activities which children are
asked to do outside lesson time, either on their own or with
parents/carers.
Aims of our Home Learning Policy
Through our policy we aim to:
 provide opportunities for parents/carers, children and school to
work in partnership;
 encourage a positive attitude to work;
 consolidate and extend learning experiences;
 improve the quality of learning experiences offered to the
children;
 ensure consistency of approach throughout the school;
 ensure parents/carers have a clear understanding of our
expectations in relation to the children’s learning;
 ensure progression towards independence and individual
responsibility, ultimately preparing Year 6 children for secondary
transfer.
In ensuring the successful implementation of our Home Learning Policy,
we recognise the importance of staff and parents/carers being clear
about their role to ensure maximum benefits for the children.
Role of Parents/Carers
Parents/carers are encouraged to support their child’s home learning
through:
 providing a reasonably peaceful, suitable place in which their child
can do their home learning;
 making it clear to the child that they value home learning;
 encouraging and praising their child when home learning is
completed;
 sitting with their child and talking about the activities;
 reading with their child each night
 Keeping the teacher informed, e.g. if support from a parent was
needed, the work was too easy, etc. by annotating the child’s
homework or speaking with the teacher.
Role of Class Teacher
Class Teachers will:
 ensure home learning is well integrated into their everyday work
and planning;
 ensure the school policy is put into practice;
 ensure that tasks are carefully planned and structured to support
progression and learning;
 have high expectations of children completing their home learning;
 provide children with prompt, clear feedback on their work

ensure home learning activities match the needs of the children.
Role of the child
Children will:
 ensure their homework is done on time;
 speak to the teacher if they have any problems and ask for help;
 ensure that their homework is done to the best of their ability;
 ensure that their homework is well presented and neat.
GUIDELINES FOR HOME LEARNING AT LINDRIDGE
Reading
All children should enjoy reading with an adult/older sibling at home
every day. This should involve a range of activities:
 An adult reading to the child
 The child reading to an adult
 Reading games, e.g. with flash cards
 Talking about the book, asking questions, etc.
Children will choose from colour banded reading books and will be given 3
books to read over the week until they are on ‘free reading’ higher up the
school, when they are able to read longer, more difficult books. Children
should continue to read to adults and hear adults read to them, even when
they reach this stage. As children go up the school and become more
independent, they will increasingly be expected to change their own
books.
Spelling
The most effective way of learning spellings is to work on them on briefly
(5 minutes) on a daily basis, e.g. through games. They might find it
helpful to use a strategy like Look, Cover, Write, Check or they might
want to write their words into sentences or make up mnemonics. The
children will be tested on their spellings weekly at school. This may be
done formally on paper or informally on whiteboards. Children will be
expected to apply the spelling rules they have learnt to other words with
similar spelling patterns in other areas of the curriculum.
Early Years - Reception
Children in their Reception year will not be given homework for the first
few weeks to give them a chance to settle into school first. When the
children are ready, they will be given books without words to encourage
discussion and a love of books. Books with words, together with word
flash cards, will be introduced as appropriate for each child and parents
are encouraged to listen to their children read and/or read to their
children on a daily basis. The emphasis at this stage is on parents talking
to their children, e.g. at the supermarket, commenting on road signs, etc.
A home/school/reading diary book is used as a daily method of
communication between parent and teacher. An entry should be made
every day. Each child’s learning journey goes home on a regular basis and
parents should discuss this with their child. Parents may wish to add
photographs or comments to the learning journey.
Year I
In Year 1 children should read on a daily basis for between 5 and 10
minutes. They are also given spellings to learn and are given the
occasional Maths challenge.
Year 2
In Year 2 children should read on a daily basis for between 5 and 15
minutes. They will also be given a list of spellings to learn and one piece
of written homework per week. This may be Maths, English or
occasionally topic homework. All homework will be linked to work they are
doing at school.
Years 3 and 4
In Years 3 and 4 children should read on a daily basis for between 10 and
15 minutes. They will also be given a list of spellings to learn and one
piece of other homework to complete each week, usually Numeracy.
Occasionally the children will be set other pieces of homework, e.g. of a
research nature and related to their current topic.
Years 5/6
In Years 5 and 6 children are expected to read every night for at least
15 minutes. In addition to a weekly list of spellings to learn, they will
have one piece of Maths homework per week which will be linked to the
topic being studied at school. Children will also be asked to work on an
extended termly project, which will be more creative in nature.
SUPPORT STRATEGIES
We know that some children are unable to do homework at home for a
variety of domestic reasons. In some cases we suggest that it would be
better to do homework at lunchtime because we feel that the child will
benefit from our help and support. These children are able to sit in a
classroom at lunchtime and do their homework in school. Children who
have not done their homework because they forgot are also expected to
do it in school. In some cases the problem will need to be discussed with
parents.