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The Winchcombe School

Improving As One

Remote Learning/ Homework

SPECIAL NOTICE:
We are using our online platform, 'DB Primary' for remote learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic


Please read our Remote Learning Policy which has been put in place to provide information about the provision of education during the Covid-19 pandemic

 

At The Winchcombe School, we believe that learning should be a partnership between school and home.

Homework is a chance to extend learning beyond the classroom and offers children the opportunity to:

  • become independent learners
  • practise and apply skills learned in the classroom
  • prepare children for secondary school

Reading

Regular reading with your child is probably the best help you can give to ensure they go on to be successful throughout school and beyond.

A child who learns to love reading will have a head start in life and be best placed to make the most of all that education has to offer.

At The Winchcombe School, we provide Oxford Reading Tree books, Fireflies and Floppy’s phonics books to develop the children's early reading skills. The reading scheme progresses into a broad range of quality novels and non-fiction texts, poetry and playscripts, which support children on their journey from early reading to confident, independent readers.

Making a regular routine of reading when your child can have your full attention will soon encourage them to read more often and become independent readers.  

We suggest a good 10-15 minute session of reading every day and ask that you complete the Reading Record after you have heard your child read.

In the child’s Reading Record you will find a list of the books within the colour band. Once the child has read the book, an adult in school will tick to acknowledge the child is ready for the next book in the series. You may find that your child has already read a book in this series, please hear them re-read these books to help with fluency and understanding.

Check out the tips in your childs' Reading Record for further advice on reading at home.

You can also make use of the bookmarks below to help you ask questions to support your child whilst reading:

 

 

 

 

Please encourage your child to respect the books they bring home and to return them in the same condition. There will be a small charge for damaged books.


Reading Guides

Each year group has their own reading guide, lots of recommended books for the children to read for each year group in this Reading at Home Booklet


Recommended Reads & Useful Information

If you are looking for books for your children to read at home this is a good website: https://www.booksfortopics.com/

They have lots of book suggestions for every year group, books to look out for, monthly reads and topic related books. 

Also look at https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/ for Oxford Reading Tree e-books, for all reading ages. Children can read books from our reading scheme online!

 

Other Suggested Websites

Letters and Sounds

Espresso

Busy Things

ICT Games

Starfall

Phonics Play

BBC Words and Pictures

BBC Alphablocks

IBoards

TopMarks

 

 

Phonics/ Spellings/ Common Exception Words

For Phonics, we follow the Letters and Sounds scheme, supported by the Jolly Phonics songs to help children learn the phonemes. Class phonics lessons are taught daily throughout Foundation, Year 1 and 2.

Phonics is the word used to describe the sounds the letters make. In simple terms, the word 'cat' can be read from its three sounds: c-a-t. These are not the names of the letters as we say them in the alphabet, but the sounds these letters make.

Likewise, the word 'thick' is made up of three sounds: th-i-ck, where pairs of letters combine to make a single sound. Similarly, 'rash' is made up of three sounds: r-a-sh.

Please note that a 'phoneme' is the sound of the letters and a 'grapheme' is what they look like written down.

Children are taught spelling alongside phonics lessons starting in FS2. Then throughout all KS1, teaching spelling through phonics and handwriting help children see links between sounds and the written spelling patterns, or graphemes. As well as teaching spelling using phonics, tricky words are taught and common exception words for each year group. KS1 children learn spellings in school and at home.

The Winchcombe School follow No-nonsense spelling from Year 2 – Year 6. We have designed daily spelling lessons which teach spelling rules and common exception words. Children are encouraged to learn and practise spellings at home and in school and are regularly tested.  During each writing unit, time is given to edit and improve spellings mistakes by using a dictionary or a thesaurus to make better vocabulary choices. 

FS Common Exception Word List
KS1 Common Exception Word List
KS2 Common Exception Word List

Year 1 Phonics Screening

The statutory Year 1 Phonics Screening Check will take place usually during the third week of June. The check is a list of 40 words which children will read one-to-one with their class teacher. It will assess phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1.

It will check that your child can:

  • Sound out and blend graphemes in order to read simple words e.g. n-igh-t
  • Read phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, e.g. cat, sand, windmill.
  • Read a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as ‘pseudo words’.

For the Department for Education Parents and Carers Information on the Year One Phonics Screening Check click here.

If your child does not pass in Year 1 they will be tested again in Year 2.

Suggested Websites

Letters and Sounds

Espresso

Busy Things

ICT Games

Starfall

Phonics Play

BBC Words and Pictures

BBC Alphablocks

IBoards

TopMarks

 

Maths

Times tables rockstars

White Rose Maths

Power maths

practice timestables and number bonds

 

 

Foundation

Reading - Please support your child by listening to them read regularly and completing the Reading Record. 

Year 1 and 2

Reading - Please support your child by listening to them read regularly and completing the Reading Record.

Spelling/Phonics - Children complete weekly spelling sheets and will be tested in class.

Year 3 and 4

Maths – children complete Times Tables Rock Stars tasks online set by the class teacher. These are monitored weekly however it is more beneficial for children to complete these tasks on a daily basis for a short amount of time. For example, just 5 minutes daily is more beneficial than 30 minutes a week.

Reading – Please support your child by listening to them read regularly and completing the Reading Record.

Spelling – Children complete weekly spelling sheets and will be tested in class..

Year 5 and 6

Year 5

Maths or English – Children will complete 1 piece of Maths or English homework weekly. This is handed out on a Friday and due in the following Thursday. The work will relate to the lessons they are currently having. Additionally, the children are all encouraged to play on TT Rock Stars to help with their knowledge of the times tables.

Reading – Please support your child by listening to them read regularly and completing the Reading Record.

Spelling – Children will be given spellings weekly.

Year 6

Maths – Children will complete 1 piece of Maths homework weekly. This is handed out on a Friday and due in the following Wednesday. The work will relate to the lessons they are currently having. Additionally, the children are all encouraged to play on TT Rock Stars to help with their knowledge of the times tables.

Reading – Please support your child by listening to them read regularly and completing the Reading Record. The children will also receive 1 piece of Reading homework weekly. This is handed out on a Friday and due in the following Wednesday.

English – Children will receive 1 piece of English homework weekly. This is handed out on a Friday and due in the following Wednesday. This work will usually relate to the grammar, punctuation and spelling learning that we have been doing in school.