Homework at Dereham Junior Academy
Although not always directly linked to the in-school curriculum, what we ask the children to complete for homework helps build on and prepare for many of the things your child learns in school. Our expectations for homework are not excessive; we keep it really simple as we do not want the children to be working at home every minute of the evening!
Our homework tasks focus on some of the crucial aspects of English and maths, but there is also scope for some additional topic-based homework, should the children wish to complete any.
Our basic expectations are as follows:
Years 3 (per week) =
- Minimum of 3 x 15 min reading sessions
- Minimum of 2 x 10/15 min sessions on TT Rockstars/Numbots*
- Minimum of 2 x 10/15 min sessions on Spelling Shed* (for more on spellings, scroll to the bottom of the page)
* This homework is completed online. Y3 will not receive logins for these computer programmes until after the October half term. In the meantime, READ, READ, READ!
Year 4 (per week) =
- Minimum of 3 x 15 min reading sessions
- Minimum of 2 x 10/15 min sessions on TT Rockstars/Numbots
- Minimum of 2 x 10/15 min sessions on Spelling Shed (for more on spellings, scroll to the bottom of the page)
Year 5 (per week) =
- Minimum of 30 mins on TT Rockstars/Numbots in total
- Minimum of 30 mins on Spelling Shed in total (for more on spellings, scroll to the bottom of the page)
- Minimum of 4 x 15 min+ reading sessions.
Year 6 (per week) =
- Minimum of 3 x 15 min sessions on TT Rockstars/Numbots
- Minimum of 3 x 15 min sessions on Spelling Shed (for more on spellings, scroll to the bottom of the page)
- Minimum of 4 x 15 min reading sessions
- Homework booklets are used after October half term when Y6 revise their homework expectations.
For those children/families who would like more homework in addition to the items listed for each year group above, your child could complete a piece of work or project inspired by their current topic. This could be a piece of artwork, a model, poetry, writing, a slideshow or absolutely anything of your choice – we love to see and share what is completed!
You can find what your child is studying at any time by visiting the ‘What We Are Learning’ tab and clicking on the relevant year group.
More on spellings…
Although the children will ‘receive’ new spellings each week, we no longer have spelling tests in school. The latest research shows that learning words for a test does not help commit the correct spelling to long-term memory.
There is still ample opportunity to practise these spellings though. The lists are loaded onto ‘Spelling Shed’ for the children to work on during the week and we also complete tasks to help remember them in spelling sessions in school.
In addition to this, rather than having a list of spellings that seem to appear for a week and then are forgotten about after the test, we have decided to send home spelling lists for the whole half term. The children will also have a copy of this to refer to in school.
We will add each year group’s spelling lists as we progress throughout the academic year and they will remain accessible on the website by clicking on the relevant tab on the table below:
Year Group Spellings
