At Hurst Hill We believe that children benefit from continuing their learning at home. Rehearsal and extension of knowledge, skills and understanding helps children to retain and apply what they do in school.

At Hurst Hill we strive to prepare our children for learning at secondary school and for life in modern Britain when they are adults. Younger children can develop good habits of concentration and organisation by completing activities with the support of an adult at home. Older children can develop the skills of independent learning and problem solving by completing homework without the support of an adult at home.

We encourage pupils to complete homework and aim to provide them with appropriately engaging and challenging activities on a weekly basis.

Throughout the school children are expected to read every day. In Reception this will take the form of sharing a book with an adult as well as learning to read words. In Reception and Key Stage One reading books will be sent home that contain the words your child is learning to read in phonics lessons in school. In Key Stage 2 children will bring home more detailed texts which will be information books as well as stories.

Children will bring home a range of activities aimed at developing their writing: phonics activities, hand-writing or letter formation tasks, spelling investigations and grammar activities. In longer writing tasks set for homework children are encouraged to use the knowledge they have gained from the short skills-based spelling and grammar activities.

Throughout the school children are expected to work on number every day. Recall of facts and skills, such as Times Tables, will need regular rehearsal. Children may bring home a set of calculations to complete and this will be to reinforce or rehearse skills that they have been taught in class. They may also bring home investigations that are intended to develop their deeper thinking and application of number knowledge.