Following our discussions regarding the new homework model at Parents’ Evening last week,  I have attached the letter, a photograph of the current and new homework models and a copy of the Weekly Homework Checklist for those of you who either didn’t manage to attend or didn’t get a proper chance to look at the display.

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We will trial the new homework after Easter up until Summer and we will put your preference to the vote after the Summer holiday. The new model is designed to give more flexibility coming into the lighter nights so that if your child has more clubs or just wants to be out in the fresh air they can choose to do as much or as little homework as the family timetable will allow. Discussions on the new model at Parent’s Evening were largely positive but we can only vote on a preference once we have tried both models.

The teachers will put a Skills/ Tasks grid on their Class Blog on the Monday we come back to school. Each stage will have a different grid with different challenges so if your child is in the P1/2 class there will be two grids, one for each stage. They will also provide a list of fun ways the children can practice spelling/ phonics/ common words. They should choose one thing from the grid to do each week. Additionally they can choose to do activities suggested from the spelling ideas and they will also have a list of useful websites and free Apps which we access in school which they can use at home. They can access these as little or as often as they like. The activities will reinforce on going class work.

The grids, spelling ideas and websites will be there for the whole term. The only thing that will come home every week is the Weekly checklist with compulsory reading and a maths activity attached.

It is impossible to find a Homework model that suits everyone and we have had a few complaints from parents this year who feel that with a busy home schedule the current model is too much. We are attempting to offer some level of flexibility so let’s try it and we’ll put it to the vote in August. We will implement the model which wins majority backing.

Parents of P7 pupils will receive a different communication from me as the P7 homework will differ as they are going to the high school in August