Homework

14 March 2025

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week’s Talk Time poses a moral dilemma and links to internet safety.

Is using the internet bad for your health?

You could start by listing reasons why you would use the internet (playing games, social media, watching videos). Are your reasons the same as other members of your family?

We suggest approaching this Talk Time with an open mind. You may already have strong views on this but it’s important to consider both sides of an argument before reaching your conclusions.

Check out these R2s to help you with your discussions at home:

• What are the health benefits of using the internet?
  • Remember that mental health is crucial to being a healthy person.
• How could using the internet negatively impact on your health?
  • How could this impact on your physical health?
  • Is using the internet always an enjoyable experience?
• Decide which argument is the
  • This might be the side with the most points to back it up.
  • You might consider some points to be more important than others.
  • You may not agree with people you speak to – that’s okay!

After the discussion with friends and family, what conclusion do you reach? Do others around you agree?

Living and Learning

Each week’s Living and Learning statement features in the school calendar – check out the prompt to support you and your child in this area. Find the statements in the calendar – you’ll see it in the Find Out section of our website.

07 March 2025

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week’s Talk Time has a moral and social theme:

I can lead a Philosophy Friday session at home.

What is Philosophy?

We’ve thought deeply about this and have written these simple definitions about what philosophy is:

Your task:

Choose one of the questions below or come up with your own thought-provoking idea. Gather your family and/or friends and ask them your chosen question. Explore each other’s different thoughts or views through discussion.

Year 1

·      If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

·      If animals could talk, what do you think they’d say?

·      What does it mean to be a good friend?

Year 2

·      Can animals be cruel?

·      Would you rather change into a bird and fly or change into a fish and swim?

·      If you were a biscuit, what type of biscuit would you be and why? What about other members of your family?

Year 3

·      Is it okay to take something that isn’t yours?

·      If you’d been given a different name, would you be a different person?

·      If it were possible to live forever, would you want to?

Year 4

·      Do computers have feelings?

·      What can you do that an animal can’t?

·      Would you rather meet a tarantula who was kind, or a puppy who wasn’t?

Year 5

·      Why are some memories more important than others?

·      Why can people own animals but not own people?

·      Is it important to stand out from the crowd?

Year 6

·      Would you rather be able to invent something incredible or destroy something terrible?

·      Can I think myself happy?

·      Who owns the sky?

As a facilitator try to:

• remain neutral
• allow each person to communicate their thoughts and opinions
• question, repeat or re-phrase and summarise
• it’s okay to disagree but everyone needs to be respectful

Below are some example sentence starters to help you express your thoughts.

28 February 2025

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week’s Talk Time has a reading and oracy theme. This is because on Thursday 06 March 2025 it is World Book Day. To celebrate reading, we’d like you to have some conversations about your favourite books and or/authors.

I can talk about my favourite book and/or author.

You can come up with your own ideas for how to show this. Ideas might include:

• giving a verbal book review of your favourite book
• describing a character from your favourite book
• giving a one minute speech on your favourite book, persuading others to read it – consider what the most exciting parts are, which characters you love or you love to hate, who might enjoy reading it next and why

When you’re happy with what you want to say, turn your attention to speaking aloud with confidence and clarity. This week’s Remember 2s (R2s) will help with that:

• Speak clearly in a loud voice without shouting.
• Pause for breath at the right places to make sure your speaking at an appropriate pace.
• Face your audience.

This homework will be celebrated on World Book Day itself, Thursday 06 March 2025.

07 February 2025

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week, our Talk Time is in preparation for Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 11 February. We’ll have a full day of learning based around internet safety. With that in mind, start to think about ways you already keep yourself safe when online.

I can talk about ways to keep myself safe online

Things you might like to consider are:

• Age restrictions – where might you see these and why are these used?
• Digital content – do you know what a digital footprint is?
• Mis information, disinformation and hoaxes – are all things we read true?
• Fake websites and scam emails – are all websites trusted?
• Password safety
• Personal data and keeping it safe online
• Online vs offline behaviour
• Impact on quality of life and having a balance of online and offline activities

Have a conversation with your family and friends about how you already keep yourself safe online. After your conversation, take some time to reflect on yours and others responses. Is there anything that you could change or do differently to help keep yourself even safer online? Is there anything you’d like to know more about?

Living and Learning

Each week’s Living and Learning statement features in the school calendar – check out the prompt to support you and your child in this area. Find the statements in the calendar – you’ll see it in the Find Out section of our website.

31 January 2025

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week’s Talk Time has a moral theme.

Who’s responsibility is it to keep me safe?

Safety covers so many areas; your discussions could centre around these forms of safety as well as any others that you know of:

• Online safety (e-safety)
• Fire safety
• Road safety
• Electrical safety
• Water safety

For each type of safety, talk about different settings and examples of when you might be faced with risks and how your adult or you would safely deal with them. For each situation, think about who’s responsible for evaluating the risks involved. Is it solely your adult at home/school or do you hold some of the responsibility in keeping yourself safe? Does your age impact on your responsibility?

Here are some examples…

• My adult lets me have a social media account and regularly monitors it to make sure I am safe but it’s also my responsibility to keep myself safe by telling my trusted adult if something happens that I do not feel comfortable with.
• My adult lets me walk to and from school on my own but it’s also my responsibility to keep myself safe by walking on the footpaths, using crossings to cross the road safely and not talking to strangers.

Here are some R2s (Remember tos) to help you stay safe:

• Think before you act.
• Assess the risks. Is it safe?
• If something goes wrong, again, think before you act.
• Who can help you and how can you reach them?

Living and Learning

Each week’s Living and Learning statement features in the school calendar – check out the prompt to support you and your child in this area. Find the statements in the calendar – you’ll see it in the Find Out section of our website.

17 January 2025

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

Vocabulary is the focus of this week’s homework. This is because we’ve just begun a new Geography topic and with it comes new Geography vocabulary.

Here’s a list of key words that are being learnt and applied as part of our learning. Over the half-term, practise using these words with your child.

Years 1 and 2 Geography vocabulary:

• locality: an area or neighbourhood
• environment: the surroundings of a human, animal or plant
• recycling: turning waste into new materials
• pollution: something harmful or poisonous in an environment
• to survey: to find the opinions of a group of people by asking them questions
• physical geography: physical geography looks at the natural things in our environment
• human geography: human geography looks at changes in the environment by humans
• issue: an important topic or problem that needs discussion
• solution: a way of solving an issue or problem

Years 3 and 4 Geography vocabulary:

• tectonic plates: different pieces of the Earth’s crust which fit together like a jigsaw and move in different directions and at different speeds
• volcano: an opening in the Earth’s crust that allows magma, ash and gases to escape
• magma: molten rock (rock so hot that it has turned into liquid) which is underneath the Earth’s crust
• lava: when magma reaches the surface of the Earth it is called lava
• active volcano: these have a recent history of eruptions and are likely to erupt again
• dormant volcano: these have not erupted for a very long time but may erupt at a future time
• extinct volcano: these are not expected to erupt in the future
• land-use: the specific purpose that an area of land is used for
• geothermal: heat produced from within the Earth (geo means earth and thermal means heat)

Years 5 and 6 Geography vocabulary:

• climate zones: different parts of the world grouped by temperature and rainfall (eg the Met Office give six: arid, equatorial, Mediterranean, polar, snow and temperate)
• climate change: a change in climate (temperature and rainfall) over a period of time (also known as ‘climate crisis’ and ‘climate emergency’)
• global warming: an outcome of climate change: a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the Earth (also known as ‘global heating’)
• latitude: imaginary lines which show how north or south a place is (the equator is the best-known line of latitude)
• fossil fuel: a non-renewable energy source, formed from the remains of plants and animals that died millions of years ago (eg coal, oil, gas)
• renewable energy: a source of energy that is sustainable so it will never run out (eg wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy)
• emission: an emission is something that been released into the world (eg carbon dioxide is an emission created when fossil fuels are burned)
• erosion: a process where materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as wind or water
• groyne: a low wall or barrier built out into the sea from a beach to slow erosion

Some of these words have been introduced already but there may be others that are going to be covered in the coming weeks.

10 January 2025

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

Our first Talk Time of 2025 has a reading and oracy theme.

I know a poem.

This week, you’re going to be learning a famous poem. It takes great resilience and remembering skills to be able to learn a poem – two of our 8Rs for learning.

Y1,2: Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan

On the Ning Nang Nong

Where the Cows go Bong!

and the monkeys all say BOO!

There’s a Nong Nang Ning

Where the trees go Ping!

And the tea pots jibber jabber joo.

On the Nong Ning Nang

All the mice go Clang

And you just can’t catch ’em when they do!

So its Ning Nang Nong

Cows go Bong!

Nong Nang Ning

Trees go ping

Nong Ning Nang

The mice go Clang

What a noisy place to belong

is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!

Y3,4: Catch a Little Rhyme by Eve Mirriam (CC)

Once upon a time

I caught a little rhyme

I set it on the floor

but it ran right out the door

I chased it on my bicycle

but it melted to an icicle

I scooped it up in my hat

but it turned into a cat

I caught it by the tail

but it stretched into a whale

I followed it in a boat

but it changed into a goat

When I fed it tin and paper

it became a tall skyscraper

Then it grew into a kite

and flew far out of sight …

Y5,6:  If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

These talking points could be used to support your initial reading and understanding of the poem:

• What’s the poem about?
• Can you work out the meaning of tricky words and phrases by using the clues in the poem?
• What’s the rhythm of the poem? Where do you pause for breaths?
• Are there any rhymes (words ending with the same sounds (eg cat and hat)?
• What other patterns do you notice (repeated words/lines, line lengths, themes/key messages)?

When you have a sound understanding of your chosen poem, turn your attentions to reading it aloud with confidence and clarity. This week’s Remember 2s (R2s) will help with that:

• Speak clearly in a loud voice without shouting.
• Pause for breath at the right places to make sure you read at an appropriate pace.
• Face the reader as often as you can.

Here are some creative strategies that you might use to help you remember the poem – do what works best for you:

• Create actions to go with certain words or phrases.
• Draw a series of pictures to help you remember what comes next.
• Say or sing the poem in a unique or funny voice.

Echo phrases/lines with someone at home.

13 December 2024

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week’s Talk Time relates to our Science learning. Each class has been finding out about one or two scientists as part of their Science lessons.

I can show off my knowledge of different scientists.

Year 1,2: Florence Nightingale / Charles McIntosh

Year 3,4: Jane Goodall

Year 5,6: Carl Linnaeus, Sarah Fowler / Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla

Have a chat with someone at home about the scientist that you have been learning about in your Science sessions. There’s a short text about one of the scientists that you could read with your child.

Here are some things that you could discuss:

• what they did
• how they worked like a scientist
• why their work was important
• whether their work has an impact on life today

Challenge: Do you know of any other scientists? Can you talk about their work and say how it has impacted life today?

05 December 2024

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week’s Talk Time poses a moral question:

Is physical health more important than mental health?

What is physical health?

Physical health is about a healthy body. This includes proper nutrition and plenty of physical activity.

What is mental health?

Mental health is about a healthy mind. Mental health is a sense of identity and self-worth; positive family and peer relationships; an ability to be productive and to learn.

Have a discussion with friends and family at home. Consider what physical and mental health looks and feels like for you. Does this match up to your friends’ and family’s ideas?

After the discussion with friends and family, what conclusion do you reach? Do others around you agree?

29 November 2024

Our whole-school homework this week is:

Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.

Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.

Talk Time

This week’s Talk Time relates to this half term’s Art topic.

I can compare and contrast different artworks/architecture/designs.  

I can give my opinions, and back them up with reasons.

 In our Art lessons, we’re thinking about the work of these artists (Y1,2) / architects (Y3,4) or designers (Y5,6) and we’re using the following vocabulary:

Y1,2 Artists:

George Seurat

Bridget Riley

Vocabulary: pointillism, op art

Y3,4 Architects:

St Paul’s Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren

London Aquatic Centre, Zara Hadid

Vocabulary: architect, architecture

Y5,6 Designers:

William Morris

Orla Kiely

Vocabulary: pattern, repetition, symmetry, foreground, background

The key to this task is being able to explain thoughts and opinions. It’s worth remembering that the opinions of one person may not match those of another and that it’s okay to disagree.

We’d like your child to speak confidently and passionately about art. Using ‘because’ will encourage your child to think carefully about their own interpretation of the art. Offering your own opinions may also help your child to consider alternative viewpoints and perspectives.

Discussions about the art could take place in a number of ways. Here’s a couple of suggestions:

• Discuss each piece separately before then looking at them side by side.
• Have both pieces side by side from the start.

Whichever approach you opt for, referring to these questions and the vocabulary above will help to focus your discussions at home:

• Explain what you like about each piece.
• Explain what you dislike about each piece.
• How are the two pieces similar?
• How are the two pieces different?

Considering what is most important to you, which piece do you prefer?