Baycroft Online Homework
Context for our offer
The need for parents and school to work together to support the learning of individual students is an important link in the learning process. Our aim is to ensure parents have the opportunity to support, consolidate and become active participants in the learning of their child.
Whilst some parents wish for ‘formal’ and subject-based homework tasks to be set, there are also a number of parents who consider the time that students have out of school as important personal and social development time and do not wish to have such pressures added to their home and family life.
What we do know, is that most children, as a result of their needs, are extremely tired after a full day here – and they should be! We work them hard through the day to deliver a wide-ranging curriculum with expert practitioners and pedagogy. We offer such a rich diet of subjects and opportunities in the school day that there is not always time to build regular rehearsal of key skills for learning into student routines. Therefore, we feel that there is an ideal opportunity available for parents who wish to and who are able, to continue learning and development at home via the activities below.
Any student who consistently reads with a parent every night, completed Lexia time every night and who practised touch typing and/or handwriting every night would have a very considerable boost to their learning and skills for every lesson in the school week. Every little helps, and so whatever parents/carers and students can commit to from the activities below will have a considerable impact. We feel that this is greatly preferable to curriculum-based homework. Occasionally this will be supplemented with extension challenges and small research tasks set in lessons – generally in the upper years of the school.
Literacy
Lexia is a web-based application used across Baycroft to support literacy skills development. It has proven a highly effective and popular tool. Our experience shows that students of all ages will make greater progress with phonic awareness by achieving at least 60 minutes of Lexia in a week. The expectation is that for all year groups this should be completed at home and there are a range of rewards and recognitions available for those who complete the time required.
Lexia can be accessed at home through student accounts, on any device, and parents and carers are encouraged to support students in completing their sessions as this additional opportunity has been proven to support phonic awareness and for phonic ‘blends’ to become embedded in students’ long-term memory leading to improvements in recall and the unlocking of progress and development. This, in turn, develops student confidence in tackling literacy challenges across the whole curriculum.
Most students should have Lexia details in their home-school diaries/ planners. For further information please contact Mrs Downs [email protected]
The log-in is here:
If a teacher’s email is requested on the website, please use Mrs Downs’ email, as above.
Reading
Parents should also read with students every day – including at weekends – as reading fluency and comprehension are critical for accessing every area of the curriculum as well as daily life and these rely on consistent rehearsal to embed skills.
Developing recording skills
Fine motor/pen control skills and hand muscle stamina are challenging areas for the vast majority of our students. Therefore, both handwriting practice and even detailed colouring in are extremely valuable uses of time at home. These sheets are ideal resources and can be downloaded and printed.
http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/arts-culture/mandala for intricate colouring pages
A key skill for life in the 21st Century is effective use of a keyboard, both in place of handwriting where needed, and also to access technology effectively. Even if they can handwrite, many of our students will need this for their exams and coursework as well as for achieving what they need to in daily life. This is a very valuable use of time for students outside of school in practising their skills, and supports all areas of the curriculum.
Educational Psychologists are recommending both ‘Nessy Fingers’ which has a cost to parents, but also the BBC Dance Mat Typing which is completely free and can be accessed here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2f9j6/articles/z3c6tfr
There are a host of fun and easy to access games on this page, which can be used at any time. Click here
Mathematics Skills
All of our students are familiar with and use Prodigy Maths in school. (https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/)
Prodigy Maths is an adaptive maths-practice game for students to learn and improve their arithmetic and problem-solving skills through game rewards and quests.
The maths teachers set materials appropriate to the topics being covered at any given time.
All students should have a log-in for this in the home-school diaries/planners.
If you need to check your child’s login, please contact their maths teacher directly via Class Dojo.
