Reports
Parents will receive three academic progress reports each year – one per term. The reports also provide a general summary of the student’s personal and social development. Individual pupil targets will be included in the report to highlight key areas for improvement. Please discuss the reports with your child to help support their learning at home. A summary of each child’s punctuality and attendance is included on the reports. At any time within the school year, you can request a meeting to talk about your child’s progress. As in many other schools, it is not our practice to send workbooks home, but we would encourage you to make an appointment during our Parent-Teacher meetings, which are held each term, to talk with the teacher, see the books and discuss the work in context.
Home Learning (Home Support)
AAESS bases our home learning policy on UK government guidelines which emphasise the importance of home learning and how it helps your child to learn.
Why is home learning support valuable?
- It raises children’s achievement
- It consolidates and extends the work they have been doing in school
- It helps to inform parents about their child’s school work and gives them the opportunity to support this
- Working independently is a valuable life skill and develops good work habits for secondary school and beyond
What sort of activities should children be doing?
Our home learning activities are related to the work your child is doing at school, but will not always be written work.
For young children it will usually be:
- Reading with parents or carers
- Games or activities to develop English language, maths or other skills
For older children, home learning may also include:
- Reading
- Preparing a presentation to the class
- Personal research
- Designing or making something
- Trying out a simple scientific experiment
- Solving problems
- Completing English, maths or other work
How much home learning should your children be doing?
Years 1 and 2: 1 hour per week (with a focus on reading, spellings, other literacy work and number work)
Years 3 and 4: 1.5 hours per week (literacy and maths as for Years 1 and 2 with occasional assignments in other subjects)
Years 5 and 6: 30 minutes per day (regular weekly schedule with continued emphasis on literacy and maths but also ranging widely over the curriculum)
How will you know what home learning your child will be getting each week?
Parents will be informed of home learning in the weekly PATHs letter which will be available on the AAESS website.
Should you help your child with their home learning?
Home learning allows you to see what your children are doing and to support their learning. This partnership between school and home is a vital part of successful education. At AAESS we take the view that children are likely to get more out of an activity if parents get involved – as long as they do not take over too much! If you are unsure about how much help to give, you should discuss it with your child’s teacher. They will be pleased to talk to you and will help you to get the balance right.
Twelve things you can do to help your child to learn
- Give your child confidence through lots of praise and encouragement
- Read to, and with, your child as much as possible – at least 20 minutes per day
- Encourage your child to observe and talk about what they see, feel, think etc.
- Make use of the AAESS library
- Visit museums, parks and other places you think your child might find interesting
- If your child likes watching television, watch it together sometimes and talk about what has been watched. Children enjoy sharing their experiences and will gain a lot from the discussion
- Try to provide a reasonably quiet and suitable place where your child can work and show that you and all members of the family value and respect the home learning activity
- Try to set time aside to support your child’s home learning activities whilst also allowing some independence where appropriate
- Encourage your child to discuss home learning with you, including feedback from teachers
- Try to help your child to see the enjoyable aspects of home learning
- Help your child to see the importance of home learning and teach them to become more independent and take more responsibility for themselves as they get older
- Remind your children to complete and hand in home learning on time.
