St Andrew's C of E VC Lower School

How you can help your child at home

At St. Andrew's we believe that reading practice on a daily basis has the biggest impact on children's reading development. We ask parents to hear their children read a little every day and to record this activity in the children's reading record book.

As well as reading, children will have spellings and times tables to learn at home when appropriate, and from time to time there will be other items of homework, which may be set pieces or "finding out" tasks which they can do with you.

If your child ever struggles with a piece of homework, do not worry, just put it to one side and talk to your child's teacher.

Another activity we would encourage is parents reading to their children. This helps with language development and increasing the range of vocabulary. Developing a daily routine - child reads to parent and parent reads to child - is so valuable.

The Biggleswade Community Union of Schools (BCUS) has collaborated to develop a Home Learning Charter to encourage partnership between students, parents/carers and teachers to promote independent learning The aim is to have a clear set of agreed principles that gives the maximum benefit to the children as they progress through their different schools.

You can also help by ensuring that your child has:

• a good bedtime routine, with plenty of sleep.
• a healthy breakfast before coming to school.
• good attendance and punctuality, the school target is at least 96%.
• limited access to TV and other devices before bedtime.
• a positive attitude to school.

Learning Times Tables

Knowing their times tables is a vital skill that children need to help them with all their Maths.

Please take a look at this website: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/#/

We are starting to use this in school to help children to learn their times tables. For Yr 2 they should be looking at the 2s, 5s, and 10s. For Yr 3 & 4 all the tables up to 12x12. The children enjoy the website and by practising on the computer or tablets they will be more prepared for their Year Four assessment.