Home Learning

Welcome to our Home Learning page! 

Introduction:

We are excited to share with you our ideas of activities, projects and learning tasks and are sure that you will have lots of fun completing them as a family.  We are aware that many parents/carers will be trying to work from home whilst caring for their children, and that families may have children of different ages who they are trying to support.  As a result, we have decided to structure our Home Learning around whole school themes so all of the children can be learning about the same topic regardless of their year group.  Each theme will last for two weeks and teachers will be providing suggested tasks for all phases of the school.  Email addresses have been setup so you can contact teachers and support staff directly to share your learning and progress, ask any questions or just catch-up with how things are going.  We do not want any of our families to feel isolated or worried about Home Learning and are all here to support you!

If you are unsure which phase your child is in, or which activities they should be completing, please see the guide table below:

As far as possible, Home Learning will reflect our general approach to learning and the curriculum, whilst being realistic and compassionate to the varying needs of each of our families.  The emphasis will be on eight strands of learning including:

• Talking, Reading and Writing
• Keeping Fit
• Maths
• Science and Technology
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World
• Being Creative
• Memorable Experiences
• Keeping Your Mind Healthy

Each week, teachers will post a one-page document with suggested activities for children to complete linked to the theme.  Please note, the theme will only change every two weeks but there will be new activities every week.  The activities have been designed to need few resources, not require any new learning input, be fun and engaging for all children and not put added pressure on families in these challenging times. 

We are providing some guidance on how Home Learning might be structured but are aware that every family’s situation is unique and that no parents or carers should feel anxious about supporting their child. 

Our Home Learning Principles:

• Encouragement – children need gentle encouragement to practice, apply and extend their skills and knowledge learned in school.
• Foster interests-  learning should be open ended, flexible,  exciting and motivating for children
• Personal responsibility- children should have a chance to make decisions and organise their own experiences.
• Physical and mental health- are core components of our home learning curriculum with an aim to reduce screen time.
• Collaboration and partnerships- between children, their teachers and their families is encouraged through meaningful engagement.
• Realistic- Home Learning should not require specific resources, materials or books to be purchased. 

Quantity and Frequency of Home Learning:

We do not expect children to be working from 9am-3:30pm every day and this would in fact have a negative impact on their mental well-being.  During a normal school day, there are different types of learning activities offered, opportunities to work collaboratively with others, times for socialisation and play and quiet times for reflection.  We believe that Home Learning should follow this model and not around a very rigid programme of subject specific study and deadlines.  As such, we have produced the following example of how a typical day of Home Learning might look:

Role of the Parents:

Parents and adults in the home are essential for Home Learning.  We encourage parents to share the Home Learning with their child/children and to decide upon the most appropriate way to complete it.  We encourage you to:

• Provide a positive distraction free environment in which to work
• Work together with your child and their siblings where possible.
• Talk to them about their learning and interests, responding to their personal motivations and adapting tasks in order to keep them motivated. 
• Share your child’s/children’s Home Learning outcomes with their teachers via the Phase Emails listed above.  This could be a photograph, short video clip, electronic document produced by a child, a brief description of the day’s activities or any other means of useful communication.
• Contact us for guidance or reassurance via email. Whilst some staff will be based in school, everyone else will be working from home (unless unwell) and available during the normal working day to support you and your children. 

We would like to reassure parents that we are both compassionate and realistic about the challenges they may face in supporting their child with Home Learning e.g. parents working from home themselves or anxiety around how best to support your child.  As such, we would encourage all parents to contact us for guidance or reassurance via the emails above.  Whilst some staff will be based in school, everyone else will be working from home (unless unwell) and available during the normal working day to support you and your children. 

Home Learning Resources:

Times Table Rock Stars and Numbots

https://ttrockstars.com/ Years 1-6

https://play.numbots.com All children, including EYFS.

All children from Years 1-6 should have a Username and Password for Times Table Rock Stars. Their Username and Password will now give them access to a linked website called Numbots, which aims to develop children's number fluency and speed of recall of basic facts, such as number bonds to 10. The website has two modes. By playing on the Story Mode you can unlock the Challenge Mode. It may start off simple, but as the children achieve more, it becomes more challenging.

Game Types

1. Story Mode – the emphasis is on learning the ideas and concepts behind addition and subtraction so it features more diagrams, shapes and question styles.

2. Challenge Mode – the emphasis is more on speed of recall of key facts, like number bonds to 10, doubling small numbers or adding & taking away in your head.

The Admin member of staff for these websites is our Maths Lead, Ben Beeston (bbeeston@fulbourn.cambs.sch.uk). Please contact him via email if you have any issues logging in or find that your child does not have or remember their details.

Big Cat Reading Online

https://connect.collins.co.uk/school/FULBOURN1/Student/

Books currently available online cover the whole of EYFS and Key Stage 1. To access the new guided reading books that we have recently purchased in school, children can go to the address above and use the following details:

Date of Birth: 1st January 2001

First Name: Fulbourn

Surname: Pupil

Year Group: 1

This is one login that will work for everyone, even if used simultaneously. There are no individual pupil accounts. Do not change any of these details to be accurate for your child- only one account exists that we can all share.

Click on Collins Big Cat.

Select the band colour your child is working on at school. If your child does not know, information regarding this will be made available soon; for now, you could explore together and agree a suitable level to start at.

Enjoy reading and listening to the online texts as well as having a go at the activities.

Try all the books in one colour band before moving on.

Any questions? Please contact Mr Beeston on bbeeston@fulbourn.cambs.sch.uk