Class Information

Curriculum Maps are provided half-termly and can be found for each year group by clicking here.

Times Tables and Spellings focus for each week is provided half-termly for parents and a copy can be found on the individual class pages.

Curriculum Maps

Curriculum maps are created half-termly by class teachers to show the learning that will be taking place in the classroom. It outlines the focus skills and knowledge that will be focused upon in each subject across the curriculum. This allows parents and carers to talk to their children specifically about the learning that they have been doing at school.

We are working on a set of resources for every subject, for every year group, that will outline the key skills, knowledge and vocabulary that children should gain during each academic year. We hope that these will be useful in supporting parents and giving them an understanding of how their child's learning is progressing in all areas as they move through our school.

Homework

Our homework tasks are designed to some development of the following key skills:

Spelling and development of vocabulary;
Knowledge of times tables (including division facts);
Regular reading and promotion of reading for pleasure (particularly in Upper Key Stage 2).

Homework Overview by Year Group

Year 1 - Year 3

Spellings using ‘Spell Shed’ – these will be set on a Thursday and will be available until the following Thursday when children will be tested in class.
Times Tables Fact using ‘Maths Shed’ – these will be set on a Thursday and will be available until the following Thursday where there will be an assessment in class.

Children will complete their tests in their 'Big Challenge' book which moves between school and home so that parents can track children's progress.

Key Stage 1 and Year 3 will also be given ‘Reading Records’ and should be reading daily with a comment being placed in the reading record. There will continue to be keywords in the back of the Reading Record for the children to learn too.

Year 4 - Year 6

Spellings using ‘Spell Shed’ – these will be set on a Friday and will be available until the following Friday when children will be tested in class.
Times Tables Facts using ‘Maths Shed’ – these will be set on a Friday and will be available until the following Friday where there will be an assessment in class. When children are confident in all of their times tables, they will be set other online maths activities to complete.

Weekly results for spelling and times table assessments will be recorded by the children in the back of their Reading Journals.

Year 4 – Year 6 will be set a ‘Reading Journal’ task each Friday which they will bring into school on the following Friday to share in pairs guided reading during their guided reading session. Children will complete a self-assessment based on the success criteria given for the task and will give themselves a focus for the next task. Class teachers will give feedback on children's reading journals half-termly. Further information can be found about the Reading Journals in the ‘Meet the Teacher’ slides found on the individual class pages.
Year 6 will also be set some additional homework tasks to support transition to and preparation for secondary school.

Our Approach to Spelling Tests in KS2 - Promoting Application

At St Paul’s, we want to foster a lifelong curiosity and embed a positive attitude to spelling and building an enriched vocabulary. To achieve this, we teach spellings through weekly lists based on the national curriculum objectives that are required in every year group as well as additional activities to promote the retention and application of the spelling rules.

In KS2, there will be 10-15 words that show the spelling rule clearly to allow the children to familiarise themselves with the given sounds.

In the spelling tests, these words will be used as well as some additional words that follow the same rule to encourage the children to apply their developing phonetic knowledge.

Children who are on List A will be expected to learn the words and apply the rules to some unseen words too. As with all of our writing and reading teaching, we encourage children to approach their test with a growth mindset. The challenge of the unseen words are an opportunity to apply their skills and combine rules over the year. It is a vital part to producing confident spellers!

Children who are working towards their expected standard will be given their set list words (List B) to learn in order to encourage them to learn the sounds and to potentially allow them to practice spelling rules from prior year groups too.

Further Support

Spell Shed and Maths Shed can both be accessed via 'Ed Shed' which can be found by following this link: Edshed.

Handout for Parents: Supporting your child with their spelling

Handout for Parents: Supporting your child with their times tables

There are optional additional maths challenges on the individual class pages.