It might surprise you to learn that only 15% of your child’s waking hours between birth and 18 years of age are spent in school; that at 6 years old children have learnt 50% of their vocabulary, and that 7 year olds who had been given books at 9 months of age achieved 20% higher results than other children in their SATS (Source: http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/cfl/fl/overview/what.asp).
All these statistics show beyond a doubt that parents/carers should be playing a large part in their child’s education. Rackheath Primary School recognises this important parent/carer role and seeks to establish a partnership with each parent in order to best support their child throughout their time with us. We have a common purpose in seeking to provide the best opportunities for your child and we hope that you will actively engage with us in doing this.
There are many ways you can support your child’s learning outside of school.
By far the best and most important way is reading. Research has proved that children who read regularly at home make quicker progress than children who do not.
By reading to your child, or listening to them read for just a few minutes each day, you help to reinforce the learning taking place in the classroom. Encouraging your child to appreciate books inspires a lifelong love of reading.
Encouraging your child to do their homework is also a valuable support. Homework set by the class teacher is usually research for a topic to be studied or extension work to supplement class work already covered. Additionally, literacy and numeracy work may also be set.
The school holds information evenings at the start of a new academic year to assist parents with learning methods used in school so that they can best support their child at home. Literacy and Numeracy evenings can be extremely valuable to many parents who feel they are unfamiliar with current teaching methods.
The internet is a valuable learning tool. In much of the homework set, particularly in key stage 2, the homework is likely to involve using the internet for research purposes. In these circumstances a list of useful and relevant websites will be included with the homework.
A list of useful websites can be found here.
The home-school agreement explains what the school’s aims and values are, its responsibilities towards its pupils, the responsibility of each pupil’s parents and what the school expect from its pupils.
