1. An new approach to providing effective homework at
Brain Builders
An new approach to providing effective homework at
Norwich Road Academy

2. Our aim To improve the quality and effectiveness of homework tasks
To extend learning by linking homework to activities completed in the classroom.
To make homework something that children can take control of, actively engage with and take pride in.

5. The benefit of thinking skills
Scan 1, act of memorising (visual images).
Scan 2, act of recall
Scans 3 and 4, Processing information, comparison, decision making.
The results of the experiment were reported in November 2000

6. What’s so great about Brainbuilders….?
They allow for individualism
They let you see the inside world of
the child
They’re fun
They are driven by the child and not
the teacher
They have really brought the children together
They develop and extend children’s independence of learning.
Children can;
Take control of -
Actively engage in -
Take pride in -
…..their own learning

7. How will we achieve this?
Children will receive their Brain Builder tasks each week to work on throughout the week.
There will be opportunities during school time to review, share and discuss Brain Builder tasks.
Brain Builders will be high profile and high status in school.

8. So, what do they look like
So, what do they look like? This system is used in many schools up and down the country with huge success and positive comments from children, parents and teachers….they are as good as the children want them to be….
I have been sent many example photographs from different schools showing examples from different age groups and different abilities. All the schools use this format from reception to year 6. Here are a few examples of what a Brain builder could look like. There is no right or wrong way to present a brain builder. The only rules are that it can only take one double page in the Brain Builder book. If more space is needed, paper can be stuck in to fold out or pockets added for cards to be stored in.

9. Year R

10. Year 1

11. Year 2

12. Year 3

13. Year 4

14. Year 4

15. Year 4

16. Year 5

17. Year 6

18. What will it involve?
Brain Builders will come home on a day set by the class teacher, to be returned to school the following week, when they will be shared in class and seen by teachers
The Learning Objective(s) will be clearly stated
Some suggested activities and ways to approach the task will be offered – this will be at a level that reflects the age and needs of the individual child
The rest is down to you and your child!

19. Brain Builder
LO: Learning to tell the time
Make something that someone else could use to learn to tell the time. It could be a clock, a game, a poster, a leaflet, a set of instructions or anything else you can think of.
Bring your work to school by Friday of next week

20. How can you support your child?
Give children time to talk about what they have to do – just the process of explaining and discussing the task will help your child to understand.
Offer ideas on how to present the work.
Give children a space to work which is away from other distractions.

21. How can you support your child? (continued)
Give homework a high status in your house and make it a priority.
Try to set aside specific homework times/evenings – and make time to work with your child.
Ensure that some days are homework free.
Reward excellent work.
Remind your child that there may not be a ‘finished point’

22. What can we include?
We will be encouraging the children to be as creative with their homework as possible.
They can complete these tasks in any way they want to as long as it is broadly based on the theme of the Brain Builder.
The children can do as many or as few of these suggestions as they wish, or they can make up their own.

23. For example, they could draw pictures, label them, take photographs, write lists, stick in food labels, research from books or the internet – or anything else that they can think of.

24. They can display their work in
their book as they wish – painted, coloured, in different types of writing implement (e.g. gel pens, biros), collage and they can include any work they would like to – poems, stories, information, plays, facts, instructions, interviews with family members, lift the flaps, pockets with letters in, pictures cut out from newspapers and magazines and so on

25. How much homework should my child get?
Reception
Children in the Foundation Stage are not included in the DFE guidelines for homework and therefore formal homework is not given. The main focus is naturally on the enjoyment and thrill of developing reading techniques and the learning of phonics (sounds) of the letters and words. This work is judged on an individual basis and is normally most successful when the teacher and parents liaise closely as to the next step. To develop this further, some Brainbuilder tasks are set as the year progresses.

26. Year 1 & 2 : 60 minutes over the week
Children in these year groups will get a suggested range of homework to include reading and Brainbuilder tasks. The suggested amount of time for this should equate to about an hour a week.

27. Year 3 & 4 : 10 minutes reading daily plus the Brainbuilders task.
The range of homework will include regular reading and Brainbuilder tasks. The suggested time for these year groups is about an hour and a half per week. Little and often is best practice – reading and spelling should still be a constant feature.

28. Year 5&6 : 10/15 minutes per day reading and the Brainbuilders task
The range of homework should still include regular reading and comprehension questions to extend understanding of the text and the purpose of the author, as well as Brainbuilder tasks.
Working on these throughout the week is good practice and preparation for high school.

29. What about spellings? Spelling is taught in class
Encourage children to check the list for words they need to spell or look in a dictionary
Specific topic words may be built into tasks or put in home link books

30. What if we are stuck for ideas?
Borrow books from the school library
Use the Internet if you have it
(or your child could ask to use it at school)
Look at the world around!!
Ask your child’s class teacher!

31. The aim of this work is to
encourage the children to become
more independent and motivated in their own learning and also to enable them to make links in their learning.
Adult input is encouraged but please don’t do the work for them! Rather; prompt, guide, suggest and help the children to research.

32. What Now?
Brain Builders are a partnership between school and home. For them to be effective everybody needs to be working towards a common aim. Good quality homework will help us to achieve ‘Success for all’.

33. Working together
For some children, it will take a while to adjust – please encourage them during this time
If staff feel that there are additional tasks that your child needs or if there are any concerns, we will discuss this with you.
If you have any questions in the meantime please ask!!!

34. Monday Brain Builders Club
There is a clear expectation that children will complete their homework within the specified week, however we know that sometime life is tricky, so if homework is not able to be completed please speak to your child’s teacher.
There will be a Brain Builders club on a Monday lunchtime for pupils that need help with homework or those that do not complete homework on time, with no good reason!

35. Children will; Skills for life Be proud of their learning
Be eager to share
Develop learning life skills
Brian Builders begin across the school from year 1 to 6 tomorrow – reception will begin them in a few weeks once they have settled into school fulltime.
So you all have something exciting to look forward to – as a school we feel very strongly that this is a major, positive step forward in developing our children's learning skills and we hope that, through a strong partnership with you, our children will become creative, independent learners beginning now and continuing throughout their lives.