Homework

We believe that our wonderful children work incredibly hard when they’re at school. We don’t believe that doing an enormous amount of homework is in their best interests… In fact, we’d love it if the majority of their free time was spent doing lovely things or visiting interesting places with their family and friends, perhaps even attempting the National Trust ’50 things to do before you’re 11¾’! 

However, in order for our children to thrive academically we would be delighted if you can support them with the set home-learning tasks linked to reading, spelling and maths.

Click on the links below to read about our homework strategy in more detail  and our suggested reading lists for Years 1 to Year 6.

Homework Strategy

100 books to read in Years 1 and 2

100 books to read in Years 3 and 4 

100 books to read in Years 5 and 6

Spelling

At St Martin’s we know that learning to spell is an essential skill, and in order for children to become successful writers they need to spell accurately. 

Within school, children will learn the rules and conventions of the spellings, alongside systems and strategies needed to become confident spellers. In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 the children have daily phonic lessons where they learn phonemes and graphemes and high frequency words. In Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 the children will also be taught spelling, which focuses on acquiring knowledge of spelling conventions patterns and rules. This gives children the opportunity to learn specific spellings, including statutory word lists, common exceptions and personal/topic spellings. 

We encourage families to practise their child's weekly spellings wherever possible through the week. We believe learning to spell is most effective when it is done in an enjoyable and interesting way. Below are a range of spelling activities, games and strategies to support you and your children with their spelling at home. 

Spelling Activities and Games

extra home learning opportunities 

Below you will also find some additional learning challenges for each year group should you want to do more work at home:

Autumn 1 2026/27

pupil links to online learning