Engaging parents/carers

Engaging parents in their child's homework makes a huge difference to homework completion (student learning). It also impacts your workload - having them onside and motivating students will save you time, and making sure they understand Sparx Maths Homework from the start will stop you from needing to answer lots of queries throughout the year.

Here are some top tips to encourage parents to them to support their child to complete their homework:

Communicate the importance of Sparx Maths Homework

Share our Parent's Guide to Sparx Maths

We have created a Parent's guide to Sparx Maths webpage, featuring some short videos to help parents understand Sparx Maths and how they can support their child.

Send home a letter, email or text

Although Sparx Maths emails parents each week to involve them in their child's learning (see this article for more info), it's crucial they hear from you about the purpose of homework and the systems in place at your school.

At the start of the school year, consider sending a letter to parents explaining why homework is important for their child's progress and how Sparx Maths is personalised to their child's level. Highlight the positive impact it can have on their child's outcomes and the confidence they can gain from completing all of their homework each week.

Here is a template letter you can edit and use with your parents.

Run an assembly, presentation or a stand at parents' evenings

At the start of the year, you could invite new parents to a presentation and allow them to ask questions about Sparx Maths Homework. Explain why it's important, how Sparx Maths will be implemented in your school, and how they can best support their child (providing a quiet space for them to work, reading their emails from Sparx Maths and praising and engaging with their child's homework completion etc.)

You can use the resources from our Parent's guide to Sparx Maths webpage, a great place to start is the "What is Sparx Maths?" video.

During Year 6 transition evenings or mid-year parents' evenings, why not run a short presentation or set up a stand to showcase the impact of Sparx Maths on student outcomes? Have a member of your department there to talk to parents about Sparx Maths and encourage understanding and enthusiasm.

Involve parents in your rewards system

Create a rewards system that involves parents and encourages them to support their child in completing their homework. This could include postcards or phone calls home, a shout-out to the student on the school's social media or in a newsletter, or using the downloadable reports to identify and praise positive learning behaviours at parents' evenings.

Provide Support for Parents

Address their concerns

Parents may have some concerns about Sparx Maths Homework such as the amount of time it takes or the 100% completion requirement, but these can be alleviated with some information. Here are some of the key points to communicate:

• Let parents know what support is available in school for their child - do you have a computer room or library where students have access to a device or a quiet space to do their homework? Is there a homework club they could attend?
• Remind parents that homework is personalised to their child's attainment level and every question has a video to provide extra support 
• Explain to parents that 100% completion is important in allowing their child to make progress and preventing gaps in their learning. Completing their homework each week also allows Sparx Maths to learn about their working speeds and adapt future homework for them.
• Make sure they know what Bookwork Checks are and the importance of students writing things down. If students are recording work in their book, they will find passing bookwork checks easy and they will see them less often. Here is a video you can share to explain this:

• The odd long homework is nothing to worry about and future homework lengths will adapt, but if parents notice that their child is regularly spending longer than 60 minutes on their homework, advise them to check their child is writing their answers in their book and is not distracted by anything else while doing their work.
• Reassure parents that students have time to complete their homework. It can be done in one go or in small chunks but early completion is always recommended so they get help from the teacher before the deadline. 

Let them find their own answers

To reduce the number of questions you have to answer, it could help to provide parents with resources to help them understand Sparx Maths.

Perhaps create a FAQ page on your school website and provide a link to our Parent's guide to Sparx Maths webpage, or Sparx's impact research that was evaluated and validated by Cambridge University and RAND Europe.

Make sure parents do not answer questions for their child

Parental support is fantastic, but over-helping or doing the work for the child could lead to Sparx Maths misunderstanding their level and making their homework too difficult. They should encourage their child to:

• Have a go at the question before seeking help
• Watch the videos when they get stuck