23 October 2023
Dear Parent/Carer,
We are excited to inform you that from next week, your child will be using ‘Sparx Maths’ to complete their weekly maths homework. Sparx provides a highly personalised weekly homework to students, tailored to their attainment level and working speed.
Your child’s homework will be set on Wednesdays and due a week later.
We know you want to support your child’s maths progress, so we are sending this letter to explain how Sparx works and how you can help your child complete their homework each week.
What is Sparx Maths Homework?
Sparx provides personalized homework to each child, with questions that are challenging yet achievable, and tailored to their learning needs.
The majority of each week’s homework will be based on recently learnt topics, but it will also include some questions from previous topics to help reinforce their learning.
Students access their homework on their online Sparx account, where they’ll get immediate feedback for each question about whether their answer was correct or they need to have another try.
While homework is accessed online, it is predominantly a written homework and students should record their work on paper or in a book. Sparx has a “bookwork check” system to help students form this habit.
Every single question in Sparx has a support video attached to that your child can get help independently.
How can you help your child with their homework?
Provide a quiet space for your child to focus on their homework each week.
Encourage them to start their homework early so they can get help from their teacher before the deadline if they get stuck. To ensure no gaps form in your child’s maths knowledge, homework is not marked as complete until all of the compulsory questions have been answered correctly.
Check the weekly email you’ll get from Sparx and praise your child for starting or completing their homework. Encourage them to finish it before the deadline if they haven’t already done so.
Try not to help your child with a question until they’ve had a go first. It is essential they try to complete their homework independently so that Sparx can give them questions that are at the right level for them. Remember they can watch the support videos if they need to.
What support is available at Erdington Academy?
Students can request help from their Maths teacher during lessons.
Y11 students have interventions on selected Wednesdays 3.15pm – 4pm.
There is homework club Mondays-Fridays 3.15pm-4pm in room 34.
We hope you agree that Sparx will play an exciting and important role in growing your child’s understanding, success and confidence in maths.
If you have any questions, please contact your child’s Maths teacher at the school.
Yours faithfully,
Mr A Shergill
Associate Assistant Principal – Mathematics & Computing
