Tips for home learning as a family

Tips for home learning as a family

Online learning is here to make your life easier and support your children to do well in the classroom and in exams. Our award-winning learning platform, Atom Home, offers great tools for families. If you have more than one child in Key Stage 2 (ages 7–11), we can support them all to reach their learning goals!

Here's how to use Atom Home as a handy home learning tool.

For 7–8 year olds (Year 3)

Home learning aims

• General learning
• Building confidence
• Establishing healthy learning habits
• Bridging learning gaps in English, maths and science

Benefits

Atom Home is ideal for getting younger children excited about learning. This age group will enjoy the friendly experience of exploring Learning Journeys with Ato as their guide. Small, regular sessions on Atom Home help to build healthy learning habits early, which will help children for the rest of their school life.

How to use

7–8 year olds may need some support from their parents at first, especially for topics they haven't yet seen at school. Encourage your child to explore the videos and helpsheets if they get stuck, and to keep trying questions on their own. This will allow Atom's system to adapt to the right level of challenge for your child.

We recommend children in Year 3 take a little-and-often approach to their home learning.

• 3–4 weekly sessions of 15 minutes each.
• Most time should be spent in the Learning Journeys working through the curriculum.
• Set 2–3 Custom Practices per week to target areas your child has found hard.

For 8–9 year olds (Year 4)

Home learning aims

• General learning
• Building confidence
• Bridging learning gaps in English, maths and science
• Introducing reasoning
• Beginning to prepare for entrance exams

Benefits

Being able to personalise Ato and earn 'coins' as they work through the curriculum is something this age group really enjoys!

If your child will be taking entrance exams for secondary school, the start of Year 4 is a great time to begin introducing verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning (available on an Exam Prep subscription). These subjects are not taught at primary school, so getting familiar with the question types early will build confidence when taking the 11 plus or ISEB.

Reasoning Learning Journeys are also helpful for children who aren't sitting entrance exams but want to build their problem-solving, logic and pattern-spotting skills. These topics tend to appeal to children who enjoy reading and languages (verbal reasoning), or maths and science (non-verbal reasoning).

How to use

At this age, your child should feel confident learning on their own. They should use the helpsheets and videos to explore new ideas and work through problems by themselves.

Your child's home learning plan in Year 4 should look similar to the Year 3 plan above. Children should continue to spend most of their time in the Learning Journey area, but towards the end of Year 4 you may want to introduce a small number of Mock Tests (available on an Exam Prep Plus subscription). Atom Home Mock Tests are tailored to your child's age and progress level — Year 4 children will see shorter Mock Tests rather than the full-length practice papers used for Year 5s.

For 9–10 year olds (Year 5)

Home learning aims

• Developing reasoning skills
• Preparing for entrance exams
• Bridging knowledge gaps in English, maths and science

Benefits

Early Year 5 is the ideal time to start structured preparation for school entrance exams the following year. Atom Home offers a full exam preparation package that your child can use any time, anywhere.

At this stage, many children use Mock Tests to sharpen their exam technique and time management. Exam Prep Plus subscribers have access to full-length Mock Tests for grammar and independent schools, including tests tailored to specific schools and exam boards.

How to use

We recommend Year 5 children spend 15–20 minutes on Atom daily.

Early in Year 5, your child should spend most of this time in the Learning Journeys. This builds a strong understanding across English, maths and science — as well as all reasoning question types. Try setting two or three Custom Practices per week to target knowledge gaps.

Alongside this, introduce one or two Mock Tests per month so your child gets used to the format and scoring used in the real exams. We recommend Mock Tests at weekends when children are less likely to be tired from school.

In the final six weeks before the exam, increase Mock Tests to once or twice per week. Always take a few minutes together after a Mock Test to look through the results and talk through any corrections — and of course, celebrate their effort. This step helps learning stick and keeps motivation up.

For 10–11 year olds (Year 6)

Home learning aims

• Preparing for entrance exams
• Preparing for SATs
• Transitioning to secondary school

Benefits

Children applying to selective secondary schools will have entrance exams between September and February of Year 6. Key Stage 2 SATs follow in May.

When preparing for exams, children should keep using the Learning Journeys to build a solid understanding of all English, maths and science curriculum goals. They should also keep using the Mock Tests feature to practise the specific test they will be sitting. This will help them go into exam day feeling ready, knowing what to expect from the style, content and timings.

After exams, Atom Home is here to support children through the rest of Year 6 for a smooth move into secondary school. Closing any knowledge gaps now and building on Year 6 curriculum goals will give them the best possible start — and help avoid the dreaded 'Year 7 dip' in progress.

Continuing with home learning during Year 6 — especially with reasoning — will also put children in a strong position for the CAT4. Many schools use this test at the start of Year 7 to place students into groups based on ability and potential. Giving your child the best chance of a strong start in Year 7 can shape the rest of their secondary school journey.

How to use

By Year 6, children are ready to work fully on their own on Atom Home. We recommend Year 6 children spend time on the platform every day, broken into short 15–20 minute sessions.

If your child has an exam within six weeks, aim for one to two Mock Tests each week and use the results to spot learning gaps. You should then set targeted Custom Practices to focus on weaker areas (or let Atom's system suggest practices for you).

After exams, most time on Atom Home should be spent in Learning Journeys. When your child shows strong understanding of a topic, more challenging early Key Stage 3 content will be unlocked. Your child should aim to complete their Year 6 progress bar by the end of Year 6 to make sure they have mastered all Year 6 and early Year 7 curriculum goals.

Year 6 Foundation Assessments on Atom Home are an easy way to check whether your child has a firm grasp of the Key Stage 2 curriculum. These adaptive tests cover every topic a Year 6 student needs to master to be in a strong position for starting Year 7.