Dear Parent/Carers
The Treviglas maths faculty are excited to inform you that from today, the 17th September, 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. Data from previous years has shown the positive correlation Sparx completion has had with gaining higher grades at GCSE’s.
Your child’s homework will be set every Wednesday at 3pm and due on Wednesday at 3pm every week excluding the holidays.
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?
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Sparx provides personalised homework to each child, with questions that are challenging yet achievable, and tailored to their learning needs.
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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.
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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.
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While homework is accessed online, it is predominantly written homework and students should record their work in their workbooks. Sparx has a “bookwork checks” system to help students form this habit.
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Every question in Sparx has a support video attached so that your child can get help independently.
How can you help your child with their homework?
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Provide a quiet space for your child to focus on their homework each week.
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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.
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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.
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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.
An AI warning?
Please ensure your child is not using AI to complete the homework tasks for them. We appreciate that some AI platforms can be useful in supporting the learning; however, last year we found some pupils were getting over-reliant on using AI. This has two clear negative effects:
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If they are not making an effort to calculate or problem solve, they are not going to learn the key skills required and can fall behind in understanding.
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Sparx uses its own AI to ensure your child is set the correct amount of work and at the right level, if pupils use AI to answer their own work, Sparx will not be able to accurately calculate their level or length of time required on questions, normally ending in pupils being swamped with more questions they find too difficult.
What support is available from Treviglas Academy?
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Attached to this letter is a login tutorial if your child is unsure as to how to login or forgets their password.
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You are always welcome to email your class teacher, or Mr Orton as Teaching Team Leader for Maths, if you require any support on logging in or help with any difficult questions.
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The faculty will continue their open door policy during extended breaks where your child can seek support. Every Tuesday, Mr Orton will host a Sparx catch up club in room 35 where all students are invited to access support, help or just a quiet space to complete their Sparx.
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If accessing the internet or the technology to complete Sparx is a barrier to completion, please contact your Learning Lead.
We hope you agree that Sparx will play an exciting and important role in growing your child’s understanding, success and confidence in maths.
More information is available on this website. https://sparxmaths.com/parents/
If you have any questions, please contact Mr Orton using ort@treviglas.cornwall.sch.uk
Kind regards,
Mr Orton
Teaching Team Leader of Mathematics