How much practice should a P6 child do each week?

What a good P6 week looks like

• Reading, every day, 10 to 20 minutes. If it's five minutes because that's what you can get your child to do, that's fine. If they'll do more, let them. It doesn't much matter what: comics, books about their sport or hobby, stories, facts.
• Times tables, every day, until they're known inside out, including the division facts. Until January it's always reading and times tables, because they link to everything else in the SEAG.
• From January, ten short questions a day: English and maths, about 10 to 15 minutes.
• An hour a week of focused learning on a new skill.
• Practice papers come later. From Easter, schools start adding in a practice paper. Full papers at home come over the summer, and with the questions every day, one practice paper a week is plenty.

Why little and often works

It's the daily habit that matters, especially with reading. Five minutes, ten, fifteen or thirty: it doesn't matter, as long as it's every day rather than once a week.

Focused learning over a shorter time always wins over forced learning over a longer one. A child who's happy to practise will do better than a child who's being made to, because their head space is right.

Reading is the biggest one

Year after year, the children who do best are the best readers. Even the maths is worded: a child who reads the problem quickly gets straight to the maths.

A tutor can teach your child a skill in an hour. No tutor can teach a child to read quickly and understand quickly in a session. That happens at home, and it's the best thing you can do for them this year.