Working silently

[Pretsal0]

Hi, I am currently working within a year 4 class. Often they are required to work silently (policy). They often struggle with this and I find that I am often repeating myself over and over again. I am looking for effective strategies to encourage silent working even required. Thank you

Start with small amount of time like 4 minutes and build up from there? I am secondary though so not sure if it would work the same at primary