Homework
Credible research shows that for secondary school pupils, the impact of homework is consistently positive, leading to an average of five months of additional progress across an academic career. With this in mind, we have aimed for a simple process when homework is set. The most effective homework is to revise (or review) content covered in class.
- The work pupils will be revising will be either:
- ‘Year 7/8/9/10 Homework booklets’ (Issued every half-term)
- GCSE/BTEC Revision guides (Years 10 and 11 only) and/or,
- Online platforms such as Sparx (Maths - click here for advice on how to log in), Microsoft Teams for subject specific folders of resources.
- When students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 use the current homework booklet, they should simply work on the relevant week’s sections for each subject. They should then memorise this knowledge using a process of look, cover, write (in rough) and check. Their subject teacher may test their memory as part of the lessons.
Current homework booklets (given out as hard copies to form tutors):
- For online work, it is expected that pupils complete the work as the teacher has outlined.
If work is not completed by the deadline set, with no reasonable excuse, pupils will catch up on any missed work in a lunchtime detention.
- We will be offering access to computer rooms, after school, as a quiet workspace for those who wish to complete homework in school.
HOW WILL HOMEWORK BE SET?
Any review work set by a member of staff will be specific and include how long they would expect the task to take so in Music for example in Year 7: Revise questions Week 4 in the booklet. This should take around 20 minutes. If your child struggles with any work, please contact the member of staff who set it, for additional guidance and support.
HOW WILL TEACHERS CHECK THAT HOMEWORK HAS BEEN COMPLETED?
Your child will be quizzed on the homework at the start of a subsequent lesson by means of a recall test. This way both the member of staff, and your child, can see what knowledge they have retained, and which knowledge needs further review until it is embedded. This process clarifies that learning does not stop in the classroom and helps pupils to get the information they learn into their long-term memory. Over time it will help avoid the stress that can occur in some pupils who end up ‘cramming’ for tests or public exams and feel so overwhelmed they end up doing very little because there is “too much” to do. So, in the same way, a marathon runner, no matter what their relative skill level wouldn’t simply just run a marathon without prior training, over time, pupils can’t expect to recall and deploy information just by looking at a topic in school once, they need to revisit it periodically, over time, to know it.
HOW CAN PARENTS/CARERS SUPPORT THEIR CHILD?
From your point of view, homework will help your child to make progress but also develop the independent skills and resilience we all need to succeed in life as we move from being a child to a teenager and beyond. You can support your child in the following ways:
- Work with the school to reinforce the message to your child that homework is important and there is an expectation that it will be completed on time. It is in their best interests so that they will make better progress with their learning.
- Check your child’s revision and how they are doing it.
- Showing interest in your child’s homework, whatever age they are, is important. This will give you insight into what they are learning and how they are progressing. It builds connection, which ultimately will serve to give your child the self-esteem and confidence that will help them succeed.
- Set up a designated space for homework. It can be as elaborate or simple as you prefer, as long as there is somewhere that is calm and uncluttered that your child knows is their spot for homework.
- Set a routine. If everyone knows homework is completed when they get back from school, or after tea/dinner, then it will soon become a habit that is stuck. Video games/TV/social media or downtime can then be the reward after the homework is done.
