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Home Learning

Homework

Homework schedule / timetable

Homework is essential to successful study and is set regularly for all students to:

• Encourage independent study and self discipline
• Practise skills learnt in class
• Extend areas of study
• Involve parents and carers in their child’s learning

All homework can be viewed on the Satchel One website, HERE.

The purpose of homework

  • Homework allows students to develop as independent learners, building lifelong learning skills such as self-discipline, meeting deadlines, responsibility and problem solving.
  • Homework can help students to make more rapid progress in learning.
  • Homework allows valuable practice of skills learned in the classroom and reinforces this learning.
  • Homework allows students to realise that learning can take place in a variety of settings and encourages students to use materials and other sources of information that are not always available in the classroom.
  • Homework encourages a partnership between parents, students and the school.
  • Homework can give opportunities for long term research and other work.

How does the school help students to organise their homework?

  • Each student is given a ‘planner’ at the beginning of the school year.
  • Student’s must take their planner to all lessons and are given sufficient time by their class teachers to record the homework set and when it is due in.
  • Students are never set homework for completion on the following day.
  • Teachers try to make sure that instructions concerning homework are clear to everyone in the class.

How can parents / carers help with homework?

  • Check that homework details are filled in clearly and regularly in the planner.
  • Sign your child’s planner once a week to show you are monitoring it.
  • Encourage regular study time at home and try to ensure there are suitable conditions for learning.
  • Help your child organise his or her time to their best advantage so that things are not all left to the last minute or even forgotten.
  • When homework is not set (e.g. if a teacher or student is absent) encourage your child to revise the work they have previously done in a subject.
  • Take a positive, active interest in your child's homework rather than just insisting that it is done.
  • Let us know if there are problems with homework that you cannot resolve. Perhaps your child seems to be doing too much, or not enough, or is finding it too easy or too difficult. Contact the class teacher in the first instance, who will be glad to help.

How much Homework should my child be doing?

Time spent on homework should gradually increase as a student progresses through the school. A student in year 7 should undertake between 4 and 6 hours of homework each week increasing to between 6 and 10 hours each week in year 11.

The nature of Homework

  • Homework should be viewed as “home-learning” and will take many forms. Often the work set will not be a written task. Other tasks if completed properly can have a greater benefit in aiding the learning process; developing skills, understanding and knowledge. Homework will often focus on the key tasks of revision, research, preparation and practice.
  • Students will be given a variety of homework tasks - not all will involve pen and paper! Tasks may include:
    • learning specific items such as spellings, meanings, formula, answering questions;
    • finding out information on a given topic;
    • drawing or completing diagrams, maps, illustrations;
    • planning investigations, designs and essays;
    • collecting materials for class work;
    • writing about a given topic;
    • interviewing others as part of a survey;
    • reading;
    • watching a particular TV programme;
    • preparing posters, brochures, leaflets or plays on a topic;
    • examining the work of others (e.g. visiting local exhibitions, performances etc.);
    • revising class work for tests and examinations.
  • We try to be creative and imaginative in the tasks set - other types of tasks may be set when relevant! Homework completed thoroughly and regularly enables progress to be achieved!
  • When appropriate, teachers will give quick and appropriate feedback.
  • Teachers will reward students who obviously apply themselves to homework.
  • All students must be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning.
  • Teachers will only set meaningful and relevant homework which aid the learning process.

Distance Learning provision

All students are expected to participate in distance learning. Your child will be set lessons through the use of Satchel One (formerly Show my Homework) for each subject area and will have one Microsoft Teams lesson per week per subject. It is expected that students attend the Teams lessons and engage with the Satchel One activities spending approximately 5 hours per day in study. We would advise they spend no more than their normal allocated time on each subject across the week. Work can be submitted for feedback through Satchel One or by academy email address. 

• Your child will need to access their academy email account to attend.
• The member of staff will explain ground rules at the start of each session.
• Students must mute their microphones to prevent acoustic problems.
• Students are not to record or take images of anything or make audio recordings.
• Staff will record the session for safeguarding purposes.
• If students do not abide by the rules or conduct themselves appropriately the session will end, they will not be invited again and their parents/carers will be informed.
 
Students will also receive regular communication through their academy email address and the Satchel One messaging system. Both systems your child should be familiar with.
 
Should your child need support with completion of the activities there are a number of routes that can be taken by them independently:
 
• Email the subject teacher concerned through their academy email account.
• Message the subject teacher through Satchel One.
• Attend the appropriate Microsoft Teams lesson. Staff email addresses can be located in the ‘Contact us’ area of the academy website in the ‘About us’ menu. The ‘Departmental contacts’ option holds all staff names, email addresses and roles.
 
The academy reception will be open throughout this period and so help can also be sought by parents or carers by telephone should these avenues not resolve the problem. The academy website also holds additional information about distance learning for core subjects and PSCHE below.

Additional information is available here (Remote education information for parents).

Our distance learning provision was reviewed following a recent parent survey – Jan 2021.

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