John Hanson Community School Homework Guidelines

Transcription

1 Homework is important because the evidence demonstrates that when it is set in a regular and meaningful manner it contributes to advances in student learning. So the setting of homework gives a learning advantage to our students. Students who do regular homework do, on average, 15% better than those who do not. Put another way, it can make half a National Curriculum Level or GCSE grade difference. Therefore students are disadvantaged if they are not regularly completing homework. As a school which cares passionately about the success of all our young people, homework can have a considerable impact on their learning and understanding. Top Tips for Successful Homework If possible have a set time and a place when homework is to be done. For some young people it will be as soon as they come in from school. Other families will make the time after the evening meal homework time. Having a regular slot helps students keep homework as a priority and organise their time well. Try and have a quiet place to do homework, with few distractions. It could be a bed room or a kitchen table. Show my Homework will outline what the homework task is and when it is due in. If students are unsure about the task they should speak to their teacher well in advance of the due date. Use Show my Homework to plan when to do homework. Teachers should be giving students time to get homework completed and therefore if you have regular evening events, a sport, youth club, cadets or whatever, it should be possible to build that around the programme. Parents/carers if your child is saying that they have no homework, do check on Show my Homework Show my Homework FAQ s Q: How do I get to the Show my Homework web site? Go to the main school website, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link. Q: What do I do once I get to the Show my Homework site? If you know your username and password, enter the details login. Q: What if I have forgotten or never had a log in? Mr Adams and he will be happy to send you details [email protected] The following document outlines basic details about setting of homework across the school.

2 This document outlines the setting of homework tasks from each faculty / subject. of content and specific deadlines will be published through our dedicated tasks website Show My Homework. Please the Head of Faculty or individual member of staff should you have any concerns or require clarification about tasks set. Students also log details of tasks in their planners. Website address or via the school website. How long should be spent working on each homework? Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Up to 30 minutes max per homework Up to 40 minutes max per homework Up to 45 minutes max per homework Between 45 / 60 minutes per homework Between 45 / 60 minutes per homework Frequency of homework. This is detailed in each section. Our school year is split up into six terms two up to Christmas, two to Easter and two in the summer. Core subjects, English, Mathematics, Science, may set more than one homework per week as they see students more frequently. Subjects shown in alphabetical order Subject Homework details: Art Frequency: Students will be set four pieces of homework per unit one of which will be an extended activity lasting four weeks. Units run for two terms. Students will be given guidance on how to manage this and can come to the after school clubs for additional support. Type of activities: Variety of different research, skills or developmental activities. Years Frequency: Weekly. Students to spend a minimum of 1 hour and due to the nature of the subject may take longer as this needs to be a sustained piece of work. Type of activities: Observational drawings, ideas sketches, the collecting of resources, photographs from magazines, experimenting with techniques, photographing subject matter relevant to the theme or in-depth studies of other artist work.

3 Drama Years Frequency: One task per term. Tasks are related to the practical work done in class. Types of activities: Evaluation of their own work or another groups, script writing exercise or learning lines for an assessment. Frequency: At the beginning of Year 10 students will complete homework to demonstrate understanding of the 6 areas of study. Types of activities: Record of rehearsals during extended projects, design tasks rehearsals to develop performance pieces and learn lines for an assessment. Evaluation writing. English Years Frequency: One hour weekly (split between learning Spellings and contextualising them in sentences and reading apportioned according to set and individual ability in/level of challenge presented by, the three strands) English homework for is 90 minutes per week divided between Reading, Spelling and Literacy. Types of activities: Spellings set from the English Department Spelling League bank, a Writing (literacy focused) worksheet and Reading set from the English Department Reading Tank or stemming from Library Lessons. (Teachers may choose to replace some or all of the reading task allocation with an alternative relevant to lesson learning previous, current or imminent.) Frequency: Maximum of two hours, on average, per week (i.e. could be four hours set every other week). Types of activities: Tasks will be relevant to units studied and will be used to secure, develop or extend lesson learning. Tasks given could consist of: pre-reading, research, proof-reading, exploration, investigation, revision for examinations/controlled assessments, writing up notes/word-processing etc. Humanities Frequency: Set every two weeks. All classes in Geography, History and Religious Studies will have three pieces of homework per term. Types of activities: research, investigation, projects. Frequency: Set every two weeks for Year 10 Religious Studies, Geography, History and Humanities. Year 11 Geography and History get exam question or revision homework every week (apart from when Geography are doing controlled assignments) Types of activities: research, investigation, projects. Revision papers.

4 ICT Business Studies Creative and media Frequency: Set twice per term usually week 2 & 4 This might vary depending on the number of weeks in a term. Type of activities: Key word definitions, research to recap on what was covered in class, extended writing, flip learning videos - viewed to prepare for the next lesson. Frequency: BTEC ICT Each week until October end of term as students are revising for their exam. GCSE ICT - Set weekly. BTEC C&M - Set twice per term. Business Studies - Set every two weeks GCSE Computer Science - Set weekly. (On going practice of their programming skills) Types of activities: revision worksheets and exam questions, key word definitions, extended writing tasks, research, report writing Mathematics Frequency: Homework is set weekly on a Monday. Individual class teachers then set deadlines for completion, but there should always be at least 2 days given to complete the task. Types of activities: Set on a 3 weekly rolling programme: Keyword tasks, mymaths from and a written task. For year 9 this programme runs until Christmas when they begin the scheme of work. Frequency: Set weekly on Monday and students will be given at least 2 days to complete the task. Types of activities: Consolidation revision task from class. Tasks will either be written homework or set using Year 11 complete a homework programme made up mainly of past exam papers. They are set half an exam paper to complete each week

5 Modern Foreign Languages Frequency: Two homework tasks per fortnight. Types of activities: Learning tasks - spellings or memorising a passage of language. Doing tasks - writing, grammar or reading task, or occasionally a research or creative task. Students also have a subscription to websites - Linguascope and Atantot to practise and complete tasks and games. Frequency: Two homework tasks per fortnight. Types of activities: Learning tasks - spellings or memorising a passage of language. Doing tasks - writing, grammar or reading task, or doing exam style questions.. Students also have a subscription to websites - Linguascope and Atantot to practise and complete tasks. Music Frequency: Two tasks per term. Types of activities: Research, learning music, or lyrics to a song. Listening questions based on an extract. Frequency: On-going performance rehearsal weekly. One composition to be completed each term. Individual rehearsal in relation to their instrument/singing. Types of activity: Research, learning music, or lyrics to a song. Listening questions based on an extract. GCSE practice questions. Core P.E. Years 7-11 N/A /4 GCSE/BTEC P.E Frequency: Set fortnightly. Types of activity: Past paper questions are used to support learning

6 PSHE In PSHE there is no fixed requirement to set homework. This reflects the nature of PSHE which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of students at the school and of society as well as preparing students at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. Where PSHE teachers identify learning opportunities beyond lessons, these may be set but are not compulsory. Science Frequency: Twice a 2 weekly cycle. Type of activity: Literacy tasks, SAT questions, Revision, Differentiated as necessary, Research Frequency: Twice a 2 weekly cycle. Homework is set twice a 2 weekly cycle. Types of activity: Literacy tasks, Exam questions, Revision, CAU prep, Differentiated as necessary, Research. Technology Frequency: Set once a week from one of the technology specialist areas. Types of activity: Linked to module content - research, developing and communicating ideas, and planning. Evaluation at the end of making will be part of targeted homework. Frequency: Year 10 7 key homeworks set during 10 week module. Year 11- Homework up until the Easter term of yr11 will involve GCSE Coursework tasks these are set with firm deadlines Types of activities: Design aspects or theory content. Will culminate in revision in preparation for an end of module test. Theory content and exam revision practice.