Support with Homework
Homework plays an important role in helping children become independent learners and build good study habits that will benefit them throughout life.
This page explains how we set homework, why it matters, and how you can support your child at home. If you have any queries about homework please do let us know and we'll be happy to help you.
How is homework set?
Maths: Homework is set weekly on Sparx (Years 7 to 10) and on Stride (Year 11).
English: Homework is set weekly on Bedrock (Years 7 to 10) as well as additional homework on Teams fortnightly for all year groups.
All other subjects years 7-11: Homework is set fortnightly.
Sixth Form: Students are set weekly homework for each A-level subject they study.
Online platforms
We use a variety of online learning platforms to set the homework. Please see the list below to know which website to use and how to access it.
|
Subject |
Website |
How to login |
|
Art |
Teams |
|
|
Business & Enterprise |
Seneca |
|
|
Citizenship |
Teams |
|
|
Computing (GCSE) |
Teams |
|
|
Computing (A-level) |
Smart Revise |
|
|
Design and Technology |
Teams |
|
|
Drama |
Teams |
|
|
Economics |
UpLearn and Teams |
See Welcome Email from UpLearn in Outlook |
|
English |
Bedrock and Teams |
|
|
Geography |
Seneca |
|
|
History |
Teams |
|
|
ICT Years 7-13 |
Teams |
|
|
Maths Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 |
Sparx |
|
|
Maths Year 11 |
Stride |
|
|
Maths Year 12 and 13 |
Seneca |
|
|
Music |
Teams |
|
|
Religious Studies |
Teams |
|
|
Science |
Seneca |
|
|
Spanish |
Language Nut |
|
|
Travel and Tourism |
Teams |
Using Microsoft Teams
All students have access to Microsoft Teams using their school log in details. For more support on how to log in to MS Teams please see our Using Microsoft Teams page.
How will I know when homework is due?
This information can be found on MS Teams or on the respective websites that subjects use. This allows students to take responsibility for their learning and also allows the teacher flexibility in setting the homework at the most appropriate point in the students' learning.
Why homework matters - five key reasons
As the world of education changes, homework is more important than ever. So, what are the five most important reasons homework is important in modern education?
- As GCSE courses now place a greater emphasis on end of course exams, it is essential pupils become independent learners at as early an age as possible.
- With the emergence of the internet, information is more readily available than any other time in history. Relevant, investigative, homework tasks inspire pupils to explore this wealth of information for themselves.
- Independent study teaches important life skills. Only by working without the support of teachers can pupils learn how to self-manage and find answers for themselves.
- It's not the work completed in class that will ultimately decide pupils’ GCSE results. It’s the hours spent at home or in the library honing the knowledge and skills required for success.
- Homework can be fun - an opportunity for parents and other adults to take an active interest in what their child is doing.
Knowledge Organisers
Knowledge organisers will be made available at the start of each half term to help students remember what they’re learning and to help them to understand the bigger learning journey in their subjects. Instead of forgetting previous learning, pupils continually revisit and retrieve prior learning from their long-term memories making it easily accessible when needed.
A Knowledge organiser is a set of key facts or information and subject specific (disciplinary) vocabulary that students need to be able to recall in order to master a unit or topic. The Knowledge Organiser also contains the homework tasks outlined above.Typically, an organiser fits onto one page of A4 or A3 – this helps students to visualise the layout of the page which in turn helps them to memorise the information better.
The Knowledge Organiser creates a shared understanding between home and school of the key knowledge and homework tasks for each subject per half term
The intention behind using Knowledge Organisers is:
- to support retrieval practice
- to support explicit teaching of disciplinary language
- to emphasise homework as part of the learning process
- to support a shared dialogue of learning between teacher, student and home.
The secret to success is to regularly revisit the knowledge to be learned (known as ‘spaced retrieval’). This helps transfer the knowledge from the short-term memory to the long-term memory. This not only helps to make ‘stick’ but it also frees up our short-term memory for day-to-day learning and experiences.
How Knowledge Organisers can help parents
Many parents ask us how they can help to support their children at home. Some of you are worried that you don’t have all of the subject-specific knowledge to be able to help your children. Some of you worry how to check that your children have done their homework and revision. The knowledge organisers will help you to do this easily.
Above and beyond the task outlines above, we would recommend that pupils spend thirty minutes per evening in Key Stage 3 and an hour in Key Stage 4 learning the knowledge detailed in the organiser.
Strategies to support your son/ward with Knowledge Organisers
- Read through the organiser with your son/ward – if you don’t understand the content then ask them to explain it to you – ‘teaching’ you helps them to reinforce their learning.
- Try converting the information into a mind map or make your own version using clip art imagery if the organiser contains a lot of text. Display on the wall or the fridge door until the memory ‘sticks’.
- Test them regularly on the spellings of key words until they are perfect. Make a note of the ones they get wrong – is there a pattern to the spelling of those words?
- Get them to make a glossary (list) of key words with definitions or a list of formulae.
- Try recording the knowledge from the organiser as an mp3 sound file that your child can listen to. Some pupils retain more information this way.
- Read sections out to them, missing out key words or phrases that they have to fill in. Miss out more and more until they are word perfect.
- Once they are word perfect and can remember all of the knowledge on the organiser, use the internet or a book to find out more or ask the teacher for some (more) exam questions.