Homework & Missed Learning

Purposeful homework: retrieval, practise and reading.

Rationale

The purpose of homework at Wyvern St Edmund’s is for students to learn, retain, practise and extend the knowledge and skills that they are taught in school. Therefore, homework activities will require students to engage with retrieval practice, independent practice and reading.

Expectations

• A minimum of 3 days will be allowed between setting and completion
• At KS3, one piece of homework should take no more than 30 minutes to complete
• At KS4, one piece of homework should take no more than one hour to complete (except project work e.g. in Art)
• Teachers will check that students have completed their homework and record this on Class Charts
• Parents/carers and students can see what homework has been set on Class Charts
• The frequency of homework will vary according to how many lessons your child has of that subject a fortnight. Please see the table below.
• Practical subjects such as Art and Design, Design Technology, Drama, Music and PE will not routinely set homework for students in years 7-9 but may choose to do so at certain points in the year.

Key principles

Retrieval

• Your child will be set work to recall material that they may have been taught weeks or months previously as well as more recently – this is to make their learning more ‘sticky’.
• Your child will be set a range of retrieval activities e.g. self-quizzing, an online quiz, summarising, practice papers, gap filling or mapping.
• The retrieval work set should be effortful and challenging – the more challenging it is to recall the information from memory, the better it is for long-term learning so please don’t worry if your child finds it hard to remember the answer to a question!
• If revision work is set, we want students to know what the most effective strategies are: spaced practice, interleaving, elaboration, concrete examples, dual coding and retrieval practice (click here).

Practice

• Sometimes, it will be more appropriate to set practice tasks so that students can improve a specific element of a skill e.g. adding tone to a pencil drawing.

Reading

• Should be linked, thematically or contextually, to the curriculum content being taught in lessons to reinforce or extend knowledge or
• Should be linked to previous curriculum content to reinforce or extend knowledge or
• Should be linked to upcoming curriculum content to give students some prior knowledge or context to enable them to engage with future learning more effectively.
• Should be accessible and appropriate for the age range of the students in the class (with scaffolding, adapted or alternative texts where appropriate).

MISSED LEARNING DUE TO ABSENCE

Occasionally students will miss a lesson due to illness. When students are too ill for school, they are not in a position to complete school work during the period of absence, as it could impair their recovery.

Unfortunately, there is no substitute for the expertise of live teaching by a highly trained teacher in the classroom, so when a student returns from illness their teacher will tell them about what they missed in the previous lesson through the initial phase of the lesson. This will then lead into how it links to the new cycle of learning. All lessons begin with looking back to previous learning and then looking forward to new learning – this is to help provide a coherent link in knowledge (particularly for those who were absent).

Students who have been absent can get ahead by looking at the learning journeys which are on our website and ensuring that they have learnt about all topic components for the unit being studied. Additionally, they can use knowledge organisers to self-quiz on key terms, quotes and definitions in order to have a secure factual base for what they are learning.

At the end of each unit being taught, there is a ‘bumper homework’ set by teachers which outlines all concepts that have been taught, with links to appropriate resources. This again gives students who have missed a lesson through absence, a chance to catch up on missed work before their interim assessment.

CLASS CHARTS AND HOMEWORK

In September 2022 we introduced Class Charts for students, teachers and parents/carers. This enables you to:

• See exactly what homework your child has been set
• Check the date it was set and when it is due in
• See a weekly calendar/overview of homework set
• See which teacher set the homework
• Access any information, attachments, or detail provided to your child on how to complete the homework task.

HOW DOES MY CHILD ACCESS THE HOMEWORK INFORMATION?

Students can access their homework two ways:

• Downloading the Class Charts Student App or
• Or accessing the Class Charts website (Students are issued with login details - please email your child's tutor if there is an issue with logging in.)

HOW CAN I SUPPORT MY CHILD WITH HOMEWORK?

• Take the time to familiarise yourself with Class Charts. Allow your child to access and download the Class Charts app (information attached). The phone app is only to be used at home, not on school site.
• Check daily, weekly, regularly in their planner that they have recorded their homework correctly.
• Check on your Class Charts app or on the website when homework is due to be handed in.

We thank parents for your support in ensuring that your child takes advantage of Class Charts to organise and manage their study at home. We value our partnerships with parents and carers working alongside side you homework is successfully completed supporting your child's academic progress.