By being clear about the expectations of home learning, students and parents can feel confident about the importance of it. We have tried to set out as clearly as possible the purpose, types of activities and expectations of home learning. We hope that you find this useful so that you can support your son/daughter to approach these activities in a way that helps them to make strong progress with their learning.
At Thornden, the purpose of home learning is to:
- Prepare for learning that takes place in the classroom
- Reinforce learning that has taken place in lessons
- Regularly focus on knowledge retrieval and retention
- Show increasing independence in managing learning, for example, in relation to organisation, meeting deadlines and developing positive learning habits.
Types of Home Learning
In order to fulfil these purposes, students may receive many different types of home learning. These may include:
- Preparation for learning next lesson. For example, learning phrases in languages so that they can be used during the next lesson
- Flipped learning. For example, where students are directed to read, watch or learn new material that they will then apply and use in lessons. This allows students to focus on activities that are more complex in lesson time
- Reinforce learning. For example, where students are set questions that test their understanding or extend their understanding of what they have studied in lessons
- Revision. For example, where students are required to revise or revisit topics in order to help embed learning in their long-term memory.
Marking and Feedback
The response to home learning activities will depend on the nature of the task. Responses could include:
- Whole class feedback;
- Being marked formally by the teacher via book marking or by self or peer review
- The activity being an integral part of the next lesson/s, for example, as a part of a question and answer review
- The learning is tested or used in the lesson
- Eliciting students understanding through question and answer in class.
This is not an exhaustive list but provides some examples of how feedback will be provided to students
Timetable and Regularity
The aim of producing the attached timetable is to establish and maintain a reasonable and regular pattern of home learning. This will help to ensure that the expectations of students are consistent across all members of the year group. You will see that the notes below the timetable outline the different allocations of home learning for each subject. It varies between subjects because of the differences in the allocated time. It also shows the percentage targets for the number of times that it should be set. This allows for times when homework may not be set, for example, just prior to holidays or when books have been collected by the class teacher.
Recording of Home Learning in the Log Book
Students are required to:
- Record home learning accurately in their log book with completion dates (some students may receive support in doing this).
- Log in to Show My Homework to understand what they need to do for home learning and organise themselves to complete their work in a timely fashion.
- Bring their log books to every lesson at school and go to Reception for a temporary log sheet if it has been forgotten
- Ensure there is an entry for every home learning slot as identified in the home learning timetable.
We would ask parents to look at and sign the log book once a week.
Ways to Support your Son/Daughter
The partnership between school and parents is vital. You can support your son/daughter by:
- Ensuring that they spend an appropriate amount of time on home learning
- Provide a good working environment when they are learning at home
- Support with organisation (where necessary), check and sign the log book
- Monitoring the amount of time spent on home learning task. It may be appropriate to communicate using the log book if a child has worked for a long time or too late to complete the task fully.
What We Expect of your Son/Daughter
- To work in a focused way and spend an appropriate amount of time on home learning activities;
- Use Show My Homewrok to plan and organise the completion of home learning.
- To bring the log book every day to write down, plan and organise the home learning and to check school emails when directed to do so .
- To ensure that they record every home learning slot as identified on the timetable. If home learning is not given they should write ‘None set’ .
- To alert the teacher to any problems they have experienced which has meant they have not been able to complete the homework in a satisfactory way.
- To speak to their parents if they find that they are not able to complete a piece of home learning for a valid reason, or if they find that a task is taking an excessive length of time.
We believe that regular, effective home learning completed in a focused way has a significant impact on learning. We hope that this information is useful so that students thrive and gain the maximum possible effect from developing excellent home learning habits. We also recognise that students have wider interests and activities that enrich their lives both within school and outside school time. These activities are vital so that students develop as well rounded and healthy individuals.
If you have any questions regarding home learning, please do not hesitate to contact us.