Homework Policy

Highfield Humanities College HOMEWORK & Extended Study Policy 

Homework & Extended Study refers to work that takes place outside the normal five period day and takes many forms including:

Formal Set Homework

Extra Lessons

E-Learning

Easter/Spring Revison Schools

Revision

Extended Study is an intregal part of our working week at Highfield and those who successful take part in Extended Study are likely to benifit greatly in terms of academic progress throughout the school year.

Formal Set Homework:

Homework is set regularly in order to:

• reinforce classroom learning
• help children to develop independent learning skills, including research skills
• extend and develop ideas & concepts met in class

What's the right amount of homework for your child?

The times listed below are rough estimations. Sometimes tasks may take more or less time to complete. So long as the activity is interesting and meaningful, that's fine - the idea is to encourage learning rather than to fill a set amount of time.

Government Recommendations for Secondary School Homework.

Year 7/8                45 to 90 minutes per day
Year 9:                   60 to 120 minutes per day
Years 10 and 11:       90-150 minutes per day 

If your child is fascinated by a topic or task and wants to spend hours working on it, great - but if a task is taking ages and he's starting to get distressed, do let him stop. Sometimes coming back to it later helps, but if you feel the homework set is just too hard, write a note to the teacher to let her know there's a problem.

Schools and teachers are expected to plan homework time so that children are not overloaded. Don't let homework time interfere with out-of-school clubs and activities. At Highfield pupils have been asked to note homework commitments in their PLANNERS.

If your child has a couple of days without homework, encourage him to read. Make sure there are plenty of interesting books, magazines and newspapers in the house and that he is a member of the local library. If you have access to the internet, Highfield subscribes to SAM LEARNING which is a highly effective e-leaning tool for revision and exam practice.

What sort of tasks could be set?

Homework should relate to work your child is doing at school. It doesn't always have to be written down. Homework for younger children might include reading with parents or carers, informal games to practise maths skills, learning something specific like spellings or tables, collecting a series of items or even making something following a set of instructions.

Subjects such as science, geography and history often set project type homeworks which sometimes have a practical element to them, particularly in Key Stage 3.

For older children, homework might also include preparing a presentation to the class, finding out information, making something, trying out a simple scientific experiment or even cooking, as well as more traditional written work. Your child may be asked to write notes after watching or listening to a particular programme, interviewing a friend or researching using books or the internet. On other occasions, a science worksheet might be the homework activity or an exercise taken from their maths homework book. Sometimes a task will have been started at school and will be brought home to finish. Later on in Key Stage 4, homework will include coursework research and writing. At Highfield the following subjects set homework on a regular basis and the tables include apprximate times as a guide to parents:

Year 7

 Year 8

Year 9

      Year 10/11 Pathway 2

Year 10/11 Pathway 1 

In addition to formally set homework tasks Highfield has two e-revision programs called: E Chalk and Sam Learning  

Sam Learning is particularly good and pupils in all year groups will find plenty of work to keep them on track towards good examination results.

Pupils also have subject revision books which the school provides for use throughout a particular course.

Any parent who feels that their child is not getting sufficient homework or alternatively that their child is being asked to do too much should, in the first instance, contact the House Tutor.

Enquires can also be e-mails to Mr Westhorpe (Deputy Headteacher - Curriculum)

Finally - homework is most successfully undertaken when:

  Pupils have a suitable and well equipped place to work at home

  Parents take an active interest in their child's homework

  Pupils plan their homework and don't leave things to the last minute

Extra Lessons

Many staff run extra lessons after school or at lunch time particulalrly in the lead up to examinations or for the completion of coursework.

E-Learning

Your child has been given an e-learning username and password for SAM LEARNING.

Sam Learning is a fantastic revision tool, particulalry for Science, Maths, ICT, English, French, German and Geograpghy. It is also useful for RE and most other sucjects.

Regualr use of SAM LEARNING has proven to be a highly successful revision technique and pupils can access the system both in school, at homework club and at home.

Revison

Maths, Science, English and most other subjects provide revision books for pupils. Pupils are encouraged to revise regularly and not just prior to examinations.  A revision topic/task can fill a few minutes or a wet Sunday!  Get your child revising!