Homework is an integral part of a pupil’s life at The Joseph Whitaker School. Parents and pupils can see all homework that has been set through Insight.
The purpose of homework is:
- To encourage pupils to develop the confidence and self-discipline to work on their own, an essential skill for adult life
- To consolidate, reinforce and extend learning that has taken place in school
- To consolidate the development of skills and understanding
- To extend school learning, for example through additional reading
- To provide opportunities for research and creativity
- To enable students to devote time to particular subject demands such as portfolio work
- To support revision and preparation for summative assessments
- To support the home/school relationship.
Homework tasks will vary in form and content depending on a number of factors including the subject and the age of the pupil.
Teaching Staff Responsibilities:
- To set appropriate homework tasks in line with the time guidelines for the relevant year group and subject
- To ensure that homework is posted onto the school’s on-line homework system for both pupils and parents to access
- To ensure that pupils have recorded in their organisers that homework has been set
- To check whether homework has been completed to an appropriate standard
- To reward outstanding homework
- To mark homework in line with the school’s marking policy
Pupil’s Responsibilities:
- To record that homework has been set in their organiser
- To access their homework tasks through the school’s on-line homework system
- To complete all homework to the best of their ability
- To adhere to The Joseph Whitaker School’s expectations over high standards of presentation (Title, date, underlined with a ruler, blue or black pen, drawings in pencil)
- To complete all homework on time
Parent’s Responsibilities:
- To check their child’s organisers
- To sign their child’s organisers on a weekly basis
- To check the homework that has been set for their child using the school’s on-line homework system
- To support their children in completing homework to the best of their ability, to the right standard and to the deadlines that have been set
Homework Duration Guidance:
Homework should extend and enrich school based learning and the duration of tasks should be age and ability appropriate. Therefore, the completion of such tasks should be achievable in an appropriate time frame.
The school does not have a fixed homework timetable with time allocated for different subjects on different evenings. Pupils will need to learn to manage their time so that they do some homework each evening. The time devoted to homework should increase as the pupil progresses through the school as follows:
|
Years 7 and 8 |
45 minutes per day |
|
Year 9 |
1 hour per day |
|
Years 10 and 11 |
1 to 2 hours per day |
|
Years 12 and 13 |
2 hours per day |
We support the view that a healthy balance between homework and other life-enriching activities should be maintained. Teachers have the flexibility to set homework over a fortnightly period according to the nature of the subject and the work being covered in lessons. We do not support the setting of homework to simply satisfy a rigid homework timetable.
Teachers will set homework which will help to consolidate, reinforce and extend the learning that has taken place in school. Homework could include the following:
- Designing
- Drafting
- Drawing
- Essay writing
- Investigation
- Interviews
- Library visits
- Practical work
- Preparing for an oral presentation
- Projects
- Reading
- Report writing
- Research
- Revision
- Simple experiments
Rewards and Sanctions
Staff will ensure that all homework is marked promptly and that pupils are given credit for their work in line with the school’s rewards policy. This will include the use of House points and praise postcards.
Pupils who do not complete their homework to the required standards or who do not meet homework deadlines can expect to receive appropriate sanctions.