Our Homework

 

Homework at Beaumont Leys School is an integral part of how the students learn. Homework is an integral part of the Teacher Standards. Teaching at Beaumont Leys can only be judged to ‘never less than good’ if homework is an integral part of teaching.

We believe that homework is essential for many reasons. We know that it encourages students to:
• Develop the practice of independent study.
• Develop perseverance and self-discipline.
• Increase self-awareness, self-confidence and initiative.
• Enables students to learn through the practice of skills acquired in the classroom.
• Permits more rapid progress to be made by each individual.
• Promote quiet reflection on the work covered in the lesson.
• Enables class work to concentrate on those activities requiring the teacher’s presence.
• Encourages students to investigate topics of study in depth, particularly through the use of effective follow-up questions.
• Encourage students to enjoy the skills, concepts and experiences related to each subject.
• Encourages students to talk, discuss and research using the rich variety of resources which our community can provide.

We know that when students move into further education and employment they rely on the self-management employability skills that they have learnt from doing regular homework.

Responsibilities

The role of the student
• To listen to homework instructions in class.
• To activate their Satchel One account.
• To check Satchel One for homework tasks online or via the app.
• To ensure that homework is completed and handed in to meet the deadline.
• To attempt all work and give their best.
• To inform the class teacher of any difficulties in advance of the deadline.
• To actively seek help to write down activities.
• To attend Homework Club as appropriate. (Every day after school in the library 3-4pm)

The role of the class teacher
• The class teacher controls the direction of homework and the nature of tasks undertaken.
• Set homework according to the homework timetable using Satchel One.
• Provide the stimulus.
• Give full and comprehensive instructions making sure that all students know what they have to do.
• Set deadlines for completed work and ensure that they are met.
• Respond to all homework.
• Provide help and support.
• Inform the FTL, Tutor and YTL when problems arise.
• Ensure all complete and incomplete homework is recorded in Satchel One.
• Set sanctions for incomplete homework in accordance with school policy and the flow diagram.
• If printed resources are needed for the homework, these should be printed and supplied.

Parents and Satchel One
• Parents will be able to log on to Satchel One to see homework tasks and resources in order to support homework completion.
• They will also be able to monitor whether their child has been completing their homework based on the status teachers set.

As such, it is important that teachers always log the status of homework on Satchel as submitted’, ‘absent’, ‘submitted late’ or ‘not submitted.

Expectations: How much and by whom?

The expectation of the length of homework will depend on: the curriculum time for each subject; the nature of the work; the ability of the student, and the particular Year Group. We expect each homework in KS4 to be 60-75 minutes work. In Year 9, each homework set should be 40 minutes work. In Year 7 and 8, we expect each homework set to be 30 minutes work. If a student does one homework per night lasting 40 minutes then that equates to an extra 3.3 hours per week. This equals 140 hours extra per year or an extra 28 school days.

The table below indicates how much homework a class teacher should set per 4 weeks depending on curriculum time (minimum).

KS3

Lessons per week	Number of HWs per 4 weeks
1	2
2+	4

KS4
All subjects at KS4 should set 1 homework per week.

Year 7 Homework Rota

We try to ease our Year 7s into good homework habits without overwhelming them with an unmanageable workload. As such, in Year 7 students will receive up to 6 pieces of homework per week. Teachers are to put a copy of any homework set onto Satchel: One. You can access Satchel: One via the school website. Students will be able to login to Satchel from any internet enabled device via Office 365, using their school email and password.

• Core subjects will each set once piece of homework each per week.
• Modern Foreign Languages will set one piece of vocabulary learning based homework each week.
• From their remaining subjects, students will receive two additional pieces of homework. These subjects will set homework following the Year 7 homework rota: