Homework

Thank you for reading this guide – if you understand the homework system, you can check your child has done it to the high standards we all expect. The most helpful things for parents/carers to do are:

To provide a good, quiet space for your child to do their homework

Check they’ve completed and ticked off their homework tasks (the schedule is in the front of the knowledge organiser booklet for each term)

Encourage, praise and reward reading. The more reading, the better!

Test them on the facts in their knowledge organisers.

No. Most of their homework is done using the knowledge organiser booklet, with work completed in the homework book. Internet access is required for your child to complete their Sparx Maths and Sparx Reader homework. Both are fully compatible with mobile devices. If accessing these is difficult at home, we offer a homework club in an IT suite every lunchtime.

Your child will complete all their homework in their homework book, except for Sparx Reader (as this is completed totally online). Turn to the back of the homework book to find the reading record. For everything else, work from the front.

The expectations for students are in the guide in the front of the homework book itself; please look there for more details.

Your child must bring their homework book and knowledge organisers to school every day.

Usually, your child is free to choose their own book to read. Our library has a wonderful collection and our librarian, along with our teachers, can recommend books recommend books or help your child choose.

Your child’s English teacher will set them a Sparx Reader points target each week too. Their English teacher will show them how to log in and use the website.

Once a week, your child will need to complete their reading record, in the back of your homework book. Children have been shown how to do this by their English teacher. Please sign it each week, with a comment if you wish.

Your child should use Sparx Maths every week. Their maths teacher will show them how. It is an intelligent system that adapts to your child’s strengths and weaknesses in maths, while setting them questions on which they can get 100% correct.

Working out must be completed in their homework book. Their teachers will have shown them how to do this and there’s a checklist at the front of their homework book so you can see the expectations.

Knowledge organisers give your child the things they should memorise to unlock understanding in these subjects.

To successfully learn the content of the knowledge organisers, your child needs to either self-quiz or use look-cover-say-write-check. Their subject teachers will recommend which method to use. The quiz they write or their attempts to write out what they’ve read from memory should go in your child’s homework book.

Please look at the guide for students in the front of their homework book for further guidance on how to use the self-quiz and look-cover-say-write-check techniques. You can help by testing them on the facts and figures in their knowledge organisers too – the more times they quiz, the more likely they are to remember it!