Homework Overview
Knowledge is power; we make it stick
Purpose of Homework
Homework is used as a tool for students to consolidate learning already acquired through the delivery of the curriculum. It provides an opportunity to overlearn topics, skills, and knowledge to support long term memory – interleaving of both current and past learning to ensure skills and knowledge stick. Through using low stakes quizzing, teachers' understanding of student learning is informed, supporting further planning for individuals.
Homework expectations
- Reading – 30 minutes per night
- Self-quizzing – in Knowledge Retriever books (Fetch, flip, check and repeat)
- Application homework for only select subjects at KS3 and all subjects at KS4
- Technology apps in maths and science to supplement self-quizzing (Hegarty maths and Tassomai) specified year groups only.
Reading
All students are expected to have an age-appropriate book which they are currently reading. They should aim to read for at least 30 minutes each evening.
Studies show that students who do not read daily are less likely to achieve the best grades at GCSE, A levels and beyond, and are less likely to access the best job opportunities in the future.
Knowledge Organiser and Knowledge Retriever
Students in years 7 to 10 will be given a Knowledge Organiser each half term. This is a booklet which contains the most vital knowledge that your child needs to learn and memorise.
Your child will also be given an A5 Knowledge Retriever. This is a lined exercise book which students will use to evidence their self-quizzing.
Self-Quizzing
Self-Quizzing is when a student uses their knowledge organiser to try and memorise key knowledge and commit it to their long-term memory. Students will be taught the process of Fetch, Flip, Check and Repeat to self-quiz the content from their knowledge organisers.
To optimise the effectiveness of self-quizzing, students must write out knowledge from memory, using the Fetch, Flip, Check and Repeat method, and must not copy. Your child will have extensive training in school on how to do their self-quizzing. Your child will be expected to bring in their Knowledge Retriever and Knowledge Organiser every day to school.
Form Tutors will provide regular feedback in your child’s Knowledge Organiser to support them in meeting expectations.
Revision Organisers
Students in years 7 to 9 will be given a Revision Organiser for both their midyear and end of year assessments. Whilst Revision Organisers will vary between subjects, most contain the following sections:
- Core Knowledge – a list of the most vital powerful knowledge that students will need to apply in their assessments
- Tier 2 Words – key vocabulary that students have learnt for their assessments
- Write or Perform Like an Expert – examples of sentence starters, phrases, or techniques that students should use in their assessments to achieve highly
- Your Assessment – an overview of how students will be assessed in the subject and a breakdown of the marks in each section
- ‘I do’ – a perfect model answer for a common question that occurs in assessments
- ‘You do’ – a similar question to the one given in the ‘I do’. Students will answer this independently at home and bring it to their lesson the week before their assessment to gain some feedback
- ‘We do’ – support that students can use to answer the ‘You do’ task at home
Your child can complete the ‘You do’ tasks on paper or in their Knowledge Retriever. Students can do extra revision by doing the process of Fetch, Flip, Check and Repeat on the Core Knowledge.
Application Homework
For students to master some subjects, such as Art, they need an emphasis on learning the procedural knowledge – the knowledge of how to perform a specific skill or task. To facilitate this, in Year 7, 8 and 9, these subjects set two application homework tasks, each year, instead of doing Fetch. These are equally distributed throughout the year and are found at the back of student’s Knowledge Organiser booklets. The completed tasks are submitted to the subject teacher in week 5 of the half term. The only exception to this is Design Technology as they comparatively have a larger curriculum.
To be successful in examinations, students need to be able to apply the powerful knowledge that has been made to stick in their long-term memory. Therefore, all subjects taught to Year 10 and above will set additional application homework at appropriate times within their curriculum to support learning. Subject teachers are responsible for deciding when such tasks should be set and providing students with necessary feedback.
Year 10 will not be set more than 30 minutes of application homework per subject per week. Year 11 will not be set more than 1 hour of application homework per subject per week.
Year 12 and Year 13 will not be set more than 5 hours of application per subject per week.
Food and Design Technology (DT)
Students have one DT and Food lesson a week. Students rotate between Food and Design Technology throughout the year.
Students that are undertaking the food studies course will have homework to bring in ingredients for practical lessons as directed by their class teacher.
Students that are undertaking the Design and Technology course will have homework set by their teacher at key points throughout the term. This will be no more than 2 pieces per half term and will be collected in by their class teacher on the deadline set.
Students will record the homework into their planners where it can be checked by parents, who will then receive an email notifying them when the work is due.
SparxMaths
Sparx learning is an online maths platform used to set maths homework at Harris Academy Ockendon.
Students complete tasks based on previous in-class learning. Each task has a short supporting video if students are in need of support. Sparx Maths will adapt the number and the difficulty of tasks for each student, so each student gets one hour of homework a week.
Students can watch the video multiple times, retake the quiz, and leave comments that go directly to their maths teacher.
Tassomai Science
Tassomai is an online app that quizzes students on the scientific knowledge that they have learnt in class. The quizzes are all multiple choice, out of four, and students get immediate feedback on their response. The quizzes are tailored to the Science specification as well as your child’s specific strengths and weaknesses.
Completing the quizzes regularly will ensure your child revises all the knowledge required for their Science exams for all 6 GCSE Science papers that they will sit in Year 11.
Bedrock Learning
https://bedrocklearning.org/impact/
Bedrock Learning is an online platform that equips learners with the language and literacy they need to boost educational outcomes. The programme provides high quality resources, meaningful insights and a complete literacy curriculum.
Students will receive bespoke vocabulary and grammar lessons weekly; vocabulary lessons take approximately 20 minutes to complete and grammar lessons 30 minutes as these contain instructional videos.
All information for each question is fully narrated and students receive immediate feedback on their progress.
