Homework setting
Typically, departments will set homework as follows, setting it on Google Classroom:
Accelerated Reader | Year 7 | Students are expected to have an Accelerated Reader book on them at all times and to be reading it at home at least once a week to assist their progress through the programme. |
Art | KS3 | Homework at KS3 is typically set every other week dependent on students’ learning in class. The tasks will encourage further learning on the topic being covered. This may be the completion of activities started in lesson time or additional time to practice a technique or it may be research based preparation for the next topic. |
KS4 | Year 10 homework is set at least once a week. Students should complete classwork as directed by the teacher. All homework contributes directly to the assessment objectives and aims to help students refine and improve their work or complete research for contextual studies. There are also extension pieces of homework for students aiming for the higher level at GCSE.
Year 11 students will be given specific homework tasks in addition to the continuous expectation that they refining their previous work. Students are expected to complete in excess of 3 hours per week. Homework club for KS4 is run on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday after school for those who need specific equipment or support. | |
KS5 | All KS5 students top up their lesson time by spending up to 5hrs in year 12 and 10hrs in year 13 of independent work on their projects. At this stage, students will thoroughly understand the project requirements and will spend the additional time appropriately. | |
Business / Economics | KS4 | Typically set bi-weekly but can be dependent on where lessons fall over the two week cycle. Homework tasks may encourage reflection on learning, preparation for new learning and revisiting and testing knowledge and recall. Many tasks will be pre-reading and context driven (after the lesson). Multi-choice tests will also be used on Google Classroom to assess progress.
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KS5 | Homework at KS5 is set at least weekly and is designed to support students in embedding and processing information so that they can understand and apply it to. Where appropriate, homework tasks will be research focused and/or link to the coursework or practical element of a qualification. Many tasks will be research or context driven, with a focus on pre-reading materials relevant to upcoming lessons and content areas. News items will also be provided when relevant and a twitter feed adds reading to those who require it.
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Child Development | KS4
| One piece of homework each week is set for Yr 10, using a dynamic learning package that they can access either on their phones, tablet or PC.
Yr 11 also have access to this same dynamic learning package and use it in preparation for their exam in January. However, after the exam, they have another assignment to complete which makes up 25% of their final grade. They will be set relevant research tasks for this assignment for homework as the write-up needs to be completed in controlled conditions. |
Drama | KS3 | At KS3 students should expect to receive one homework per term from Drama lessons which will range from learning lines, making props, writing scripts, bringing in costume or music or something which directly impacts the practical work and assessments they do within lessons. Students are also encouraged to do their own independent exploration of the different topics studied if they wish to challenge themselves and expand their knowledge beyond what is required. This could include watching film versions of the Shakespeare plays we study. |
KS4 | At KS4 we balance homework tasks with rehearsal time. This means when students are leading up to a practical exam and are required to attend after school rehearsals on a compulsory basis we set very few homework tasks so as to ensure a fair balance of independent study time within the subject and across all of their other subjects. However, when students do not have practical rehearsals to attend they should expect to receive one piece of homework a week from Miss Whenray and one piece of homework a week from Miss Nichols, who cover two different areas of the course. These homework tasks will vary between coursework tasks and exam revision tasks. | |
KS5 | At KS5 students will be set a wide variety of tasks to complete in their independent study time. This will range from research, coursework, reading plays, practise questions, script writing, preparing set and props and exploring different topics. When leading up to a practical exam and after school rehearsal commitments are heavy there is a much smaller amount of theory homework set because of the large amount of time they will spend in preparation for their performance exams, however, when there are no rehearsal requirements there will be a lot more theory based homework tasks set. Students are also encouraged to see new pieces of theatre in their own time. | |
DT | KS3 | Year 7, 8, 9 will have at least one main piece of homework per rotation (approximately every 22 hours), for example, a mood board or materials research. Students can also have up to two smaller pieces to complete during the rotation that relate to the project being studied. In Food, homework each week is to weigh and prepare the ingredients for the next practical and could also involve completing worksheets not finished in the lesson. |
KS4 | Year 10 normally get one piece of homework each week, which will take anything from 30 minutes to 1 hour. This is usually research, such as a mood board, analysis of existing products, client profile/survey or materials and techniques to build on the core and specialist subject knowledge required, revision activities or preparing ingredients.
In Year 11, it is vital that work set is completed in preparation for the following lesson to ensure all coursework is up to date and the next piece of work can be started. Homework will take at least 1 hour. | |
KS5 | In Years 12 and 13, students are expected to complete at least the same amount of independent research as lesson time each week. Homework is normally set each week and often after each lesson.
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English | KS3 | KS3 students will be issued one hour’s homework, per week.
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KS4 | KS4 students will be issued at least one Language homework, per week. They will also be issued at least one piece of Literature homework a week, which could be a reading homework, preparation for the next lesson or consolidation of learning already undertaken. For Y11 students, this homework is in addition to their revision and independent learning tasks to support with preparation for their exams.
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KS5 | Homework will be set at least weekly in KS5 English. This could be pre-reading, research or practise essays. This is in addition to independent learning tasks that are expected to be completed throughout the course without specific assignment. These might consist of: re-reading, wider critical reading, character maps, plot summaries, quote collections under character or theme, notes on genre. | |
Geography | KS3 | Usually, Geography homework in Years 7-9 will be set once every two weeks. |
KS4 | In Years 10 and 11 for GCSE, Geography homework would usually be set once per week. | |
KS5 | Level in Years 12 and 13, two pieces of homework would usually be set per week – one piece a week from each of their teacher. Homework activities can take anything from twenty minutes up to an hour or more if students are completing A Level coursework. | |
History | KS3 KS4 | Homework is to be set weekly, as a minimum, at both KS3 and KS4, on Google Classroom. |
KS5 | KS5 homework is set every lesson to maximise flipped learning opportunities.
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IT and Computing | KS3 | Homework in IT at KS3 is designed to encourage independent research and to consolidate and to build on the learning in lessons. Links to websites and research tasks are aligned to the termly units of work being studied and are designed to re enforce and challenge students to further embed their knowledge, skills and understanding of topics being covered. A minimum of two pieces of homework will be set per term |
KS4 | Homework at KS4 is typically set weekly but can be dependent on where lessons fall over the two week cycle. Homework tasks may encourage reflection on learning, preparation for new learning and revisiting and testing knowledge and recall. In courses where coursework is a requirement, homework will have a focus on coursework completion and further research.
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KS5 | Homework at KS5 is set weekly and is designed to support students in embedding and processing information so that they can understand and apply it too. Where appropriate, homework tasks will be research focused and/or link to the coursework or practical element of a qualification.
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Maths | KS3 / 4 | Typically, around one piece of homework should be set per class each week. The homework should be relevant to the curriculum or could be a numeracy task. This could take the form of a traditional exercise, a revision task or preparing for a lesson or topic.
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KS5 | Google Classroom should also be used for weekly setting of 6th form homework. | |
MFL | KS3 | To be set once a week but as and when necessary. For shared teaching groups teachers to agree who will set homework and when to avoid overloading students. |
KS4 | Every week usually with a longer deadline (e.g. a week). Homework to be topic based including vocab learning, exam questions, grammar work and GCSE revision skills. Where classes are shared, each teacher sets homework according to the topic they teach. | |
KS5 | Homework is set every lesson. | |
Music | KS3 | KS3: Students will be issued homework approximately once every three lessons. The homework will be relevant to the curriculum and may consist of listening tasks, background research or music theory.
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KS4 | KS4: Students will be issued one hour of homework per week. The homework will be relevant to the curriculum and may consist of listening tasks, revision tasks, performance practice or composition preparation. | |
PE | KS3 Core | Occasional homework may be set. This will be optional and normally over a long period of time, e.g. to keep a log of cardiovascular activity each week for a term. |
KS4 Core | Occasional homework may be set. This will be optional and normally over a long period of time, e.g. to keep a log of cardiovascular activity each week for a term. | |
KS4 BTec | The majority of BTEC work takes place within lesson time. However, revision may be set for some units. This will be set termly. | |
KS4 GCSE | Regular weekly homework will be set. This normally involves producing and memorising revision materials. Homework may also include developing written coursework. | |
KS5 | Homework will be set following the majority of lessons. This includes re-forming lesson notes, producing and learning revision materials, answering long answer questions and developing written coursework. | |
Psychology | KS5 | Homework is set weekly. |
RE | KS3 | Within the year 7 and 8 RE curriculum students study four topics. At the end of each topic there is a formal assessed piece of work, an assessment handout is given for each. The assessment handouts are always posted on Google Classroom when assessment homework is given. Additionally, students will be expected to complete several homework tasks intermittently throughout each taught topic. Every topic lends itself to extended research whether it be online or library research, students are directed in class as to how they can research a topic area further.
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KS4 | At KS4 students across years 9-11 are taught the RE GCSE in less class time compared to their other GCSE subjects. Students are supported with a printed copy of a study guide. These study guides are kept at the back of a student’s RE book, the expectation is that students read through their study guides on a regular basis. Students will be given homework regularly when learning each topic to support their learning of each of the eight GCSE topics. At the end of a taught topic students will spend a lesson revising in preparation for a formal end of unit test. Homework is always set for students to revise. We continue to reiterate to students that revision is not just reading through a study guide, creating revision resources and completing past papers is pertinent.
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KS5 | Philosophy and Ethics A level Students will be given homework on a weekly basis. In addition to regular homework students will also be directed to extended reading tasks. Students are encouraged to regularly read around the subject to enhance their understanding of the complexities of each topic.
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Science | KS3 | Science homework is set when appropriate and will be aimed at consolidating learning and reinforcing skills taught in the lesson. End of topic tests occur regularly and so revision of the current topic is expected to be ongoing. KS3 and KS4 have access to Educake to enhance their learning.
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KS4 | Science homework is set when appropriate and will be aimed at consolidating learning and reinforcing skills taught in the lesson. Assessment points occur at regular intervals throughout the year – revision guides are provided and students can use these to consolidate learning. KS3 and KS4 have access to Educake to enhance their learning.
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KS5 | Science homework is set when appropriate and will be aimed at consolidating learning and reinforcing skills taught in the lesson. Assessment points occur at regular intervals throughout the year – reading around the subject is encouraged.
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Sociology | KS5 | Set every Tuesday and collected in every Tuesday. It is set by the distance learning tutor, via the portal, then added to Google Classroom. Length of time expected is two hours.
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