At High Storrs, we have thought carefully about our approach to homework and we regularly check current research to ensure our practice is still in keeping with the latest thinking.

For example, the Education Endowment Foundation tells us that utilising homework can add an average of 5 months progress and is particularly impactful for secondary aged students. They say:

The quality of the task set appears to be more important than the quantity of work required from the pupil. There is some evidence that the impact of homework diminishes as the amount of time pupils spend on it increases.

In a blog from ‘Inner Drive’, they highlight some key research findings from a study examining the homework habits of nearly 8000 students:

• Students performed significantly better when they were set regular homework by their teacher, compared to those who only had homework set occasionally.
• Students who spent 90-110 minutes a day doing homework got the highest school grades on average. However, the researchers found that 90-110 minutes was not necessarily the most efficient amount of time to spend on homework. Although it was the most effective in terms of grades, the extra time spent after 1 hour per day led to such minimal gains that it did not justify the extra time.
• Students who did their homework by themselves ended up doing around 10% better in their exams compared to those who did their homework with their parents helping them.

Here is an extract from our Homework Policy:

Homework Principles

HW needs to be meaningful and support the development of independent working and organisation, but we don’t want to overload our students, especially the youngest ones in KS3.

We want HW in all years to require students to work diligently, completing high quality work and to include extended writing skills that they will need for GCSE exams and beyond, but we also want them to be able to enjoy a rich life outside of school including time with family and friends. We would prefer for HW not to be a source of tension at home.

Homework is set to fulfil many purposes:

• It can provide opportunities for students to use their initiative to develop skills of working independently and creatively and taking responsibility for their own learning.
• It can help develop good work habits, organisation, self-discipline and time management skills.
• It allows students some space and time on their own for some deep thinking.
• It can extend and reinforce what has been taught in class and aid longer term retention.
• It can allow students to develop and practise the skills that can lead to mastery and higher achievements.
• It can enable more time to be spent on a topic or for methods to be used that couldn’t be used in the classroom.
• It can help home and school work together to support the student’s learning.
• It can provide regular feedback to students about their progress.

The focus needs to be on regular setting of meaningful, appropriately accessible and challenging HW. It does not have to be extensive either in the number of subjects or the volume of each one, but each HW should provide an opportunity for independent work and/or consolidation.

Typically, students should receive 6-8 pieces of homework a week totalling around 3 hours of time in KS3 and up to 6 hours a week in KS4. Ideally, this should mean no more than one hour a day outside of school time, on focused, useful activity.

In the sixth form homework and self-directed independent work tend to merge, totalling about 5 hours a week per subject, but students have study periods built into their timetable to undertake some of this work.

If your child struggles to find a quiet space to focus on their work at home, we offer homework club in the Learning Resource Centre every afternoon from 3-4pm, as well as a similar support in the Learning Support Hub so that all students can get the benefit of undertaking this important independent work.

All homework at High Storrs is set via SMHW in the Satchel:One App which all students and parents have access to. The App is really useful for parents as it includes lots more features besides homework – you can see your child’s timetable, commendations issued, behaviour points and attendance data. If you or your child are having any difficulty setting up or using the App, please contact Mrs Vaughan at school who will be able to help.

What is the parents’ role in homework? For some insight into this, here is another useful snippet from the same ‘Inner Drive’ blog mentioned above:

PUTTING THE 'HOME' IN 'HOMEWORK' It is important to emphasise the ‘home’ aspect of ‘homework’. Evidence suggests that parents having clear homework rules for their children is one of the most powerful things they can do to assist their child’s academic development. In addition, making sure they explain why these rules are in place can help pupils eventually make better decisions regarding their independent study time later in their school career.

However, despite it sounding counter-intuitive, it was found that parents supervising their child’s homework does not have a significant impact on grades. In fact, in many cases these students do worse compared to those who did their homework by themselves. This does not help the child learn more or improve their attitude towards learning. Helping their child develop healthy and consistent routines is the best way for parents to help their child thrive at school.

Let’s work together to get the best impact from Homework. Teachers will set regular meaningful activities that should not eat up too much out of school time, and parents can help by setting good routines, but allowing their children the space to do the useful work independently.