Homework

Dear Parent/Carer,

We wanted to remind parents and carers of the organisation of homework at The Leigh UTC. It is the school’s policy to have a homework programme which is an extension of the curriculum time. Homework is an essential part of school life, supporting the curriculum, subject interests and developing core skills such as organisation and independent learning. 

Homework is an area where the partnership between school and parents can help your children. Parents can encourage their children to do their homework by showing an interest in what has been set. Any queries parents may have about homework can be quickly and easily communicated through students’ email to members of staff.

At the Leigh UTC we want homework:

• To embed knowledge and skill: Consolidate learning that has taken place in the classroom through revision/ retrieval of key knowledge: quizzing/ questions based on a previous topic.
• To extend knowledge and skill: Post lesson reading/ research to add breadth to their existing knowledge. Refine work from the classroom based on feedback from the teacher.
• To apply knowledge and skill: Use learning from the classroom to complete a deliberate practice task e.g. responding to an essay question based on content covered in a lesson

How the academy will be setting homework for year 7-9

All homework will be set on Google Classroom. Students will be expected to log into their Google Classroom account on a daily basis to check what homework has been set.

At key stage 3

Core subjects will set homework once a week. Non-Core subjects will set homework once a fortnight. PE, Art and German will set termly project based homework.

• English, Maths & Science – 1x a week. 80 mins per subject (1x should be set through an online platform) 
• CS, DT, Humanities – 1x a fortnight alternating between Geography/History and Design Technology /Computer Science (CS weekly at ks4)
• Art, German, PE – 1x a module. Project style homework
• Reading (subject/wider/ pleasure) – Daily recommended 20 minutes though Bedrock, EON platform can be used when reading for pleasure  and 10 mins subject specific reading from each subject

Setting and submission Rota

• Monday – Computer Science or Design Technology
• Tuesday – Maths (GER,ART,PE)
• Wednesday – Science
• Thursday – English
• Friday – History or Geography

Homework support session

The ‘HW support session’ is an opportunity for student to do their homework at school and receive supervised support by the class teacher or a member of the department.

Why a structured approach to homework?

• We want to emphasise the importance of all students reading daily
• We want parents and students to clearly see what is expected of them each day ensuring students to get into good, learning habits and routines at home
• We have provided a guide for when homework should be given to ensure that students do not become easily overwhelmed with homework set by the school

Research from the Education Endowment Foundation shows that ‘the impact of homework on learning is consistently positive (leading to on average five months’ additional progress)’. A substantial amount of that homework should be based around developing Literacy and reading, which are two key areas we have identified will help improve students’ progress.  Many of our students quite simply do not read enough and it is the challenge of every parent and teacher to promote this.

If you have any questions about homework please contact your child teacher or their PD mentor directly through email on their Chromebook, or contact us through the academy’s website

Kind regards,

Gabriel Alamu | Head of College