Help your Child to get the most out of their Home Learning

Home learning. Many students try to avoid it, but teaching and learning research indicates that children who spend more time on regularly assigned, meaningful home learning, on average, do better in school, and that the academic benefits of home learning increase as children move into the higher grade areas and further into school.

The policy of the school is to set regular home learning.  It is set by teachers to give students the chance to work on their own, think for themselves and find out things themselves.

Home Learning
Year	Daily time
Years 7 and 8	45 minutes to 1.5 hours
Year 9	1 to 2 hours
Years 10 and 11	1.5 to 2.5 hours
Years 12 and 13	2.5 hours or more

It's normal for students not to want to work at home.. But if your child always seems bored or unhappy, you need to try to find out the reason by talking with your child. Then talk with the teacher to come up with a solution. Teachers want students to learn. Tell the teacher if your child thinks the home learning is too easy or too hard. This will help the teacher match homework with student ability and maturity levels.

When I ask my children if they have homelearning, they say that it's finished or that they don't have any.  How do I make sure they're really doing their work?

Make studying a daily habit. Students can always review lessons, read a book, or work on practice exercises during quiet time, even if they don't have home learning. Ask younger children to show you their work so that you can check it, sign it, and date it. Teachers like to see that adults have checked children's work. If your children often have no homelearning to do, you should let their teachers know.

Homework Hints

• Assume that your children will have studying to do every night.

• Ask your children if they understand their home learning. If they do not, work a few examples together.

• Ask your children to show you their work after the teacher returns it, to learn where they're having trouble and where they're doing well. See if your children did the work correctly.

• Don't be afraid to get in touch with the teacher if you and your child don't understand an assignment or if your child is having a great deal of trouble. Almost all parents run into these problems, and teachers are glad to help.

• Don't do your children's work for them. Help them learn how to do it themselves.

• Show your children that you think homelearning is important. If you are at work during homework time, ask to see their work when you get home.

• Praise your children for doing well. Make praise a habit.

• Help older students organize their assignments by recording them on calendars or planners, along with due dates, dates handed in, etc.
  
  

For further assistance on helping your child through G.C.S.E. Exams please click here.

For information about Home learning support sessions for you to help your son or daughter, please go to parent events.