Home Learning

Introduction

Home learning serves an important purpose in supporting young people to make progress. Research by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has shown that regular, high quality home learning can accelerate a student’s progress by 6 months.

At Temple Moor, home learning serves the following important purposes:

• Allowing consolidation and extension of learning from within the classroom.
• Promoting ongoing retrieval practice, which is linked to developing long term retention of knowledge.
• Fostering good independent study behaviours to support students as they progress to KS4, KS5 and beyond.
• Developing examination technique.
• Allowing an additional source of assessment which staff can use to identify misconceptions, give feedback and inform future lessons.

However, we also recognise that many students participate in extracurricular activities or out of school clubs, which is good for their wellbeing, and we also value this and seek to support students in pursuing broader interests. As such, we have designed a home learning policy which balances the benefits of home learning whilst also allowing students a healthy work-life balance outside of school.

Home learning tasks are carefully considered in terms of the purpose they serve, with home learning being carefully mapped as part of the curriculum planning each subject undertakes. This ensures that home learning is always purposeful, considered and relevant to the learning of students and the progress they make.

Home learning outline:

Year 7 and 8

Year 9

Year 10-11

Year 12-13

How is home learning communicated to students?

Students will be set home learning tasks within lessons, which they should record in their home learning planners. Additionally, staff will set the task on Arbor, allowing students and parents to see what home learning has been set and access linked resources (where relevant). Standing home learning items, such as reading in Key Stage 3.

Records of completion will also be accessible through the Arbor App.

How can parents/carers support the school in ensuring their child completes home learning?

• Helping establish routines at home by setting aside a period of time in the evening when you child checks their planner and do the home learning.
• Providing a quiet space where home learning can be done, without distractions.
• Checking home learning on Class Charts to see if you child is writing it in their planner, and then questioning about the work to check they understand what they are doing.
• Emphasising the importance of home learning and its value, and promoting resilience toward the work.
• Ensuring that standing expectations such as independent reading are undertaken.
• Asking active questions to take an interest in their home learning. Examples for reading are printed on their school bookmarks.
• Signposting resources which might support your child if they are having difficulty e.g. GCSE Pod.
• Supporting the school if your child is referred to after school study support, by ensuring they attend.

Support for Non-Completion of Home Learning