Home Learning

Home_Learning_Sept_2020.pdf

Studies show that home learning adds more than a year’s progress for students who regularly complete it.

The type of home learning also matters. Home learning should mainly rehearse knowledge which has already been taught. Individual home learning should normally last between 30 and 45 minutes.

The brain remembers more when it is tested, and when these tests are low stakes. For this reason, a good deal of homework is in the form of quizzes.

Purpose

We want our students to know as much as possible. Cognitive scientists tell us that “understanding is memory in disguise”. The more we know, the easier it is to understand new ideas. A famous study proved this with a group students who were poor readers, who loved baseball. When tested on a text on the subject of baseball, they consistently outscored a group of very good readers. In other words, our ability to read is largely based on the breadth of our knowledge. The more your child learns, the easier it is to learn new information and ideas.

Consequently, we need our students to complete their home learning each and every time. It will simply make them more intelligent. We need our parents to help their children develop this routine, so that understanding and learning become easier.

Expectations

We need our students to complete their home learning each and every time it is set. These are habits which will last a life time. But, in the short term, they will also lead to very good grades.

Our school day finishes at 3 O’Clock. We would expect students to do an hour of home learning every night. This only extends the working day to the equivalent of 4 O’Clock, which is a gentle preparation for life after Kingsdown. However, this hour of home learning will have a huge impact on what our students can remember and understand. With subjects taking two years to teach a GCSE, your child should be aiming for very high grades.

We therefore need you to encourage, even to require your child to do their home learning every day.

We also need you to log on to Satchel One so that you can see how well your child is doing. All their quiz scores are visible to you.

Procedures

Home learning is set on Satchel One, and will often be completed online. Students without an internet connection at home are able to use the ICT suites after school, before school, and at lunch time to complete their home learning.

Each quiz set for a student can be taken up to three times. Students should always do this in order to aim for a score of 100%.

Scores in class will often be ranked so students can see how they compare to their classmates. Gaining a high score does not depend on a student’s ability. It is an accurate measure of how much attention they have paid in class, and how much effort they have put into their homework quiz.

Students are expected to read regularly as a means of broadening and extending their knowledge and understanding of subjects and to develop their vocabulary.
Your support in monitoring your child’s completion of homework is greatly appreciated.