Brighton Hill Community School
HOMEWORK
Contents
Rationale
Purpose
Aim
Roles and Responsibilities
Links with other policies
Monitoring and review process
Annex to Homework Policy
Rationale
It is vital that the staff at BHCS understand and adhere to the Homework Policy as part of our
overall drive to raise standards and school improvement. Homework is often a contentious issue
with stakeholders and so this policy defines and outlines ‘best practice’ in order that staff can refer
to a clear framework and set of clear expectations.
It is worth noting the very specific requirement in the new Teachers’ Standards regarding
homework: Teachers’ Standard 4c: set homework and plan other out-of class activities to
consolidate and extend the knowledge and understanding pupils have acquired
Purpose
For the purposes of this policy, homework is defined as: tasks or activities that we expect students
to complete outside of the normal school day in order to learn more about the work that they
have been studying in class, or to give them a chance to show or revise what they have learnt, or
to give them time to prepare or research for a new topic or project. Research shows that students
who do their homework are more likely to reach their academic potential.
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that homework arrangements are educationally beneficial
and manageable for students and teachers and to outline responsibilities for teaching and nonteaching staff.
Aim
The aim of this policy is to improve the efficiency of the use of Homework as an educationally valid
tool that helps to develop the skills, knowledge and ultimately the rate of progress of our
students, through outlining the varying responsibilities of different members of staff and by
describing best practice in terms of the management of homework processes and the nature of
homework itself.
Links with other policies: Learning & Teaching : Assessment and Marking and Controlled
Assessment
Roles and Responsibilities
Assistant Headteacher will:
• Lead & monitor the implementation of the Homework Policy, including the Homework
Timetable
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Monitor the quality of information about homework that appears on the school website/VLE
Oversee the running and monitoring of the Homework Club
Provide homework timetables for each student to stick into their planners
Assistant Headteacher will:
• Manage the publication, distribution and use of the BHCS Planner in which students’
responsibilities regarding homework and homework will be recorded
Heads of Faculty will:
• Devise their own Faculty Homework Policy that is in line with the Whole School Homework
Policy and which outline expectations that are specific to that Faculty, especially in relation to
the Homework Timetable
• Ensure that general information regarding Homework for their subject(s) appears on the
school website/VLE
• Ensure that all teaching staff are following the Homework Policy
• Monitor the quality of homework set and its assessment
• Support colleagues regarding students who are persistently not completing homework through
communication with tutors and Learning Mentors and if necessary with parents directly,
articulating concerns in writing as well as by other means
Learning Mentors will:
• Actively encourage students to attend the Homework Club
• Alert Heads of Faculty if there are parent/student concerns about homework
• Incorporate work on independent learning skills as part of the tutoring programme
Tutors will:
• Monitor teaching staff’s adherence to Homework Policy through weekly checking of students’
planners
• Cover work on independent learning skills as part of the tutoring programme
• Actively encourage students to attend the Homework Club
• Alert Learning Mentors or Heads of Faculty if there are tutor/parent/student concerns about
Homework
Teaching Staff will:
• Follow the Homework Timetable and allow quality time to the setting and explanation of
homework (not necessarily at the end of the lesson when students are less likely to focus well),
including how it will be assessed or fed back on
• Manage students’ use of the BHCS Student Planner for recording homework and for
communicating with parents if appropriate
• Check that homework is clearly written by students (or by LSAs if appropriate) in students’
planners
• Publish Homework activities/tasks on the VLE for students and parents to access from outside
the school (an e-mail will automatically be generated to remind students and to inform
parents about homework once it is submitted to the Homework Diary via the VLE)
• Ensure that, if on rare occasions it is not appropriate or possible to set homework in line with
the Homework Timetable (e.g. in the event of staff absence), ‘None set’ is written by students
in their planners and a reason given
• Set appropriately differentiated homework that is relevant to/complements/enhances
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students’ learning, adds value to learning, encourages independence and which motivates
them to develop their personal learning and thinking skills
Set homework in a variety of formats that suit different learning styles
Clearly explain what the homework entails, its purpose, the ways in which it could/should
most successfully be completed and share the success criteria and how its successful
completion will help students to make progress
Give an indication of the length of time that the student should reasonably spend on the work
and realistic deadlines for completion
Keep own records of homework set and of homework completed by students
Give regular reminders about deadlines and due dates for homework that is spread out over a
period of time
Check that homework is completed and alert parents within one working day (professional
judgement and discretion required) if students do not complete homework, in line with
Teachers’ Standard 8e: communicate effectively with parents with regard to pupils’
achievements and well-being
Keep records of communications (phone calls, e-mails) with parents regarding homework
Use SIMS to log non-completion of homework and persistent non-completion of homework
Alert line-managers to persistent non-completion of homework
Provide meaningful formative feedback on completed homework
Consider the students’ home contexts/environments and the resources that they may not
have available to them at home and suggest/provide supportive strategies
Actively encourage students to attend the Homework Club if appropriate for their needs
Liaise with member of support staff who is managing the Homework Club if appropriate
In line with Teachers’ Standard 2e, encourage pupils to take a responsible and conscientious
attitude to their own work and study by ensuring that they: note homework clearly in planner
(and seek help to do this if required); take responsibility for managing, completing and
submitting homework in the form and to the standard required by the deadline set; create
quality time at home in which to complete homework; attend Homework Club if appropriate;
seek clarification, help/guidance with homework in good time, if required; communicate with
teachers/parents if there are difficulties with homework
Classroom Assistants will:
• Actively support classroom teachers in the homework setting process and inform teachers if
there are problems or issues arising
The SEND Manager:
• Monitor teaching staff’s adherence to the Homework Policy for students on the Special Needs
Register and alert Heads of Faculty or individual teachers if/when inappropriate homework is
set for students with SEN
• Provide extra advice and guidance to students with SEN and to their parents on how to support
their children with homework
THE MONITORING AND REVIEW PROCESS FOR THIS POLICY IS AS FOLLOWS
Assistant Headteacher will:
• Monitor adherence to the Homework Policy through Heads of Faculty
• Lead, manage and monitor the running of a voluntary daily Homework Club in the Tech 8, 34.30pm (4pm finish on Fridays), run by a member of support staff
• Ensure that the Homework Policy is reviewed and updated in time for the start of each
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academic year
Policy Reviewed: September 2012
Annex to Homework Policy
Additional notes to provide information about the principles on which this policy has been
devised.
The principles/ethos on which this policy is based (referring specifically to government guidance
and to research)
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Increasing independence in learning
Homework is any work or activities which students are asked to do outside of lesson time,
either on their own or with parents/carers/support staff
Feedback should be given in some form
Homework must be inclusive (i.e. no students should be excluded from the policy on grounds
of SEND or other vulnerbility)
A successful homework policy involves an effective working partnership between students,
staff and parents & carers
Learning at home is an essential part of good education to which children are entitled & can
make an important contribution to students’ progress by extending the challenge open to
students
Ensures that teaching time is used to maximum effect
Can help students to make faster progress
Can develop the practice of students working on their own without the constant presence of
teachers & other students (vital for the later stages of secondary education & after)
Should not impinge upon time spent on other extra-curricular activities, e.g. sports, music,
other interest clubs
Makes most difference when led by member of LT & is linked with overall assessment and
learning strategies
Consistency across school, including agreed responses to non-completion
Clear expectations of students, teachers and role of parents
Establishes a habit for life-long learning – self-discipline, responsibility, timemanagement/working to deadlines
Research shows that:
• there is a positive relationship between time spent on homework, especially for older
secondary students where higher achievers tend to spend more time on homework
(correlations between time on homework and achievement should not be taken as evidence
that more time on homework necessarily leads to better achievement)
• Positive attitudes to homework are associated with positive attitudes to school
• Students dislike being set routine tasks (such as finishing off classwork) which do not
contribute to their learning; they prefer interesting, challenging and varied tasks that are
clearly defined and have adequate deadlines
• Setting individualised homework tasks is time-consuming for teachers and does not appear to
raise student achievement sufficiently to justify the additional time required
• The results from one intervention study suggest that secondary students learned better when
they were given homework advice related to their individual learning style
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Previous feedback from staff, including examples of types of homework:
• Termly independent learning projects linked to PLTS linked to scheme of work/unit of study,
culminating in presentation at end of half term (very useful for those last few lessons each half
term which tend to involve the showing of countless dvds!) = a celebration of students’
independent learning for that half term (presentations in Yr 10 and Yr 11 could be recorded
and used as English Speaking & Listening coursework); a certificate could be awarded after the
presentations as an acknowledgement/reward
• Cross-curricular project work
• Project work that involves an element of competition/team work
• Learning/revision homeworks, e.g. spellings, chemical symbols, key vocabulary, historical
dates, using revision websites, e.g. MyMaths, BBC GCSE Bitesize
• Personalised/flexible homeworks, e.g. students choose a particular research topic that
interests them most, or they learn their own set of spellings based on their own needs
• Consolidation, reinforcement, extension, practice
• Completion of tasks not suitable to classroom situation
• Research, development, investigate, planning/preparation, information retrieval, analysis
• Coursework that need not be completed under controlled conditions
• Not all homework need require assessment or marking by the teacher; teaching staff will check
that students are completing homework and they might use peer assessment
• Students’ non-completion of homework should not result in their exclusion from any of the
lesson’s activities
• Homework ‘buddies’ check that homework has been written down correctly in planners
• Raise profile of homework by setting at times in the lesson other than at the end!
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