Homework

At Hugh Christie School, we know completing home learning is essential to long-term academic success. It allows our pupils to extend their learning and to reinforce what has been learnt in class.

If pupils are absent from school, it is still their responsibility to still complete the home learning tasks and to catch up when they are better. Please click here to view the Homework Timetable for Semester 1 in 2023.

Years 7 to 9

Every day, pupils are expected to study a minimum of one hour and a maximum of 90 minutes. Home learning will be made up of four elements:

Reading for pleasure
Teacher set tasks
Independent learning
Revisiting

Reading for pleasure every day for at least 15 minutes

Like anything else, reading is a skill that becomes better with practice. The objective of Reading for Pleasure is to increase your child’s sense of achievement, confidence and develop their vocabulary – but most of all, for pupils to learn to enjoy reading. We encourage pupils to challenge themselves with their choice of reading material.

Pupils should try to read a range of fiction across genres with increasing levels of difficulty. Regularly Reading for Pleasure will have enormous benefits across a pupil’s subject areas and is heavily linked to success in later life.

In Years 7 and 8, pupils will be encouraged to develop their reading. By Year 9, we expect pupils to be independently choosing their own books from The Howard Library or from another source.

Teacher set tasks

Teacher-set homework tasks should be:

Relevant to the current lessons OR
Revisiting previous knowledge, skills and vocabulary AND
Realistic for most pupils to be able to complete in between 20 and 30 minutes

These tasks will be set as per the Teacher Set Homework Timetable.

They will be assigned using Class Charts so pupils and parents can see exactly what work is expected to be done and the deadline for its submission.

Years 9 (Semester 2), 10, 11 and Sixth Form:

At Hugh Christie School, we believe completing home learning is essential to the academic success of all pupils. It gives pupils the opportunity to extend their learning and to reinforce what has been learned in class.

Years 10 and 11 are extremely important years for all pupils as they study their GCSE courses. We are committed to supporting every child to be successful, achieve their potential and progress into the career of their choice.

In Years 9 (From semester 2), 10 and 11 home learning:

Approximately 45 minutes of home learning will be assigned in English, Maths, Science and the optional GCSE subjects every week.
An ongoing revisiting of prior knowledge and vocabulary using Knowledge Organisers, RAP books and self-quizzing for at least 30 minutes five times a week
Other independent learning tasks set by teachers (including completing work not finished in class)
Continue to read for pleasure for at least 15 minutes a day

In the Sixth Form, pupils will be assigned two one-hour tasks a week for each subject studied. In addition, pupils should continue to carry out at least a further three hours of independent study in each subject they are studying per week.

Independent Learning

It is important that pupils develop a culture of independent learning. This is where they become less dependent on the teacher telling them what to do and they take ownership of their own learning.

Examples include:

doing extra research or reading related to a subject they have recently studied.
going over work they learnt last month or last term or last year and revisiting it to see how much they can recall.
using websites (such as BBC Bitesize) or applications (such as Seneca) to research topics they have not yet studied so as to familiarise themselves with new content.

Pupils will also be issued subject-specific Knowledge Organisers which will also be available on the school website. These have been created to help our pupils learn a wide range of knowledge, which in turn will allow them to connect different ideas and apply higher-order skills in their lessons. It will also prepare our pupils for the new style, more rigorous and challenging, GCSEs that they will sit in the future.

Pupils’ subject teachers will then quiz your child on the essential knowledge and skills from the knowledge organisers that they are expected to learn.

According to significant educational research, frequent quizzing has many benefits for memory and motivation. These include producing better organisation of knowledge, causing pupils to learn more from their next study episode, identifying gaps in knowledge and improving long-term retention.

At home, using a Revisit And Practise (RAP) book, pupils should revise the specific knowledge, as directed by their teachers, using the highly effective Look, Cover, Write, Check self-quizzing strategy.

At Home

In your RAP book, revise using ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’.

LOOK: Read the knowledge organiser's key questions and the answers.
COVER: Cover up the answer column.
WRITE: Write the answer from your memory in your self-quizzing book.
CHECK: Finally, mark your work. Correct any mistakes.

Ask family and friends to support the self-quiz.

Pupils must bring their Revisit and Practice (RAP) Book to school every day and take it home every evening.

Pupils should select the most relevant subject to study their Knowledge Organisers for 15 minutes each evening in order for them to be prepared for the quizzes.

Homework

Years 7 to 9

Years 9 (Semester 2), 10, 11 and Sixth Form:

Independent Learning

At Home

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