Our policy was drafted after consultation with staff and parents and taking account of Scottish Executive guidelines Homework Policy.

Homework Diaries are given to children at the beginning of each school year in August. Children will be expected to look after their own diary and use it to record all homework tasks. Teachers and parents can use them as a means of communication regarding homework. Children are expected to note each night’s homework in the diary.

Parents are asked to check the homework diary each evening and sign that the homework has been done, and respond to any messages it contains.

St Blane’s Primary Homework Policy

1. Rationale
2. Aims
3. Purpose
4. Types of Homework
5. Unfinished Classwork
6. Time Allocation
7. Roles
8. Home Circumstances
9. Homework not done/Unsatisfactory
10. Target Sheets
11. Homework Diaries


Rationale


Work done at home by pupils can be of benefit as it can promote self reliance, self discipline, self confidence and encourage pupils to participate responsibly in their own learning. It should reinforce and consolidate classwork and help to develop the habit of independent learning. Effective homework can widen the learning experience by allowing pupils to use materials and sources of information not available in the classroom and can extend class work by doing preparatory / follow up work to that covered in class, which by its nature is difficult or cannot be undertaken in class time eg watching a particular TV programme, following a recipe, work related to the environment. It can provide opportunities to strengthen home - school liaison and involve parents in their children’s learning.

Aims

To ensure that:

• Pupils at all stages are given appropriate homework.
• Setting of homework tasks is consistent within all stages throughout the school.
• Parents, teachers and children are clear about the purposes of homework.
• In order to achieve these aims teachers should promote effective homework by ensuring:
• Tasks are varied and related to class work.
• Work is clearly explained to children and achievable by them.
• Tasks are well planned and prepared.
• Work should be recognised as soon as possible and rewarded regularly.
• PurposesThe purpose of effective homework is:
• To promote self reliance, self discipline, self confidence and to encourage pupils to participate responsibly in their own learning.
• To develop the habit of independent learning.
• To strengthen home school liaison and involve parents.
• To reinforce and consolidate classwork.
• To widen the learning experience by allowing pupils to use materials and sources of information not available in the classroom.

To extend classwork by doing preparatory / follow up work which by its nature is difficult or cannot be undertaken in class time, eg watching a specific TV programme, following a recipe, work related to the environment.
Types of Homework

Homework will cover many areas of the curriculum as well as the traditional Reading , Writing and Maths and will employ a variety of approaches and tasks:-

• Research - eg topic
• Religious education - discussion, learning prayers, observation at Mass etc
• Collecting information - eg data for graphs, local history
• Watch a specific TV programme for information
• Prepare a solo talk
• Memorisation - eg number bonds, tables, poetry
• Spanish - practise words and phrases.
• PE practise forward rolls, ball skills etc.
• Unfinished classwork

It is the policy of the school that where children have been given work they are capable of and adequate time in which to complete it, yet have failed to do so, they will be required to finish it at home. This may be as well as the given homework task set to the whole group / class for that night. This is not desirable, and if it happens frequently, then a discussion will be necessary between school and parents.

Frequency and duration of homework

Homework will be given frequently and regularly, and will be appropriate to the levels of attainment within the class. As a general rule it will be given four nights a week, Monday - Thursday, with the occasional extra task being given over the weekend where appropriate eg watching a particular programme, going to the library.


In Primary 1 homework will mostly be non written, certainly to start with, but will involve a lot of learning, practice and discussion and requires a fair degree of parental support.
Primary 2 is similar to Primary 1 but should have written tasks then appropriate.
Primary 3 - Primary 7 should have regular written tasks though not necessarily every night and should have a balance of maths and language tasks over each term.
In order to achieve this balance of tasks and allow appropriate time to be allocated, teachers will set their Maths groups homework which will take no more than twenty minutes; class teachers will set other homework tasks of no more than fifteen minutes in P4 & P5; no more than twenty five minutes in P6 & P7.

Time Allocation:

The length of time spent on homework should be fruitful but not onerous and should increase as the child progresses through the school.

• P1 & P2 ~ 10 - 15 minutes per night
• P3 - P5 ~ 35 minutes maximum per night
• P6 & P7 ~ 45 minutes maximum per night
• Paired reading, where done, may be in addition to the above.

Roles

The Role of the Teacher

• To set appropriate homework in accordance with school policy
• To ensure homework is done to an acceptable standard.
• To give praise and rewards where suitable.
• To support pupils who are experiencing difficulty.
• To liaise with parents when problems arise.

The role of the Parent

• To sign all homework and the homework diary.
• To ensure that children have time and space to do their homework in a suitable environment.
• To check that homework is completed and of a satisfactory standard.
• To support all kinds of homework eg answering questions, participating in discussions, allowing children to watch a particular TV programme.
• To encourage children to have a responsible attitude towards doing homework and returning books, jotters etc on time.

The role of the Pupil

• To accurately record the homework tasks.
• To give time, care and attention to homework.
• To look after homework jotter, books and other resources.
• To return homework to the teacher on time.

Home Circumstances.......

Teachers should be sensitive to the varying home circumstances of their pupils. Parents should inform the school of any difficulties or concerns which occur either as a result of homework given to their child, or which may affect their child’s ability or performance in home or class work. It always benefits the child if the school is made aware of changes in home circumstances which may affect the child in any way.

Homework not done/ unsatisfactory

In an effort to avoid this, parents are asked to check their child’s school bag every night (even at the P7 stage) for information sent home from school and for homework.

In the event of homework frequently not being done or done to an unsatisfactory standard, parents will receive a letter informing them of this and requesting their future cooperation in improving matters.

Target sheets

A small extra column will be added to the behaviour/attitude section of the target sheets to indicate homework. Homework not done will always show as a red with an asterisk *, unsatisfactory homework will show as a red alone. Orange and green will be used as normal. Homework not done one night should be done the following night, along with that night’s homework.