Home Learning
Home Learning
At Ormiston Denes Academy, we believe that home learning has a huge impact on supporting students’ attainment; through allowing students to take responsibility over reinforcing what is being taught in the classroom. Our aspiration is for all students to have regular opportunities to practice, rehearse and overlearn the knowledge and skills that they are given in lessons. We want to instil in students a determination to succeed. As a result of this, our home learning approach is twofold:
Independent Study
Students are provided with Knowledge Organisers for their subjects and are given sections to revise or learn in preparation for regular knowledge recall tests. This allows students to regularly practice recalling information from their long term memory into their working memory – making it more readily available to them when they need it. Teachers will direct students to areas of the Knowledge Organisers to study, using our Denes Desirables. Knowledge recall tests may be sat in a variety of ways either, on mini-whiteboards, in exercise books or on test sheets. These will also be assessed in a variety of ways including, potentially, teacher, peer or self. The focus of this home learning is on the study and on the recall practice, which allows students to deep learn the knowledge they need for their age and stage.
Rehearsal Activities
In addition to independent study, some teachers will set students rehearsal activities. These may be in the form of practice tasks which supplement those given in class, timed writing activities to give students rehearsal of longer written responses, or creative tasks which reinforce knowledge and skills. The amount, frequency and nature of these tasks will be based on teacher’s professional judgement – as will the assessment of these. Teacher’s judgement will be based on students’ levels of attainment, areas for development and the nature of the subject area.
All home learning set will be made visible to you through the student planner, where students will record the tasks and any deadlines set. Below you can access a variety of Knowledge Organisers. If students regularly miss deadlines, they may be requested to attend our after-school Period 6 Study Hall, to catch up in a supportive and focussed environment.
Please support us in encouraging our young people to become independent, resilient and determined learners.
- To enable parental support, teachers will ensure that students record homework and a deadline clearly in the student planner.
- Teachers will help students programme independent revision (using their knowledge organiser) in the student planner in between homework being set.
All home learning will be validated, and rewards given in line with the school policy – students should feel proud of work completed independently at home.
Please see the student guide below to help you access online learning with Microsoft 365.
Your child will be using Sparx Maths to complete their weekly maths homework. Sparx provides a highly personalised weekly homework to students, tailored to their attainment level and working speed.
Your child’s homework will be set on Wednesday and due on Wednesday every week.
We know you want to support your child’s maths progress, so we are sending this letter to explain how Sparx works and how you can help your child complete their homework each week.
What is Sparx Maths Homework?
- Sparx provides personalized homework to each child, with questions that are challenging yet achievable, and tailored to their learning needs.
- The majority of each week’s homework will be based on recently learnt topics, but it will also include some questions from previous topics to help reinforce their learning.
- Students access their homework on their online Sparx account, where they’ll get immediate feedback for each question about whether their answer was correct or they need to have another try.
- While homework is accessed online, it is predominantly a written homework and students should record their work in their workbooks. Sparx has a”bookwork checks” system to help students form this habit.
- Every question in Sparx has a support video attached to that your child can get help independently.
How can you help your child with their homework?
- Provide a quiet space for your child to focus on their homework each week.
- Encourage them to start their homework early so they can get help from their teacher before the deadline if they get stuck. To ensure no gaps form in your child’s maths knowledge, homework is not marked as complete until all of the compulsory questions have been answered correctly.
- Check the weekly email you’ll get from Sparx and praise your child for starting or completing their homework. Encourage them to finish it before the deadline if they haven’t already done so (please see “A parents guide to SPARX maths” for more information about this).
- Try not to help your child with a question until they’ve had a go first. It is essential they try to complete their homework independently so that Sparx can give them questions that are at the right level for them. Remember they can watch the support videos if they need to.
What support is available at Ormiston Denes Academy?
- Study Hall, available every day after school in the entrance hall.
- Library is available at break and lunch times
A parent’s guide to SPARX maths
In addition to receiving weekly emails, you can register here and create a parent portal which will let you know what homework was set, what progress has been made and how you can help your child if they get stuck, amongst other things”.
If you have any queries that the portal cannot help you with, or if you wish to have a chat about your child’s progress in maths with their teacher, please call the academy on 01502 574474
All students are provided with half-termly knowledge organisers. These booklets contain the key information students need to know to be successful in the scheme of learning they are following in lessons. Students will be taught in assemblies, tutor time and lessons how to best use the knowledge organisers and build an understanding of the revision and memory techniques which underpin them.
Checks will be conducted to ensure students have their knowledge organiser in school, they keep them in an appropriate condition and are completing the tasks set out to help learn the knowledge on the back page of each document.
Click here for a parental guide to support your child use their knowledge organiser effectively at home.
Follow these links to the spring term knowledge organisers:
Parents have a considerable contribution to make to students’ success at school. At the academy, we encourage parents to support their children with home learning by creating an environment and routine at home to enable home learning to be completed. Parents should check the student planner on a daily basis to see what homework has been set for their child.
If there is no homework to complete, parents should ensure that their child engages with the information and tasks in their knowledge organiser. The table that follows sets out the minimum required home learning that students should complete to support their learning in school.
When independent revision is completed by their child, parents should sign the planner to confirm they have witnessed them complete the revision and sign their reading logs, where appropriate.
Homework and independent revision frequency
| Year | Subject homework time guidance | Weekly | Fortnightly | Half termly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 40 min per weeknight minimum or, if no homework has been set, 20 min independent revision using knowledge organiser and 20 min reading for pleasure | Mathematics Science English | Modern Foreign Languages Art & Design Geography History RE | Drama Music ICT Technology |
| 8 | 50 min per weeknight minimum or, if no homework has been set, 25 min independent revision using knowledge organiser and 25 min reading for pleasure | Mathematics Science English | Modern Foreign Languages Art & Design Geography History RE | Drama Music ICT Technology |
| 9 | 60 min per weeknight minimum or, if no homework has been set, 30min independent revision using knowledge organiser and 30 min reading for pleasure | Mathematics Science English | Modern Foreign Languages Art & Design Geography History RE | Drama Music ICT Technology |
| Year | Subject homework time guidance | Weekly | Fortnightly minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 75 min per weeknight minimum or, if no homework has been set, if no homework due, 75 min independent revision using knowledge organiser | Mathematics Science English | Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4 |
| 11 | 90 min per weeknight minimum or, if no homework has been set, if no homework due, 90 min independent revision using knowledge organiser | Mathematics Science English | Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4 |