Homework Policy

Our Vision

Our ambition for all students at JC Prep

We aim to nurture happy, confident, caring students, who enjoy positive relationships and show compassion and respect for others. We want students to grow as individuals, to feel valued and to forge a strong and supportive community that reaches out around the world. We hope they will demonstrate a growing awareness about the choices they make and the impact these have on their environment.

We want to develop hardworking, independent students and creative thinkers. Our students will be encouraged to take full advantage of opportunities and to aspire to the highest standards. We aim for our students to be inquisitive, ambitious and motivated in their approach to learning. We want them to grow in independence, to be reflective in their thinking, to be eager for challenges and to be able to cope with setbacks.

Our goal is to prepare our students for life beyond JC Prep equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes for life-long learning.

At the heart of all we do are the College’s Core Values: Aspire, Inquire, Excel, Belong.

Aims of this policy 

• To ensure that parents are clear about what their child is expected to do.
• To ensure consistency of approach throughout the school.
• To use homework as a tool to help continue to raise standards of attainment.
• Improve the quality of the learning experience offered to pupils and to extend it beyond the classroom environment.
• To provide opportunities for parents, children and the school to work together in partnership in relation to children’s learning.
• To encourage pupils and their parents to share and enjoy learning experiences.
• To reinforce work covered in class by providing further opportunities for individual learning.
• To practise or consolidate basic skills and knowledge; especially in Maths and English.
• To encourage children to develop the responsibility, confidence and self-discipline needed to study independently.
• To prepare Year 6 pupils for the transfer to secondary school

Introduction

The school policy for homework was developed and agreed by the whole staff and has the full agreement of the Governing Body. The policy was approved and ratified by the Governing Body during Spring Term 2017 and is regularly reviewed.

The Nature of Homework

It should be noted that homework can be set in many different forms with many different expectations and outcomes. It is important to remember that when expecting and setting homework there are a number of points to consider:

1. The nature and type of homework changes throughout a pupils school career.
2. It will not necessarily come in the form of a written task.
3. Homework should be set regularly from the Foundation Stage to Year 6.

Recommended Time Allocation

A period of time over days will allowed for the completion of a homework task, except where daily practice is to be encouraged e.g. reading, spelling and times tables.

Homework Tasks

Listed below, for each phase of Jersey College Prep Primary School, are a number of example tasks and activities that might be given as homework. This is by no means an exhaustive list and is open to constant change, although many of these tasks and activities will be used on a regular basis. Homework activities will change to meet the needs of the pupils involved and activities that might be occurring in class. All homework tasks and activities will have a clear purpose and assist pupils in the process of their academic development.

Foundation Stage 

These may include:

• Reading books and key words
• Counting up and downstairs, number of jumps, number of tins etc.
• Reciting nursery and counting rhymes.
• Identification of shapes in the environment.
• Fastening and unfastening buttons and zips and tying shoelaces – getting dressed and undressed etc.

Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)

Homework will include:

• Reading books and key words
• Learning spellings
• English activities
• Maths activities

Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 and 4)

Homework will include:

• Reading (minimum of 15 minutes per day)
• Spellings (including words from the year 3 and 4 100 word spelling list and JC Prep spelling lists)
• Maths activities; often to consolidate prior learning

Upper Key Stage 2 (Year 5 and 6)

Homework will include:

• Reading (minimum of 20 minutes per day)
• Spellings (including words from the year 5 and 6 100 words spelling list and JC Prep spelling lists)
• Maths activities; often to consolidate prior learning 

Key Stage 1 and 2

Homework could include:

• English skills practice e.g. grammar work, punctuation.
• Topic/project work
• Online work can also form part of homework. Children who do not have access to a computer will be granted access during school time.
• Maths activities which may include learning number facts and real life numeracy problems.

Role of the Class Teacher

• To provide an explanation of homework tasks to children and, when necessary, parents and give guidance of how they might assist their child. This may be done by a curriculum meeting.
• To set up regular homework in an easily followed routine.
• To ensure that homework is set consistently across classes in the Year group.
• To ensure any homework is purposeful and links directly to the curriculum being taught.
• To reward and praise children who regularly complete homework tasks and if there are issues concerning homework discuss with parents to reach an agreement.
• Ensure homework is marked when necessary and give feedback to pupils.

Role of Parents/Carers

• To support the school in ensuring that homework including projects is done primarily by the child; support where necessary is always valued.
• To support the school by ensuring that their child attempts the homework.
• To provide a suitable place for their child to carry out their homework.
• To encourage and praise their child when they have completed their homework.
• To become actively involved and support their child with homework activities.
• To make it clear that they value homework and they support the school by explaining how it can help learning.

At Jersey College Prep Primary School we are very keen for parents to support and help their children with homework. We take the view that children are likely to get more out of an activity if parents get involved as long as they do not take over too much. However, there are times when we will want to see what children can do on their own. It is particularly important, as they get older, for children to become increasingly independent in their learning.

General

• Marking homework is a way of keeping track of who has completed their homework, and giving them feedback on how well they have met the objectives of the work. However, feedback may be given to individual pupils, or to groups of pupils in a variety of forms including verbal.
• If children are absent due to illness we will not send homework home. We would assume the child was too ill to work. If the illness is short-term, the child will need to see the teacher as soon as they return to school, for any homework they have missed.
• In the event of long term illness an agreement re homework will be made on an individual basis.
• It is not possible to give homework when parents take holidays in term time.
• Parents/Carers who have queries about homework should not hesitate to see their child’s class teacher.