HOMEWORK POLICY

1. General Statement

At Mount St Mary’s we believe that homework should be seen as part of normal school work for all pupils. It must be relevant to the present work or revision plan and must be set to give sufficient work for brighter pupils without overstretching weaker pupils. Differentiation is to be expected in such cases.

2. Homework is set for one or more of the following reasons:

to enable pupils to develop independent learning skills.
to enable pupils to practice and extend the skills and knowledge gained during class.
to test pupils’ understanding of what they have learned.
to prepare for future lessons.
to develop individual effort, responsibility and self discipline.
to manage particular demands, eg GCSE coursework.

3. Organisation

3.1	A homework timetable will be sent to all parents at the start of each school year.
3.2	In Year 7 homework should take approximately one hour per night (2 subjects) rising to about two hours per night (3 subjects) in Years 10 and 11. There is flexibility for subjects to spread homework over more than one night.

4. Recording

The school planner is used by pupils to record homework.

5. Appropriate Tasks

Homework should be relevant and manageable and could include any of the following tasks:

Investigations	Interviews	Simple experiments
Essay writing	Research	Public library visit
Drafting	Report writing	Reading
Designing	Revisions	Making a model
Drawing	Word processing	Desktop publishing
Projects

6. Special Educational Needs

In setting homework for SEN pupils it is important to balance the right of pupils to share fully in the work of the class, including homework tasks, with their individual learning needs. These needs may include consolidation and reinforcement of specific skills. For some pupils, the continuing involvement of parents is very valuable. The SEN Co-ordinator will collaborate with subject teachers through the SEN Steering Group and liaise with tutors to ensure class tasks are manageable, and individual skill practice can be incorporated without overloading the pupil.

7. Responsibilities

7.1	The Deputy Head (curriculum) has overall responsibility for all matters concerning homework. He is assisted in this by Heads of Department and Heads of Year.
7.2	Pupils should: record homework in their planner. complete homework to the best of their ability. complete homework on time. ask parents to check and sign their planner each week.
7.3	Subject teachers should: set homework according to the timetable. be familiar with the Department’s homework policy. keep a record of pupils who fail to complete homework and inform parents using diary or planner. make arrangements for the pupil to complete outstanding homework. inform Head of Department of pupils who continually fail to complete homework.
7.4	Heads of Department should: monitor homework set within the department. contact parents if a pupil persistently fails to complete homework satisfactorily. arrange with subject teacher various sanctions to deal with pupils who are failing to complete homework. These range from simple counselling to detentions after school.
7.5	Form Tutors should: check planner at least once a fortnight and sign. liaise with Year Head and Head of Department if homework is not set without reason given. work with pupils to encourage positive attitude towards homework.
7.6	Parents should: familiarise themselves with homework timetable. contact school if problems exist eg too little, too much. encourage and support pupils with their homework. support the school’s homework policy, including the sanctions used to deal with pupils who fail to complete homework satisfactorily. sign the planner each week.

8. Study Support Facilities

If there are difficulties at home providing a suitable environment in which to do homework, arrangements can be made to complete homework in school between 3.00 and 5.00pm, before school in the Cyber Café and at lunchtime in the library. In this case, parents should contact the Head of Year. In Year 11, a number of workshops are run after school to support homework study.