WALES HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMY TRUST HOME LEARNING POLICY

WALES HIGH SCHOOL
                  ACADEMY TRUST

              HOME LEARNING POLICY

REVISION DATE            APPROVED BY           DATE OF APPROVAL

 February 2014           Governing Body             6 May 2014

 April 2018              Governing Body            22 May 2018

 July 2021               Governing Body             6 July 2021

        All policies are available on the school website

Home Learning Policy

Rationale

Home Learning is an integral part of the school’s Teaching and Learning Framework and is
planned as part of each curriculum area. We believe that home learning has value in teaching
our students vital life skills such as independence, personal organisation, reliability and self-
discipline as well as consolidating knowledge and skills learnt in school.
We consider that there is a direct link between time spent on home learning and subsequent
student achievement. All home learning tasks are set at the appropriate level for the learner and
will provide rigour and challenge for all students to embed learning and promote more rapid
progress.

Home learning is all learning set by school outside timetabled curriculum hours. This can be
completed in the home, at school in support sessions, break times, lunch times and after
school using the library.

This ‘Whole School Home Learning Policy’ provides a framework within which subject
departments can develop their own policies tailored to their subject-specific circumstances and
needs whilst following the principles set out in this policy.

Aims

We consider the following to be important reasons for setting home learning:
   •   raising standards and maintaining progress;
   •   allowing students to develop, using opportunities for independent study;
   •   developing perseverance and self-discipline in work habits, including working to
       deadlines;
   •   allowing practice, where needed, of the skills learnt in the classroom or preparing
       for future lessons;
   •   encouraging parents/carers (and other adults) to become involved in students’
       work;
   •   allowing the teacher to check that work has been understood;
   •   encouraging students to extend their own areas of interest;
   •   developing time- management skills;
   •   revising for tests/assessment;
   •   allowing practice and development of literacy skills through extended writing and
       reading opportunities.

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Home learning tasks should be accessible to the students for whom they are set. There may
    be different activities for different teaching groups and they may be differentiated with groups.
    Home learning will be set and monitored via Go4Schools and can involve different sorts of
    activities. Students may be required to:

•   Research a topic and find new information (e.g. before beginning a topic);
•   Consolidation or extension of work done in lessons, including in a practical setting;
•   Present learning in a different form;
•   Learn or rehearse new ideas or words;
•   Revise for a test (e.g. by completing a poster/placemats/flash cards);
•   Completing past exam papers/questions;
•   Independent projects (individual and group) which you will need to work on for several weeks.
    These will often be broken up into a number of smaller tasks but you will need to be organised
    so that you meet the final deadline;
•   Coursework and preparation for controlled tests;
•   Present home learning to the class during lessons.
•   Access online learning platforms such as Seneca, Kahoot and Teams.

Go4Schools in supporting the Home Learning Policy
The Go4Schools Homework module is an online package for tracking and monitoring the
quality of homework set in school, as well as being an online organisational support for
both parents and students to clearly see a schedule of set tasks.

Rewards and Sanctions
Homework should be regarded as a positive enhancement to learning and should be seen as
such by students, teachers and parents.

•    Where the completion of homework demonstrates significant effort should be rewarded
     with, for example, positive behaviour points, positive postcards;
•    When homework is not completed or indicates insufficient effort sanctions should be
     imposed. This may include negative behaviour points, poor ATL, communication with
     parents and department sanctions imposed.

Home Learning Responsibilities

For a student:
•     Students must listen to homework instructions in class and use Go4Schools to support
      their organisation and independent study outside of the classroom;
•     Students are expected to complete home learning to the best of their ability and hand it in
      on time, as requested;
•     It is the student’s responsibility to speak to their teacher if they need further clarification
      regarding any aspect of the home learning task;
•     Students must label pieces of work as home learning in exercise books or folders; this is
      to allow for easy identification during monitoring;

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The monitoring of students ‘Home Learning is key and is a shared responsibility of the teachers
and leaders within the school and parents at home. Regular and consistent use of Go4Schools
is therefore essential.
For a parent:
    •    Provide support for their child to complete Home Learning tasks in terms of a quiet
         place to work, help with prioritising their time at home, encouragement and praise;
    •    Get them to explain their homework before they start;
    •    Check Go4Schools on a daily basis and support their children in ensuring that the tasks
         are handed in on time;
    •    Contact individual subject teachers if they have any issues regarding home learning
         tasks set and/or their child's record of completion.
For a teacher:
•       Relevant and meaningful home learning tasks will be set with regards to the needs, age
        and ability of the students. As far as possible, there needs to be opportunities provided for
        independent learning. Tasks used for home learning should allow for progression to be
        made, irrespective of ability. Learning skills should be developed improving
        independence, organisation, self-reliance and discipline;
•       Clear instructions must be given to students about the home learning task. Where
        necessary, teachers may need to ensure our more vulnerable learners are confident with
        what is required of them. Go4Schools will provide additional support for all learners;
•       The monitoring of students home learning is key and is a shared responsibility of all staff
        and leaders within the school and parents at home. The primary responsibility lies with
        the class teacher who must use Go4Schools to set all home learning tasks, record the
        submission of work and issue the relevant rewards and sanctions;
•       Home learning must be checked, marked or graded soon after completion;
•       Students will receive feedback for all homework; the nature of which will reflect the
        activity, and at times may be verbal, but should indicate strengths and clear targets to
        help students take the next development steps;
•       Some pieces may have feedback given by fellow students as AfL (Assessment for
        Learning) opportunities.

For a subject leader:
•       Each department needs to explain clearly their home learning plans in their schemes of
        work. Home learning should be effectively embedded into learning sequences to stretch,
        challenge and embed knowledge.
•       Each department needs to provide differentiated independent learning tasks that are
        accessible to all and standardised across the department. This may be supplemented by
        additional tasks set by individual class teachers.
•       As part of the QA process. Heads of Department, TLR Holders and SLT will monitor
        the setting and completion of home learning during the year via Go4Schools and other
        QA procedures.
•       It is the responsibility of Heads of Department to monitor and evaluate the setting of
        home learning, its quality and appropriateness.
•       Departments need to have a structured policy in place to ensure all students complete
        home learning tasks. This needs to be in line with the school’s Behaviour for Learning
        Policy.
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•       Heads of Department, Heads of Year, SLT and Intervention Teams will need to
        monitor home learning for those students who have been identified for special action,
        such as under-achievement.

•       Heads of Year and Heads of Department will be involved in monitoring home learning if
        a particular student has been referred via GO4Schools for not completing homework.

For the tutor:
•     The Tutor is responsible for monitoring behaviour points on Go4Schools paying particular
attention to home learning issues and behaviour related points, so that support can be put in
place.
•    Tutors should ensure students are aware of all home learning clubs and sessions that
are available to support them with their work.

Monitoring Review and Evaluation of the Home Learning Policy

The processes below will be closely monitored by the leadership team and evaluated as they
occur to allow for improvements to be made as appropriate.

    •    Reviewing schemes of work for home learning opportunities is to be done by
         Heads of Department and SLT during link meetings and quality assured by the
         curriculum lead.
    •    The setting and completion of home learning will be monitored as part of the QA
         process, by Heads of Department, TLR Holders and SLT.
    •    Parents will be canvassed at Parents’ Evenings regarding home learning issues.

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