We believe that homework should be purposeful and should lead to improved practice, improved knowledge or practising the skills acquired in lessons. The tasks can also be about pre-reading to prepare for the upcoming lessons. Occasionally, a student might take their books home to complete the work they missed or work on improving something they did in class.  

We subscribe to a number of online platforms to help students practise and learn away from school. All students have access to these and work on assignments or be proactive and looking at the content they need to review.  

The platforms like Oak Academy, Seneca Learning and Educake are some examples of this.  

Absent students 

If your child is poorly and not at school, when they feel better, they should be accessing our online platforms and looking for content that was covered in the lessons they missed.  

They are encouraged to be proactive and reach out to their teachers for information.  

As homework is set regularly, they should be checking for the assignments even if they have not been in class. As C. S. Lewis says, ‘Do the right thing even when no one is watching.’  

How can you help as a parent or guardian?  

Here are some strategies for you:  

1. We use metacognitive research to optimise our work with memory. This diagram shows you the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, which allows us to calculate how to organise our retrieval practice. It can help you guide your child through their revision.  

 

 

For example, if something was learned on Monday, ideally, it should be revisited the following day, then again on Thursday and a Sunday. If it is not revisited, it will be forgotten within three days.  

2. Re-reading and highlighting notes is better than no revision but if you really want to make an impact, your memory needs to work harder than that. Instead of simply re-reading: 

30:30 

1. Give your child a timer. Set it to 30 seconds.  

2. Ask your child to spend 30 seconds reading.  

3. When the timer stops, ask them to close the notes and write everything they remember. They can work on this for 30 seconds or until they run out of information they remember.  

4. Continue the 30:30 reading – writing for 10 minutes.  

5. Then, question your child on the notes they made from memory.  

Dual coding 

1. Use the notes you child completed in the 30:30 activity or any other content that you are revising.  

2. Ask them to show this content in pictures. It sounds trivial but your brain makes connections between the images and knowledge and it forces you to think about the associations you made.  

3. Use flashcards with some images and some words.  

Flashcards 

Everyone always talks about flashcards but there is an art to creating and using them.  

1. When your child is creating a flashcard, remind them to keep a lot of empty space – they need to summarise the information, bullet-point it. Make it short.  

2. Once the information they want to remember on one side, on the other side, make it memorable by using dual coding or fill in the gaps task.  

3. Again, it is all about making the brain struggle to retrieve the information, not simply to read it.  

 

Leitner flashcard system  

Now that you have the flashcards, you need to know what to do with them. Again, we need to use the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve to make this work properly. Leitner has created an easy system to help you with this.  

1. Get three to five boxes or envelopes.  

2. All flashcards start in box 1.  

3. Check your child’s knowledge by questioning your child using the flashcards.  

4. If they answer correctly, the flashcard moves to the second box.  

5. If incorrectly, it stays in box 1.  

6. The following day, you start in box 2. If correct, move it to 3. If incorrect, return to 1. Then do the same with the cards in box 1.  

7. Follow the system to its conclusion.  

The Pomodoro Technique  

This technique is for students who struggle with time management and having trouble with procrastination. Suggest it to your child if you recognise these issues. This technique is great to improve focus, minimise distractions, prevents burnout, promotes accountability and boosts motivation.  

It goes like this: 

One pomodoro = 25 minutes  

1. Pick a task. 

2. Set the timer to 25 minutes.  

3. Work through the task.  

4. After 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break.  

5. Every four pomodoros, take a longer 15-30 minute break.