Homework

Independent Home Learning (IHL)

Rationale and Purposes of Independent Home Learning (IHL)

At Abbeywood Community School (ACS) we believe IHL is a key part of school life. It allows students to develop their skills and knowledge independently and makes the difference between good and great progress.

IHL has a range of purposes that include:

Deliberate practice and consolidation of work done in class.
Providing further stretch and challenge.
Providing opportunities for independent work.
Preparation for exams and tests.
Preparation for future class work.
Developing library skills and use of other learning resources outside of school.
Allowing assessment of students’ progress and mastery of work.
Developing students’ good learning habits: organisation, meeting deadlines, resilience, independence, creativity, responsibility.
Providing opportunities for parents/carers to get involved with their child’s learning and creating channels for home-school dialogue.

IHL tasks are set at a frequency proportional to curriculum time.

In Years 7 and 8 IHL tasks should take about 20-30min to complete and are set weekly for core subjects and fortnightly for all other subjects

In Year 9 IHL tasks should take about 45-60min to complete and are set weekly for core subjects and fortnightly for all other subjects

Years 10 and 11 Examination subjects tasks should take about 60-90 min to complete and are set weekly, plus additional revision and exam paper practice where necessary
Post 16 tasks should be set on the “hour for an hour” principle.

Setting and submission of work

All IHL is set on ClassCharts and students are expected to check their timetable and ensure that work is submitted on ClassCharts before the deadline. Students who fail to submit their work will be required to complete the missing work in after school sessions.

Year 7	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Week 1	English	Maths	Science	MFL	RS
	Geography		ICT	Drama
Week 2	English	Maths		MFL
		History		Art	PD

Year 8	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Week 1	English	Maths		MFL
	Geography		ICT	Drama
Week 2	English	Maths	Science	MFL	RS
		History		Art	PD

Year 9	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Week 1	English	Maths	Biology	MFL	RS
	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3	Option 4	Physics
Week 2	English	Maths	Chemistry	MFL	RS
	Art	Option 2	Option 3	Option 4	independent

Year 10	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Week 1	English	Maths	Biology	RS	Physics
	Business	MFL,	Option 3	Independent	Independent
	Business	Sociology	Option 3	Independent	Independent
Week 2	English	Maths	Chemistry	RS	Independent
	Business,	MFL,	Option 3	Independent	Independent
	Art, PE,	Sociology
	Drama,
	Music

Year 11	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Week 1	English	Maths	Biology	Independent	Physics
	Business	MFL,	Option 3	Independent	Independent
	Business	Sociology	Option 3	Independent	Independent
Week 2	English	Maths	Chemistry	Independent	Independent
	Business,	MFL,	Option 3	Independent	Independent
	Art, PE, Drama,	Sociology
	Music

Subject	Outline of IHL Year 7-8
Art	IHL linked to classwork per term.
Drama	IHL is linked to students learning in lessons. Task are varied, and will include line-learning for script-work; writing in role; review and analysis written work; research. IHL tasks will be assigned via the ClassCharts platform.
English	Independent reading for pleasure and completion of weekly word booklet to develop use of cross curriculum academic vocabulary.
Geography	All tasks set on ClassCharts (revision and quizzes) and specific assignments on Seneca.
History	Students will be issued with the topic knowledge organiser, which also be available on the website. Students will be told which numbers on the knowledge organiser to revise and memorise over a two week period. They will then be tested on this content at the start of a lesson.
ICT	All tasks set on ClassCharts (revision and quizzes).
Maths	Students will be set a Hegarty maths task per week. This requires them to watch and take notes from the relevant clip and answer the quiz questions in their blue IHL book.
MFL	Weekly Learning Vocab check & Recall (KOs)/Peer-assessed writing/Reading /translation tasks (Termly).
PD	Students to be given a project to work for IHL across each rotation which will last for the full 8 weeks.
PE	Termly Knowledge Organiser given out. 10 question multiple choice quiz at the end of each term.
RS	Students will be given sections of knowledge organisers to learn and there will be regular in class testing on this. Class teacher will check that IHL has been completed.
Science	Students will be given sections of knowledge organisers to learn and specific tasks on ClassCharts.

Subject	Outline of IHL Year 9-11
Art	Independent research and taking home sketch book to improve coursework.
Biology	Students will be given sections of knowledge organisers to learn and specific tasks on Seneca. In addition there may be further practice questions.
Business	End of topic exam questions, exam board checking test at the end of each topic, Knowledge organiser recall.
Chemistry	Students will be given sections of knowledge organisers to learn and specific tasks on Seneca. In addition there may be further practice questions.
Computing	Students will be making notes from video resources.
Drama
DT	Students will be given sections of knowledge organisers to learn and specific tasks on Seneca.
English	Students will be given weekly revision tasks linked to current and prior learning. This will involve a combination of Seneca, ClassCharts and written revision tasks. Students will be given regular tests to check this revision.
Food	Y10 topic based activities linked to exam preparation. Y11 Short projects to support coursework.
Geography	Students will be set weekly tasks to assessment knowledge and understanding of current and prior learning. This will involve a combination of Seneca tests (assigned), ClassCharts tasks, GCSE revision book worksheets and exam questions.
History	Students will be issued with the topic knowledge organiser, which also be available on the website. Students will be told which numbers on the knowledge organiser to revise and memorise over a two week period. They will then be tested on this content at the start of a lesson.
ICT	Ongoing work to support coursework.
Maths	Students will be set a Hegarty maths task per week. This requires them to watch and take notes from the relevant clip and answer the quiz questions in their blue IHL book. In addition there may be further practice questions.
MFL	Weekly Learning Vocab check & Recall (KOs)/ Peer-assessed Theme based writing/translation tasks, reading comprehension and grammar (Every 2 weeks).
Music
PE	Students will be given weekly revision tasks or coursework linked to current and prior learning.
Physics	Students will be given sections of knowledge organisers to learn and specific tasks on Seneca. In addition there may be further practice questions.
Photography	Students will be given a ‘word of the week’ (WOW) where they will be asked to take a single photograph on a new theme each week, paying particular attention to composition. Additional IHL linked to coursework will be set when required.
RS	Students will be given sections of knowledge organisers to learn and there will be regular in class testing on this. Class teacher will check that IHL has been completed.