22nd February 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,

Re: Changes to Homework Policy

Homework is without doubt, one of the most difficult areas to manage in a Primary school and, in my experience, it can be a contentious issue. At the time of writing this, the Department for Education (DfE) is making many changes to many policies dealing with such things as the National Curriculum, assessing pupil progress, teaching standards and the role of local authorities in schools making it difficult at times to get a clear picture of what Ofsted require from schools. Nonetheless, what is clear is that the DfE still recommends that all children participate in homework.

This recommendation is based on a great deal of research highlighting that those children who are supported at home and grow up in an environment where learning and education are valued, can be seen to make better progress at school. Therefore, the DfE proposes that schools should give homework and that parents should be encouraged to be actively involved in this.

At Ickford Combined School we have tried to ensure that the children’s homework is manageable, linked to learning and valued and, the recent parent survey highlights that most families are happy that this is the case. However, there are some who feel that their children receive too much homework or that it causes problems within the family environment, something that may not be conducive to good learning.

After much thought and discussion with the Senior Leadership team and class teachers, we have decided to update our homework policy and to reduce the amount of compulsory homework given to children. The table below shows the new routine.

Year Group / Reading / Spelling /
Handwriting / Number of days per week / Learning Log tasks / Total time
R / 10 minutes / 5 minutes / 5 / N/A / I hr 15 m
1 / 10 minutes / 5 minutes / 5 / N/A / I hr 15 m
2 / 10 minutes / 5 minutes / 5 / N/A / I hr 15 m
3 / 15 minutes / 10 minutes / 5 / 1 x 30 minute task / 2 hr 35 m
4 / 15 minutes / 10 minutes / 5 / 1 x 30 minute task / 2 hr 35 m
5 / 15 minutes / 10 minutes / 5 / 1 x 30 minute task / 2 hr 35 m
6 / 15 minutes / 10 minutes / 5 / 2 x 30 minute task / 3 hr 5 min

You will see that we have removed the Learning Log tasks for the infant children and reduced the Learning Log tasks for the rest of the school. However, we believe that the Learning Logs have been successful in engaging children and providing stimulating challenges that relate to their learning in class whilst also encouraging independence and time management. Consequently, the junior children will still complete Learning Log homework rather than ‘work-sheets’.

In reducing the amount of homework, we hope to find some balance for those parents who feel that they have not got the time to do alternative things with their children and those who feel that their children cannot complete the homework without constant adult support. However, I must reiterate that children who are supported at home often make most progress at school and, with this in mind, I feel we need to emphasise the point that, should you wish to involve your children in other study at home then we support you in doing so.

Our virtual learning environment, IckLE, which can be found using the link from the school website, has several activities to engage children and we will be adding a link to other sites that can support home learning (every child has a log in for IckLE but please let the school know if you have any difficulty). The internet also enables parents to find an abundance of ‘work-sheets’ should you wish your child to do additional work at home.

I am sure you understand that it is not always easy to suit everyone and whilst some of you will welcome this change in policy, others may feel that a reduction in homework is not necessarily needed. Our approach, I hope, will have benefits for every child but we are agreed that we want parents to have some choice. We will continue to provide information about supporting children at home and we will continue to expect the homework policy to be adhered to by everyone but we believe that it is also an opportunity for parents to have greater influence on the amount of ‘learning’ activity a child has outside of school hours.

Yours sincerely

Mr Ronane

Headteacher