Education and learning - What children learn - Learning at home/outside school:

Homework

Support for your child

Government guidelines on homework give a broad indication of how much time pupils might reasonably be expected to spend on homework. The guidelines emphasise the importance of homework and how it helps your child to learn, rather than focusing on whether it takes a certain amount of time. The guidelines also encourage schools to plan homework carefully alongside the work that children do at school, and to make sure that all activities are appropriate for individual children.

The guidelines for primary school children are:

Years 1 and 2: 1 hour per week
Years 3 and 4: 1.5 hours per week
Years 5 and 6: 30 minutes per day

The guidelines for secondary school children are:

Years 7 and 8: 45 to 90 minutes per day
Year 9: 1 to 2 hours per day
Years 10 and 11: 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day

Go to the Government's guidelines for schools [External Site] for more information.

How much homework?

Children should not be expected to spend significantly longer on homework than the guide times set out above. It does not matter if activities do not take as long as the guide times as long as they are useful. Schools and teachers are expected to organise homework carefully so that children are not expected to do too much on any one day.

What sort of activities should children be doing?

All homework activities should be related to work that children are doing at school. However, homework should not always be written work. For young children it will largely be:

Reading with parents or carers
Informal games to practice mathematical skills

For older children, homework may include:

Reading
Preparing a presentation to the class
Finding out information
Making something
Trying out a simple scientific experiment
Cooking

Should I help my child with homework?

Generally, schools are very keen for parents to support and help children with their homework. However, there are times when schools will want to see what your children can do on their own. It is particularly important, as they get older, for your children to become increasingly independent in their learning. Schools generally take the view that children are likely to get more out of an activity if parents get involved as long as they do not take over too much. If you are unsure about what your role should be, you should discuss it with your child's school. They will be very pleased that you are interested and will want to help you get the balance right.

Doing homework somewhere other than at home

Over the next few years, many schools will be given funding so they can provide opportunities for older children to do homework either at school or somewhere else where there is supervision.

Find out more about support centres [External Site] such as libraries. Some schools already offer this opportunity - contact your child's school for information.

Feedback on your child's homework

Schools are expected to make sure children are given feedback on their homework. It should be given in a way that lets your child know:

How well they have done
How they could do better

This may not always happen through written comments from the teacher. Sometimes, work will be discussed in lessons or teachers may give written comments on just one or two aspects of a piece of work. If you are concerned about the feedback given to your child you should discuss this with the school.

Homework and children with special educational needs

Schools are expected to consider carefully the needs of individual children and think about how they can best work with parents and carers to support their learning, including their personal and social development. Teachers are asked to be careful to ensure that children with special needs in mainstream schools are given good quality homework tasks rather than just completing class work. They should also work with school's special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) to make sure the level is right.

10 things you can do to help your child learn

1. Give your child confidence through lots of praise and encouragement.

As a parent, you have tremendous power to strengthen your child's confidence - and confidence is vital to learning.
Provide specific praise that focuses on a particular aspect of their work. Comments such as "I like the way you have..." is more effective than "You're clever!".

2. Read to, and with, your child as much as possible.

As part of the National Year of Reading the Government is encouraging parents and carers to read to children, hear them read, or encourage them to read to themselves for at least 20 minutes a day.

3. Encourage children to observe and talk about their surroundings.

Even young children can be helped to read notices and signs, for example, and understand what they mean.

4. Make use of your local library.

Look out for special events and services for children.

5. Visit museums and places you think your child might find interesting.

Children now have free admission to major national museums and art galleries.

6. If your children like watching television, watch it with them sometimes and encourage them to talk about what they have seen. They will get more out of the experience.

7. Try to set time aside to do "homework" activities with young children.

8. Wherever possible, try to provide a reasonably quiet place for children to do homework (or help them to get to other places where homework can be done).

9. Encourage your child to discuss homework with you, including feedback from teachers.

10. Try to help your child to see the enjoyable aspects of homework.

Help with revision

Exams are one of the most stressful things in any child's life. With the revision and exam season fast approaching, it may seem that there is little more that can be done to help. However, there are steps you can take to help your child do well, such as:

Provide a quiet space for your child (not where the TV can distract them)
Keep younger children out of their way
Make sure your child has a revision timetable of manageable pieces of work and checklists for them to work to
Encourage them to attend any special revision classes on offer
Their timetable should include time for relaxing - make sure they take regular breaks and that they get to bed at a reasonable time, especially the night before an exam

For more information, the following links will provide help and advise students facing exams:

BBC Revision [External Site]
Lots of information to help your child prepare for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 national tests, GCSE and AS levels.
Learn.co.uk [External Site]
Learn.co.uk one of the largest learning resources on the web for homework and revision.

Study support

Study support (out of school hours learning) covers a wide range of learning activities outside normal lesson times which young people take part in voluntarily.

The kinds of activities that may be included in study support are:

Homework clubs (facilities and support to do homework)
Help with key skills, including literacy, numeracy and IT
Study clubs (linked to or extending curriculum subjects)
Sports, games and adventurous outdoor activities
Creative ventures (music, drama, dance, film and the full range of arts)
Residential events - study weeks or weekends
Space and support for coursework and exam revision
Opportunities for voluntary activities in the school or community
Opportunities to pursue particular interests (science, IT, law, archaeology, languages, etc.)
Mentoring by adults or other pupils
Learning about learning (thinking skills, accelerated learning, etc.)
Community service (crime prevention initiatives, environmental clubs, etc.)

Further information on what is involved in study support can be found on the Study Support website [External Site].

How can my child get involved?

Study support may take place in a variety of places in your local area. You could ask at the following places whether they run activities for young people.

Your child's school
Art galleries and museums
Library
Community Centres

Through the Playing for Success [External Site] initiative, there are also study support centres at many top football and other sports clubs around the country helping pupils with their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills. The centres use the environment and medium of football, rugby and other sports as motivational tools and focus on raising literacy, numeracy and ICT standards amongst KS2 and 3 pupils who are struggling a little and often demotivated.

How old does my child have to be to take part in study support?

There are no age criteria. However, most study support in schools is aimed at children aged 7 to 16 (Key Stages 2-4).

How can it help my child?

Study support can help your child develop skills and qualities that can lead to improved performance in school subjects and higher self-esteem.

It offers the opportunity to learn about subjects not in the normal curriculum and to learn in different ways.

Your child may even be involved in running some activities, giving them opportunities to develop practical skills in planning and organisation. They may also be able to pass on the benefits of their own knowledge and experiences by mentoring their peers or younger children.

Study support can offer a different perception of learning from normal classroom activities, and some young people find it easier to learn in less structured and formal environments. A less formal environment can also help build new relationships with teachers.

Taking part in study support helps to improve young people's motivation, build self-esteem and helps them become more effective learners. This has a positive effect on pupils' achievements in school and on their employability when they leave school.

The Study Support National Evaluation and Development Programme - a three-year study of 8,000 pupils in 52 schools - found that pupils who take part in study support do better than expected in attainment, attitudes to school and attendance.

Study support affects GCSE performance. On average, pupils who take part in study support get one more A-C pass and improve their results in maths and English by 1/2 a grade.

How can I help?

You can become involved in study support in a number of ways. You can

Help in the planning and organisation of events
Work as a volunteer in out of school activities
Providing a supportive learning environment for your child at home
Read Parent Extra by clicking the link below

Downloads:

Parent Extra - A guide to out-of-school-hours learning - download (.pdf) (help)