The Home-Learning Timetable and Home Learning

Key Terms in relation to Home Learning:

Independent Learning:  Time during which a student directs their own learning of a subject.  This will include using resources and links provided by the school, as well as internet-based searches (e.g. “AQA GCSE Geography revision”) to locate appropriate information.  Students should focus on committing knowledge and skills to their long-term memory using a range of techniques, which may include note-taking and summarising, quizzing, answer questions and creating new questions to answer, and working with their peers on joint revision.

Mastery of Knowledge: Dedicating sufficient time and energy to learning, such that an almost complete grasp of the subject material at hand is established. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastery_learning

VESPA Mindset: The VESPA system looks at the importance of non-cognitive skills in educational success,  helping every learner become the best they can be. The VESPA system was initially developed to help improve student performance, productivity and wellbeing.  It draws together current thinking from psychology, business and sport to inspire, motivate and support students ensuring they achieve their full potential. VESPA (Vision, Effort, Systems, Practice, Attitude) aims to cut through the noise surrounding character development to discover common behaviours and characteristics that all students need to be successful.

Disciplinary Literacy: This refers to each student becoming proficient in reading, writing, speaking and debating within the language domain of each subject. In particular there is reference to the tiers of vocabulary: Tier one being the everyday words that are familiar in daily language use e.g. “large”; Tier two words are found in many content texts and can be seen as cross-curricular terms e.g. “increase”; Tier three represents subject-specific academic vocabulary e.g. “conurbation”.

Please note that all students must have access (via the desktop, tablet or mobile apps) to both Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook.  All home-learning (and, in the event of the need to move to Remote Education, all live online sessions) are accessed through Teams. All email communication is via Outlook. Students save and access their work from school using OneDrive. USB keys etc. should never be used. Any issues with access to these apps should be directed to ictsupport@ssscs.co.uk. Should your child need support in how to access or use these apps, the ‘Computing Department’ are happy to provide guidance.

Students must check both Teams and Outlook at least once per day to enable them to be part of the full learning experience at SSSCS.

Years 7 and 8

Each subject will set one home-learning task per week although there may be some occasions where a longer project may be assigned that covers, for example, 2-3 weeks. 

These will be based around promoting study skills which will be taught and modelled in assemblies. 

Not all students study the same diet of subjects each day. Therefore the schedule below is a suggestion as to which night could be used for which subject. The day that the home-learning is set will often not match the suggested evening on which the home-learning is completed.

Teachers should be mindful of this when planning the deadline for work to be handed in and are encouraged to set a minimum deadline of around one week whenever practicable and at least two weeks notice of revision/learning for an assessment.

Guided time per subject is 20-30 minutes and 60-90 minutes per evening.

In addition, students will be set disciplinary literacy and numeracy tasks.

Students should also use their time for Independent Learning of the topics being studied, and their own reading/research of the subjects on their timetable.

EXAMPLE Schedule for the completion of Home-learning and Independent Learning at home:

Years 9, 10 and 11

Each subject will set one home-learning task per week.

This applies to all subjects with the exception of the following subjects which will set up to two home-learning tasks each week: English and Mathematics (core subjects, two GCSEs for English) and Science (worth two GCSEs)

The day that students work on their home-learning may not be the same day as the lesson in which the home-learning is set. Teachers should be mindful of this when planning the deadline for work to be handed in.

Guided time per subject is 30-40 minutes and 120-150 minutes per evening.

Students must also use their time for Independent Learning in which they use their own study skills to revise and learn the knowledge and skills related to each subject studied.  It is expected that students make the full use of the expected time each evening to learning/revision, choosing their own Independent Learning approach when necessary.

EXAMPLE Schedule for the completion of Home-learning and Independent Learning at home:

Years 12 and 13

At this level a home-learning task will be set every lesson.

To assist students in the management of their time, if the home-learning task needs to be handed in (or presented in class), teachers will set the task at least seven days in advance of the deadline.

Students will be expected to work on independent learning (IL) activities to ensure that total home-learning time per evening is at least two-and-a-half to three hours (up to four hours at the weekend).

At this level students should be fully versed with the principles of independent learning, but nevertheless this will not be taken for granted. Teachers will ensure that clear and regular guidance is given. Independent learning (IL) will include activities such as reviewing and revising previous notes, researching topics and supplementing notes, reading, practising extension questions etc.

Please direct any queries about this message to the appropriate Raising Standards Leader (Head of Year) for your child's Year Group, or the Subject Leader of the subject in question.  Full details available at: https://www.ssscs.co.uk/contact-details/