2021 WHOLE SCHOOL HOMEWORK

SURVEY

MARCH 2021
ALDERLEY EDGE CP SCHOOL
Context: In 2021, the school’s homework policy and practise was due for review by staff and
Governors.

As part of the process the views of parents and children was considered important.

The parent body were asked to contribute to an online survey.

The survey coincided with the end of a period of school closures and home learning and
parents were asked to consider their responses in light of ‘normal’ homework arrangements.

However, during the latest school closure, Microsoft Teams was used extensively for home
learning in replacement of the VLE. Therefore a question regarding this as a preferred method
of communication was included.

Response rate – 10%

Areas of 90% indicated that homework has an importance in school life with 86% recognising its value
Strength: for learning

Online games and reading were the most preferred type of homework

86% of responses supported TEAMs being used for the communication and setting of
homework. No one disagreed.

Areas of The amount of homework set

Next Steps: Sharing of report with school community including staff, governors and parents

Meeting of the Senor Leadership Team to discuss and address the areas highlighted

Review of the homework policy and practise

Staff training

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Anonymous comment Response from School
Post lockdown and homeschooling, I would like to see a nice stretch of time As a school, we recognise that this
without having to think about homework or schooling. I think you will find in this has been an exceptionally changing
survey that virtually all parents are burned out, and one trigger away from a period for families. We too value
straightjacket. I believe home life/family time is sacrosanct. At work, I rarely work family time and the extracurricular
outside of business hours unless it is critical, and I will not burden my team with activities undertaken by our children
work that will interfere with their personal time (family life/downtime) unless it is so will consider this when reviewing
absolutely necessary. If the allotted work can not be completed in business hours, the policy and the demands it places
then the work load needs to be re-assessed. If I think about school as my child's on families.
job, I have a cognitive disconnect with expecting them to work out of hours
because I would not expect my team at work to do that…and I think it sets them
up to accept taking home work every night, which doesn’t set the stage for a
healthy work-life balance in the future and will lead to mental health issues and
burnout. That being said, I do recognise that things like reading and maths are
largely practice, so I am not averse to reading every day and doing some maths,
bearing in mind that my children still require a lot of support to complete work. A
quick scan of the pedagogical literature appears to suggest that homework at this
age is only effective when it’s no more than 10-20 minutes per evening, which
isn’t always possible for many families, mine included – as we have swimming,
Rainbows, horseback riding, singing, dance as extracurricular activities, that I think
are of equal importance. I am happy to earmark my child’s time to reading every
day. This doesn’t leave much time balance for other homework activities around
maths/topics/writing. Children – like mine – who struggle with the work and
homework can quickly grow to hate school and learning, which is a horrible
outcome…so I remain of the opinion that we will do what we can, and if they don’t
get their homework done, I’m not overly fussed about it.
Homework often takes up to 3 hours in our house and causes many arguments Thank you for this feedback. We will
because our child doesn’t want to do it. Because it takes up so much of our consider the quantity of work set to
weekend, it prevents us from spending quality family time together. We would ensure that it is manageable.
prefer to have only piece of homework for the weekend- either maths or English
or a project that they can focus on properly but not several pieces which they’re
just trying to rush through because they’ve got so much to do. Having just one
piece of work to do would be much more productive in my opinion.
I think homework Is helpful to assist some children with consolidating their Thank you for this feedback.
learning; it provides parents with an insight as to their child’s learning and
abilities.
General comment not just directed at this year group but it would be helpful if In normal times, homework is set in a
homework was able to be issued earlier in the week but at the latest by Wednesday and collected on
Wednesday evening to ensure adequate time can be allocated to complete Monday to allow staff to mark the
properly. Sometimes it has not been issued until Thursday/Friday AM books before returning to the
children. Apologies far any
inconvenience caused by late setting
of homework. I will feed your
comments to the teachers.
I think children would benefit from more maths homework to be given out Thank you – we try to balance the
English and maths. My Maths
website can always be used to
supplement maths homework.
If using teams please make sure there are consistent and clear headings where Thank you for this feedback. We are
parents need to look for homework and spellings as these often differ between aware of the need for a consistent
teachers and it can be hard for parents to know where to look. Homework set approach to using Teams as a result
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differs massively from teacher to teacher. Some set clear work with great marking of our review of Teams post the
and feedback. Others are not clear on what is needed (eg “find out who x is” - my January lockdown so will bear this in
child writes a page, other children verbally give one sentence on who x is and are mind if used going forward.
told that is sufficient. Those who have done the written work were told that they
needn’t have bothered. Not very motivating. Marking needs to be clear. Please Please see our marking policy for our
correct errors and spellings! There have been a number of times where I have approach to marking and feedback
asked my older child (now left) to check their grammar, they haven’t done so and I
have said “well I’m sure your teacher will point it out if you won’t re-read your
work”. Then as a parent I am dismayed when the work is returned with no
corrections and a sticker for excellent work! In that case the homework has taught
them nothing except that mediocrity is acceptable to that teacher even when you
definitely have the ability to do it correctly.
I agree with homework. However, I disagree with the quantity. My son who is at Thank you for this feedback, the
high school gets less quantity of homework appears to be
a common theme
Whilst a variety of homework is great - research, maths, comprehension etc, Thank you for this feedback, the
sometimes there can be too much to fit in over a weekend when trying to see quantity of homework appears to be
family, sporting activities etc. Doing in the week after a day at school plus reading a common theme
is too much.
The homework takes much longer than is listed above. Thank you for this feedback, the
quantity of homework appears to be
a common theme
As a rule, I would prefer homework to be less structured to give children the As part of our review we will consider
opportunity to explore their interests in their own way and to allow for more the nature and type of homework to
family activities/outings. They have excellent structured learning in the classroom, try to balance views and preferences
so I would prefer that their time outside the classroom was spent in learning
through experience. I don’t think the current homework requirements are unduly
onerous, but I think sitting down to grammar sheets and suchlike isn’t the best use
of a child’s weekend - nor is marking them best use of a teacher’s time!
Normally I support homework in addition to school learning. It helps parents see Thank you for your suggestion, your
what the children may need extra help with and prepares them for high school. view is noted
This year however after all the home-learning I think that home work should be
reduced.
Normally I support homework as it helps the parents see what the children are Thank you for your suggestion, your
doing at school and what they need help with. This year however after all the view is noted
home-learning I would prefer it if homework were reduced for a period of time to
restore a peaceful balance at home without battles over schoolwork.
Homework should take less than 1 hour. Thank you for your suggestion, your
view is noted

Thank you to all the parents who contributed to this survey.

Your views will be considered carefully and will lead changes in homework policy and practise if
needed.

Yours sincerely

Lindsey Walsh

(Headteacher)

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