Do you agree with homework in Primary

Teachers can't please everyone. I've sat in a parent forum at an infant school with a parent ranting that there were not enough worksheets for homework and they were depriving her 5 year old of a fair chance at life. Whatever level of homework they set, it will be too much for some, or too little for others, or (often) both at the same time.

Encourage your child to do the projects, but don't push for perfectionism. They need to hand in something, it doesn't have to be The Best. Don't be afraid to stop at 20 mins or whatever and write on their work how long they did it for. But personally I would not wage war against the setting of homework altogether.

I like the way my daughter's school does homework. They are expected to read daily and encouraged to learn their weekly spelling words. Then there's one 'project' piece of homework per term based on their current theme.

This is set right at the beginning of term with the expectation that they start sharing after half term and is normally up to the child how they deliver the message of what they've learnt about the theme. Some draw pictures/posters, others create presentations, others write stories. One of my daughter's friends made a short video of his toys playing out a story from the theme.

The idea is to engage them with learning rather than rote repetition of tasks and it goes down really well because it's completely personal and gives the child a chance to show what they've learnt in a way that interests them.

All specific learning is done in class where the children have equal access to support, environment and resources. Much fairer way I think.

DT’s didn’t do homework in primary and still managed to finish school with all A’s in GCSE and A level. They had mandatory homework club in senior school.
There was no time for it at primary with a late collection from after school club, music and sports clubs and some downtime.

Some of the work though - ''Research a middle eastern country, and prepare a presentation on it's cultural differences to ours. How is life different for children living there compared to your own? Compare their national cuisine to your own and include photographs of you making a recipe from that country. Be sure to include an introduction, some illustrations and finally a summery of your observations'' ....

Or just let the 8 year old enjoy her blinking half term break! 🙄

YABU

One reason why a lot of Brits struggle with Maths is they never actually learn the basics properly at primary age.

They get progressed through primary without knowing multiplication, addition etc. fluently.

Then they reach secondary and can't cope.

Imagine learning to read if you don't know the alphabet properly. It's like that.

And it's hard to learn the basics fluently without practicing at home as well. If it's not being set as homework it's your duty as a parent to set it yourself.

Primaries set homework because it's generally popular with parents who mistakenly think that it's a sign of a good school.

Controversially, I don't mind it! DS is in Y2 and has weekly maths, reading, spelling and comprehension. We do spellings in the kitchen while I'm getting tea ready (5 mins max) We read for ten minutes before bed. Maths on a Saturday morning (10 mins) and his comprehension on a Sunday (10 mins). So we're talking about an hour a week?? Plus his screen time is tied to whether he's done his homework or not so is a good bribing tool in this house!

Your family set-up and others will be different. Their circumstances will be different. Expectations of reading out of school need to be created. My DS loved his teachers setting science projects, something I'm not skilled at doing.

Also getting children used to having regular home work makes transition to senior school much easier.

I'm 50-50.

Reading is non optional IMO.

However my eldest and my nephew LOVE homework. It only takes us 15-30 minutes (Y2 and Y3), they get to write on our whiteboard and it prompts conversations/we have fun with it together.

Y2 loves sending it to her teacher via the class app and reading the nice replies she gets.

Pages and pages of packets and busy work is a no from me, but so far we've not found homework arduous/a slog.

I vehemently disagree with homework that turns into homework for the parents instead, like the family tree mentioned above.

it's generally not the class teachers who decide about homework - it is usually a whole school policy, in which individual teachers will have no say.
There is very little evidence to show that primary school homework makes any difference to educational standards.

I think children should be focussing on reading, spellings and times tables at home - that is quite enough.

I have no problem with the homework examples you give - possibly the choice of reading book if an older and fluent reader but I am happy to support them to learn spellings, ensure they can use them in correct context and do a basic maths sheet. This is the only way I know what they are learning each day in school and a short amount of reinforcing at home helps me see if they have genuinely understood or are just getting by. It is all about balance though, I don't expect the sheets to take longer than 15 minutes

A very small amount of homework also instils some work ethic in the child for taking responsibility for their own work and I think by going against the teacher and saying your child will not complete it, you are setting entirely wrong example to them.

It is all well and good saying they should have no work until they hit public exams but how would they know what style of studying suits them or when to go about it if they have done nothing at home before this. I completely disagree with this.

(I absolutely despise the art/modelling projects which the parents end up doing most of and then another child inevitably gets a prize for something their Mum or Dad created.)

Not for the early years but yes I do for years five and six. They will probably get homework in year seven and it's usually a substantial amount. It can be quite a shock to them if they've never done any homework before.

I should have said I don't include reading in this, we try and promote reading as something to enjoy and a way to relax before bed rather than an item of homework.

I don't agree with primary school homework, especially projects that require large amounts of parental intervention. We had to research and bake a recipe recently as a homework item (admittedly this was from a choice of several options but was one of the easier ones which is why we chose it). We have had tearful, ruined evenings over homework at times too.

After school we go to the park or do afterschool activities then its dinner time / baths etc. There isn't much time left for them just to relax with homework added into the mix too.

I'm on the fence about homework in primary school. I definitely don't think it should be excessive but if it was like a monthly task like 'make a drawing out of pasta and bring it in' or 'read a new book this month' then I don't think that's bad. My problem with a lot of is that it's excessive, when I think children should be playing etc.

Homework is not a magic bullet to replace parental engagement. A child who has had little or no parental encouragement in their learning is extremely unlikely to suddenly start completing homework independently. The kids whose parents value education, even if they do not support homework in primary years, will likely be the ones who do better from education.

I dont agree with any sort of homework apart from GSCE level revising.

You should definitely be supporting whatever the children are learning in school. Good homeworks is one way to do that. Finding resources of your own is another.

Appreciate the job your child's teacher is doing. If they care about learning, they will have a reason.

If you really know the homework is wrong for your child, find a substitute. Going to airshows will not help your struggling reader so I wouldn't sound off about that to a teacher.

I don’t agree with it. My dd is year 4 and has never had homework yet. My nephew just started year 1 and had homework this week to complete a full family tree including photos of each family member as a baby 😂I think his dad did it for him in the end.

My DCs primary has just ditched homework and moved the focus onto spellings, times tables and reading. Imnso pleased with this move. I HATE homework for primary aged kids.

Our daughter's primary school has just ditched the weekly homework requirement and simply ask that we focus on reading and spellings. I can't tell you how welcome this move has been. I totally disagree with homework at primary school, beyond reading.

It's really frustrating. My DS's (5) school has has the expectation that he reads 3x per week, which is fine, but they have limited this to only their books. They also set 2x worksheets and online tasks on the app. In the meantime, they're extending the school day by 20 minutes and on top of clubs, I'm not sure where we'll fit it all in!