Too much homework?

[Henryismyfriend]

DD has just gone up into year 10, average to good student, on or above target for subjects. We have had some issues with attitude or not doing an odd piece of homework which the school have dealt with, with my full support.
I expected homework to jump up this year, with it being year 10, and we made a plan for 2 hours a night (if needed) and 2 on a Saturday, with Sunday 'off'. This allows time to eat, bath, relax and for her horse, which is a healthy and responsible out of school activity.
It's working fairly well with a couple of exceptions recently that have left me a bit disconcerted at what's expected from a 14/5 year old.
DD got homework in one particular subject on Friday, done through an online service, due in tomorrow and the estimate for the time it would take was 14 hours. She also has other homework to complete for Tuesday and has literally spent all weekend at it, except for a couple of hours last night when we went for a meal - where she spent the entire time stressing that she was wasting time. Stressing because non completed homework is automatic detention. She and some other children asked the teacher if it could be split, because they have other homework and commitments to do, and were told that teachers have to work all weekend, so she didn't see why they should be any different.
I'm not happy about this and I don't think it's fair. I haven't spoken to the school yet, I am going to wait and see what happens tomorrow - the 14 hour homework won't be finished, she's struggling with some aspects and therefore it's taking even longer.
DD also thinks I'm being unfair expecting 12 hours a week on homework, I think it's a suitable amount of time.
So to AIBUs really -

1. am I being unfair with the 2 hours a night/12 hours a week?
2. if DD is given detention for not completing the full homework of 14 hours+ in 4 days, wibu to speak to the school and express I think it's unfair to expect that?

Ludicrous IMO. 14 hours isn't a million miles away from a piece of GCSE coursework, so I consider it wildly inappropriate for a single piece of homework. And the teacher's "rationale" is just plain silly.

YANBU to both. I thought schools were supposed to consider the mental health of students more these days? And just because teacher workload leads to an unreasonable work - life balance, doesn't mean kids should suffer too.

I also have a child in year 10 and that sounds ridiculous. He normally gets at least a week to complete any homework task and it it's going to take a substantial amount of time (over, say 45 minute) it counts as 2 homeworks. He would literally never get a 14 hour homework - or it would be a project to complete over half a term if he did!

If it helps my DS is timetabled to 12 items of homework a week - they are meant to take about 30-40 minutes each, which has proved reasonable as an estimate - sometimes he gets the odd piece that takes longer, but equally sometimes they only take 5 minutes or no homework is set. I'd say he spends about 5-6 hours a week. I encourage him to revise/make notes between times (though not really seeing much of this happening atm).

I would email the school regardless of whether she gets a detention or not as it’s totally unacceptable to set 14 hours of homework over a weekend and the teacher needs to be officially told that. Even if she doesn’t get a detention she has spent the weekend working and stressing.

I wonder if the teacher has ballsed-up somewhere and is trying to cover this up by making unreasonable demands of the kids.

14 hours is too long for that timeframe. If you are going to say something I'd say it now before she gets the detention

I would absolutely be contacting the school as that is the equivalent of two more full school days she is expected to do, and it is clearly causing her stress. In my honest opinion 12 hours a week is too much also

Thank you all for the replies, much appreciated.
To clarify, I don't expect her to use the full 12 hours a week every week, it's more the limit that I have put on it, so I probably should have said 'no more than 2 hours a night' if her homework is completed before the 2 hours then all well and good, or if she completes it all by Wednesday and isn't set any more, then she's free Thurs Fri and sat. It's about trying to teach her to manage her time well, before we get to the gcse year and she needs to revise and study more whilst also having a school/life balance. I really believe that is important.

@RedSkyLastNight

Thank you for the input, the school seems to be somewhat chaotic at the moment and has been for the last 2 years, parents, including myself expressing concerns and teachers leaving and not replaced. This has ended up in a poor Ofsted report, and things were promised to change at the start of this year, however it still seems chaos where some things are concerned - homework expectations being one of them, I have spoken to the school, however no one seems to know what the expectations are themselves just 'teachers set homework they feel is appropriate' so we don't have a guide like your DS does...... It's all a bit up in the air. But the guide you've posted gives me a starting point, thank you.

I have as I've said spoken with the school and also raised the concern about the amount of homework being set in this one subject, and time frames allowed - I have been told it will be looked into. DD reports that no one completed it, and although the teacher 'had a go' no detention was set.
I am not sure about the comments she made about teachers having to work in their own time etc, while I don't think my DD would outright lie about it, I'm also very aware that teens exaggerate! I have told DD that if she does say it again I want to know.

@Pinkyyyy

Thank you, how long would you suggest would be suitable for her age/stage of education?