Homework yr7

[greyhairdontcare]

How much homework does your year 7 get? I was discussing with my brother recently and his kids get 2 hours a night!! He says most kids in his area do at that age. I think this is a tad excessive but my year 7 son seems to get between 30mins and 1 hour a week. School is struggling to retain teachers so not much consistency and results aren't brilliant (but improving) so unsure whether I should be concerned or not. He seems to be doing well, although past maths and English teachers have said he could be in a higher set with a bit more effort.
What do you think?

1-2 hours/night

Triple that at weekends

Has been a big learning curve to prioritise and get things done

Sorry pressed post too soon.

The amount your son is getting is similar to my DS in year 3.

So I would say that yes, they aren't setting enough homework and if teaching is poor they are saving themselves time by not setting/having to mark it. I would probably ask the question at school

Really? That's an awful lot after a full day at school - at what point do they get to relax?
Dd is in 3rd year (scotland, year 9 equivalent I think) and gets about an hour a week, some weeks less, other weeks more. She's top set for everything, at the school with the best results locally.

DS in Y7 gets about 14 pieces a week, they have a set homework timetable. He has been advised that he should take no longer than 20 minutes on each piece.

There have only been a couple of times when an individual piece takes longer.

He is unimpressed by the fact some of his friends who go to a different school only get 3 pieces a week when he gets that in a day!

In Year 7 for the first term only he got 2 x 20 mins per night which increased to 3 x 20 minutes per night so 1 hour in total.

Now in Year 8 this has increased to between 1 - 1.5 hours per night

Mine are at a good school (3 of them have gone through it). Never more than an hour a night & often nothing. Either that or they don't do it! A lot of homework seems to be finishing what was being done in class so if they finished in class they don't get any.

1-1.5 hours a night by the spring term I think is reasonable.

As long as it is scheduled, then it's an easy habit to maintain: dinner and bedtimes need to be equally strict. Although fitting in extra-curricular activities during the week can be challenging.

Yes, we currently have a situation where ds's drama class is 5-6pm but he is going to be in a amateur theatre show & they have increased rehearsals to the same night but 6.30-9.30 so on Tuesdays there is no time at all for any homework. It's very challenging.

Mmmm. Think you might be right MsJolly. Some of the teachers do seem a bit disinterested. Think I might have a word with the school to find out what's going on. It's not as though he does a long day either - it's a slightly shorter day than his primary school was.

My son regularly got 1-2 hours per night in year 7 over 2 or 3 different subjects. But often not that demanding at all. Usually completing a worksheet they started in class, drawing or colouring a diagram. Certainly no long essays etc (usually given a week or two to do the big stuff). It seemed school policy for teachers to give homework whether necessary or not, presumably to get the kids into the habit of homework from the start of secondary.

It fell back in years 8 and 9, with no homework at all on some evenings, but then some pretty big essay/projects spanning a few weeks set for the homework, and then revision being the homework for end of term tests.

Dd in a recently judged 'outstanding' in every area school l, gets between 1 and 2 hours a week with a little more or less sometimes. Shes in top sets but some of her friends in other sets get more and in mixed ability groups she gets hw. As a teacher myself I set 1 hw every two weeks for my set 1 y7s.. they have enough going on

My dc get 8-10 pieces of homework per week, mostly taking 20-30 minutes each. Often they are on computer and marked automatically, so they get immediate feedback. Sometimes they mark each other's work as part of a class. Some homework only gets marked by the teacher once per half term. But it does all get marked, with feedback or review.

It's a 'good' school, and the dc are doing well there. Homework does seem light to me, compared to what I used to do.