Homework policy - why is there generally more in prep schools?

[NorhamGardens]

This might be a stupid question but I question why there is such a heavy homework load at our local prep compared to our state primary?

We have a tiny bit of numeracy homework, about 10 minutes worth once a week. In the juniors it increases to 20 minutes a week. We don't do spelling tests but they do in the prep, they are tough and occur weekly.

Spelling tests don't work I am told. The local, non-selective, prep must be doing something right as 98% leave with level 5s.

Just a question about the academic rigour at a state versus a primary. Just wondering why they don't have higher expectations & demands re: homework in our primary?

Also what do state primary teachers feel, very generally, about children who are tutored?

coatgate and stealthsquiggle, pray tell where did you get your times tables cd. It is desperately needed in my home.

Not for me though, learning off by heart meant I could forever rhyme them off!!!

My DDs private primary started them with just reading in reception, gradually ramping up to 2x30 min pieces of homework in yr6.

I'm not entirely convinced of the benefit except in one respect - now she's at secondary (state), getting roughly an hour a night homework. I think its meant to be up to 1.5 hours, but it doesn't seem to take her that long, she's not getting overly stressed by it and (glory be) seems to be getting quite good at managing her time. Whereas I gather some of her class are finding it quite a shock.

She doesn't spell well despite all those spelling tests and 'spelling sentence' work. I suspect being marked down in scince siense science lessons for spelling mistakes will concentrate her mind!

NG Your post seems to have a hidden agenda to me. Are you implying/thinking that the only way you can plug the gap between prep and state is by tutoring? If so, then here goes...
My own opinion is that tutoring does work. I've seen the effect on my own children and other people's children and can vouch for the fact that it works.
As to homework, I would say that sometimes it is just set for the sake of setting something. However, effective homework does work and children who are used to regular homework do tend to thrive academically IMO.

Indigobell there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that there are children from grammar schools failing their GCSEs because they were prep schooled and given home work beforehand.

Nor is there any that private schooled students are failing at universities.

There may be a few anecdotes to be found, but that is all.

There hasn't even been any research done on the long term academic achievement of pupils given homework early versus those who did not receive it.

Personally, I am not in the least persuaded by research as to what may or may not happen at eleven. I think the early years have a far more lasting impact than that.

Still looking for articles to back up my anecdotes...

But found this one which suggests hot housing young gifted children is not a good idea Gifted Children likely to fail in life

Litchick - you're right. Here is a statistical study of who drops out of university

LEA

Females 7.27%

Males 10.82%

Private

Females 5.96%

Males 9.08%

So privately educate kids drop out of university at roughly the same (but very slightly less) rate as LEA educated kids....

The most I can claim then is educating a kid privately doesn't seem to offer any significant protection against dropping out....

Oh I don't dispute at all that gifted children have issues for all manner of reasons.

However, I don't think that supports the view that ordinary well adjusted children who do some homework each night either a. are damaged by it or b. that it is not effective in the longer term.

It just seems to me quite obvious that practise is a jolly good thing.
The more one plays an instrument, performs a dance, trains in sport, the better one becomes...not only in terms of actual achievement, but also in ones confidence to move on to the next challenge.

How that would not apply to academic work is beyond me.

Over the Christmas holiday, my children were given lots of homework (and I mean LOTS -- 30-40 worksheets each, some of which were very detailed, involved writing stories and/or answering lots of maths questions, etc). I asked one of the teachers whether she really expected the chilren to do the work or whether it was set just to keep parents "happy". She laughed and admitted it was entirely voluntary. After which, we all relaxed and enjoyed our holiday! (During term time, we make a bit more of an effort but I still maintain most homework is voluntary and only have my children do what I think is interesting and useful, and just enough to keep the teachers thinking they are dedicated young scholars.....)

That is ery silly of the school.

Homework should be purposeful. And the pupil, their parent and the teacher should all be clear as to what that purpose is.

If you want to be top athlete / musician in the world then you have to do at lest 10,000 hours practice.

However we don't want our kids to be the best mathematicians / readers / writers in the world, we just want them to achieve a good level at it. So they only need to do enough practice to achieve that level.

The question is, do they get 'enough practice' in school time, or does it need to be supplemented at home? That depends on the kid (ie how much practice they personally will need) and depend on the school (how much practice they get at school)

But either way, if you are still being tested on times tables or spellings when you know them, it's a waste of time and energy.

I don't think the more you practice / get tested the more confident you get - I think once you've achieved a competent level the more you practice / get tested the more bored and put-off you get.

I guess I also think almost all children rebel against their parents at some point.

And you want to make sure when they do rebel, they don't rebel against doing school work at a critical point....

You also want to make sure your kids are self-motivated and not just doing work because of a threat of being punished if they don't do it (or rewarded if they do do it) - because that will definitely break down once they have to study independently.

Indigo I don't want my DC to be the world's best at anything. But that doesn't mean I'm satisfied with merely competent.

I want them to be the very best that they can be and achieve their full potential.

And I believe boredom is easily staved off by moving onwards and indeed outwards once a basic level is achieved.

I see purposeful homework as part and parcel of this, just as I see music practice and spotrs training in this light. Or learning lines or anything really.

As for rebellion, it doesn't worry me too much. My DC have never argued too strenuously against prep. They can see the point of it and want to improve. In much the same way that they want to do well in tests so can see the best way of achieving that ie by revision.

Ditto sport. They want to win, so they train.

I've always portrayed this is asimply common sense, and it's certainly the code by which DH and I lead our own lives.

It depends on the school. Not all prep schools send home more homework han their local state schools. I know that my DD (Y4 of a prep school) gets far less than one of her friends who goes to a very good local state school. But she gets more than other friends in other state schools.

westerngirl - times table CD

Spelling tests don't work ...try giving a child 10 spelling this week (they get 10/10 next week) and then look at how they spell the words in 3 or 4 weeks time be lucky to get 2 or 3 right.

Have to say, my experience of dd's spellings bears out what mrz says. She has perfect recall for a few days, then - nothing

I was the same

Thanks, stealthsquiggle. It looks effective. This is from someone who still uses the Sesame Street alphabet song (should I really admit things like this?).

Speaking as someone whose DS learnt the alphabet from a singing caterpillar, I am in no position to judge, westerngirl - the times table CD is so annoying, but so effective DS's teacher collared me to ask about it because DS was learning faster than the rest of the class .

Jajas - I think it depends on the school. Some of the uber-selective 'we are doing you a favour by taking obscene amounts of money off you' ones, maybe not - the saner, non-(overtly)-selective ones I am sure all things are negotiable!

I am very glad my son goes to a state school with a creative bias, if for that reason only! Spelling tests and too much homework caused so many problems and even hatred of school, when given by an over-zealous teacher in Y2(IMO), now thankfully gone.

For an academic child who enjoys that kind of stuff it may be easy, but for a sporty/arty child who is not academic, or at least developing more slowly, its just a nightmare on top of a full school day.

I think if parents want extra academic work for their primary children, then thats their choice and they can enforce it themselves at home - rather than forcing all other less academic children in the class to do it.

On a humanistic note, my premise is we were not brought into this world as human beings to spend our formative years just doing reading, writing and arithmetic to the exclusion of nearly everything else.

Music practice and homework (at primary age) are very different things.

Learning an instrument is one of those things that needs a bit of practice every day. With a 6 year old, it might only be 5 mins. With a 10 year old, half an hour. By the age of 17 I was practising 2 hours a day.

However, playing music is a skill in a way that developing a brain to be analytical is not. You might need to practice handwriting, but much of primary learning comes from playing and children developing their own games.

At secondary age, homework is needed to reinforce learning and for additional practice, but for a primary age child, they get enough practice in the 6 hours that they spend at school. With only 3.5 hours at home before bedtime in which to have tea, play, bath, do Brownies there isn't time do do homework without it being an intrusive pain.

I think it very likely that different things work for different children. And different age groups. And different subjects.

Well said, Cory. It always amazes me how so many of us seem to think there IS a 'best' or 'worst' way of doing things, given how different children (and adults) are

mrz if spelling tests don't work how do you get children to learn to spell?

I'm not asking aggressively, just interested in what you do consider the most effective method

My friends have a ds in reception at a prep nearby. He has 45 mins homework a night. Madness imo