Amount of work at home (Y1) seems unrealistic

[ProzacDad]

Just wondered what levels of homework people did. We're currently getting 20 spelling words a week with a test on Thursday. This includes (for example this week)

Sound, ground, pound, around, find, counter, eat, again, than

(All the "ound" ones are ok, he hits a roadblock when it changes to "find" for example but if we start with "find" he's ok and vice versa)

Now spelling isn't currently his forte and I'm literally pounding them into his head each week so that he can at least do the test. One week he got full marks, the next he completely fell apart and got 3/10.

20 is an awful lot of words to remember, and for Year 1 some of them are a bit much.

On top of this in order to achieve a Bronze certificate at Mathletics he needs to score over 1,000 points a week which in fairness he can do more or less by himself now but it's still another 30 minutes or so a day on that.

If that's what it is, I guess that's what it is but I feel like he (perhaps them all) are being put under a ton of pressure with all this rather than enjoying school. Perhaps it's ofsted driven, I really don't know.

Combined with other after school activities - swimming lessons, gymnastics etc I feel he's left with little time to do anything else (particularly weekdays).

Sorry for the long drawn post but I would just like to gauge other peoples experiecnes.

Thanks.

My year 6 DS has to do 2,200 points on mathletics per week, 1,100 in year 5, 500 in year 4. Can't remember if he did it in yr 3. Neither of my DS could properly read until late in yr 1, they're both doing really well now. I think your child is definitely getting way too much homework

It's an "outstanding" ofsted school.

Pupils meeting expected standard in reading, writing and maths: 85%
Pupils achieving at a higher standard in reading, writing and math: 21%
Average score in reading: 108
Average score in maths: 107

If that helps.

It is a really "popular school" and does appear to be very driven. I've nothing against the school, in fact all the teachers seem to go above and beyond. My other two children went to another school (we moved a few years ago) and I don't recall workload like this.

As I say, I'm speaking with the class teacher to get a bit more detail but really wanted to gauge others thoughts and experiences.

When was it last inspected?

We are at a "Good" school and our Y6 SATS scores are not very far off those at all - in fact our higher standard % is a bit higher. Either way, SATS are not the be all and end all, and such an excessive workload in Y1 (or indeed any other year) shouldn't be necessary to achieve good progress. Incidently, what were the progress scores like?

If you're prepping for one of the selective independent schools, that is the norm. There is no way of getting admission otherwise.

Not true. DD is Y1 at a school which regularly sends Y6 children to very selective London indies. She has 8 spellings a week (some in the class have fewer) plus a bit of nightly reading, and a maths worksheet and english worksheet 1x per week. Nothing in holidays. The homework ramps up in later years but in Y1 it is fairly little.

DD2 is in Y1... we get encouraged to hear them read as much as possible at home (every day ideally but lots don't or don't record it in reading diaries), fortnightly there's a learning task (usually research something or similar) and we're meant to get a maths problem each fortnight but that materialises when they actually remember to send it.

Oh we get extra stuff on an ad hoc basis because of some intervention groups she's in but they're not whole class homework as such.

Year 1 pre prep here.
Daily reading "encouraged" , fine to miss if it's too much (wrap around care until 6pm, so sometimes we don't get home till 6.30)
Weekly spelling test of 5-12 words (depends on which phonics group they are in) . Always based on that week's spelling rules so this week fridge/bridge/edge/hedge etc. They have spent the week learning them at school, so often know them already.
Weekly, optional, homework- learn a poem, bake a cake, draw a picture of fireworks etc to do over weekend if you have time/inclination.

Minipie the poster above is referring to 7+ prep not 11+, it is absolutely true in my experience of this. 11+ preps will load on much later but it will come.

My year 1 reads every day and has fortnightly homework. He also piggy backs on his older brother's Mathletics account. He likes the games.

ProzacDad - the school is wasting your and your ds's time and making learning to read and write a tiresome chore - and thus wasting their own time. He is clearly not ready to be learning 20 spellings a week. His time would be better spent reading more, rather than guessing at words in a weekly spelling test and promptly forgetting the little that sank in when confronted with the next supremely boring list. That's not outstanding teaching, that's trying to appeal to the sort of parents who think that is how small children learn. If your ds cannot reliably remember groups of words with the same sounds in them, then he is not ready to be trying to memorise the spelling of large numbers of words, as he is clearly not linking his spelling to phonics rules, making learning to spell 20 words a week an insurmountable task. He'll learn much more quickly and efficiently later on, so why make it an off-putting exercise now, when he has better things to do with his time? He can't even remember the words for the tests, let alone for actual use in his writing. So why the unnecessary weekly torture? Outstanding, my eye...

@roundaboutthetown

You, know - you've probably hit the nail on the head more or less. 20 words is insurmountable, 10 would probably be about "ok" and yes having 20 words jammed into your head, frustratingly for me and him can't be enjoyable at all.

You're also perfectly correct saying this:

"He is clearly not ready to be learning 20 spellings a week. His time would be better spent reading more, rather than guessing at words in a weekly spelling test and promptly forgetting the little that sank in when confronted with the next supremely boring list."

In fact, it couldn't be more right. What I do next then is just up to me, will the school listen? Will they change?

I've spoken to a couple of other parents and their children are comfortable with the spellings and even said they liked that their child was "challenged" with such a large list even though it was unachievable.

Oh I see colorbomb makes more sense now

Year 1 here. We get sent home about 6 spelling words to learn a week, sent out on Wednesdays and test on Mondays. 4 reading books a week. Optional maths homework (a maths game). I assume my DD is in top set for writing/reading as her group are tasked with writing a book review once a week at home but the rest of the class aren’t doing this yet. Every now and again we get another homework task, something fairly easy like write or draw about your favourite toy, that sort of thing. It’s a high attainment school, I think the work is appropriate for my DD who is one of the eldest in the class/year but I imagine it could be tough on summer born kids.

I'd put good money on a lot of those parents lying.

School should have a home learning policy - unlikely to change if you have loads of parents who chose an Outstanding school because that's what they want. Also, the worst kind of Outstanding school won't care because they know if you leave they can fill your place twice over.

The new Ofsted inspection framework might help you here, but it's only a draft and I haven't sat down to read it in detail - it focuses more on quality of education and a broad and balanced curriculum, rather than abandoning everything to concentrated on SATS.

She also does The Maths Factor online at home but that’s our choice not a school thing

Year 1 here. Most kids eventually end up at the senior school tat consistently gets amazing results and is considered one of the really good boarding schools. Outside London.

Reading every night. Some Maths games on occasion. One piece of homework at the weekend. Examples of which are - build a hedgehog house, watch for birds, design a den etc. Never had a single spelling.

ProzacDad - I think it's worth talking to the teacher about it, to see what she says. Her response will tell you how good the school really is. Let her know you have tried your best, but that the school's approach is not working for your young-for-the-year child; that trying to memorise the spelling lists each week is not reinforcing his phonics learning and is taking time away from more enjoyable and beneficial reading (and other...) activities which will help him learn spellings more quickly later on, when he is a bit older and has better foundations from which to build. Tell her you worry the school's approach is taking the fun out of learning to read and write and you worry he will become increasingly unenthusiastic if your focus each week is getting him to cram for spelling tests. Ask her how tou can make it more fun for him, so that he actually wants to read and test out his writing skills in ways that result in positive progress...

I wish schools would learn about how learning works. Massed practice of the same spelling words all week is not an efficient way of learning spelling.

Class spellings are a truly terrible piece of homework, the kids already comfortable with spelling will spend no time doing the homework, because they already know how to spell them, those who don't know how to spell them, will have to spend lots of time, and then know how to spell 10 or 20 words.

The time saved by the already good spellers, may well go into reading, thus improving their vocabulary and spelling, and denying the opportunity for those behind.

It's terrible, and really terrible if you're a kid who's struggling to spell, I wouldn't waste your time on it, and I would do everything to promote to your child the complete unimportance of the spelling test to make them robust enough to deal with any associated low marks in it.

My 5 year old DS in Y1 has 6 spellings a week. A reading book which he changes daily - he is a keen reader but others change 1/2 a week. There is then optional homework set based on their topics in school, but it has been made very clear that it is optional. Some weeks he does it - make a poster for example but other weeks he says he doesn’t want to. I don’t push it.

I’m sure I read somewhere 6 spellings is the optimum to be learning at one time. We would never manage 20 at a time!!

I think it's WAY too much. We only get ten spellings a week and that is in Y3. They're so little in Year 1 - look at the Scandi model of education when they don't start properly learning until they are about 8.

So the Mathletics is optional?
And gymnastics etc is optional.
Reading nightly is optional.

I mean they're all great but they're optional.

So his homework, which you think is too much, is 20 words.

Perhaps focus on 10 so he consistently gets 10/20? If its ground, pound, sound, rain, main, train, then focus on one word for each sound?

My DC in yr1 just has reading every day, no spellings. But their infant school doesn't do homework full stop, I thought all the research showed it was of no benefit??

That's a ridiculous amount of work. In my DC's school they read every night, and have 10-15 spellings. They can do mathletics if they want - I think I did it about once all year (DS is very ahead in maths and finds it boring).

We're asked to read 5x a week and do 5 spellings.

Wee probably manage reading 3-4 times a week and a glance at the spellings once.

I'd much rather my DC's time was spent playing, exercising, socialising, experiencing new things and relaxing.

What will happen if you don't do it? Homework isn't compulsory on the curriculum.