Does anyone remember having formal (as in, expected to be done) homework at primary (KS1) school?

[Bubble99]

These are 5, 6 and 7 year old children.

All wrong, IMO. Plenty of time for this in the not-too-distant future?

I had reading practice from starting school, but don't remember having written homework until about 8 or 9.

My DDs have had this from age 5. I agree. Wrong and

No. I didn't start getting formal homework until secondary scholl.
Didi a bit of voluntary project work at about yr5/6 but nothing (other than reading & spellings) until then.

BUT DTDs homework in yr1 is rarely taxing. Usually takes 30mins a week. TBH I find that it is of as much value for me so that I can see what they are learning and can ecnourage them appropriately outside school.

nope .. first homework was at age 11 (last year of primary)

agree with you

I refused to make DS do it in reception .. and told the teacher and she said no problem

No, not till secondary school.

It seems to me that we (by that I mean our education system) push and push little children to jump through hoops, yet we have the most laughed at school-leaving qualifications in Europe.

IMO, primary school should start at 7, as it does in the rest of Europe.

OR, we should have pre-school until then.

Yes, definitely remember doing homework the whole way through Primary School - in fact, I'm shocked at the low level of homework my children get!

No. Not until secondary. I don't agree with it. Bubble, absolutely agree.

I definetely remember homework in primary school, writing, spelling and arithmetic. Infact, mum brought some of my old school books down with her last time....lots of memories.

No absolutely none! I remember, on our first day, begging our history teacher at secondary school for some homework as it was such a novelty for us all

The only homework I remember getting was spelling and vocabulary lists. We were tested on them later in the week they were given. We would get different lists for two languages.

I'm a little cross with ds1's school: this past year (Y1) he was given homework, only a single worksheet at a time, but we were told that, while we were expected to supervise him doing it, it would not be marked! What's the point of assigning homework if it's not going to be acknowledged in any way? We did it nonetheless, for two reasons. Firstly becuase ds1 enjoys doing homework, and secondly because we want to show the dcs that school is important and to be respected, not mucked about with because you don't fancy it.

Spellings and reading at primary school for me. The village school (up to end of yr3) my boys started at has optional homework - one page of literacy and one page of numeracy. Sometimes we do it and sometimes we don't. It is marked. In reception they got the worksheets of the jolly phonics letters they had learnt that week. I think it works well. i know some children who don't have it sent home as parents don't want them to do it and that's fine with the school.

Ds2 just finished yr4 at primary school in local town - homework compulsory. I was rather against this to start with as he works really hard at school and doesn't want to at home! However, thay are not meant to spend more than 30 mins on it, unless they want to, and I think it's quite a good stepping stone to secondary school. I was shocked at the amount of homework my nephew got as soon as he started secondary.

I don't remember doing homework but I do remember writing stories, reading, spellings, learning times tables, doing project work, finding out facts to do with the topcs at school...

All of which I'm sure were homework but I don't remember seeing them as such.

AT DSs school it's not homework it's home learning...

DD has just finished reception and has a booklet of around 20 worksheets to do over the summer.

no we didnt have it

dd1's school does nothign until year 3 thne spellnigs only and a bit of maths once a month

[swoon]

yes, we had prep right from Reception age but it was a pre-prep and everything was geared towards 7+ entrance exams to selective schools.

DD has very little homework and it annoys me far more than her. She usually does it in the car, I figure it's good practice for when she does it on the bus at secondary school.

No...i didn't have any homework untill i was in secondary school.
Ds (primary) gets ridiculous amounts of homework every night..as well as holiday homework. He has a big Victorian project to do over the summer.

Yes we did have homework in primary school but I didn't grow up in the UK. I am still constantly amazed at how little homework is set in this country, especially at secondary level. When I was doing the equivalent of A Levels, 3/4 hours homework per night and more at weekends was the norm.

Maybe it was just designed to keep us occupied and off the streets - certainly worked!

Only reading for me.