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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

aibu or is my dd doing too much homework ?

23 replies

mummyoffrankie · 15/02/2008 23:49

i was perfectly happy with my year 2 dds school until latest ofsted report placed it in special measures ; a school consistently top 5 in league tables. since then homework has increased to high school proportions. two chapter books, ten spellings,maths worksheet,writing and punctuation excercise, mock sats comprehension paper, plus two library books and other reading tasks. we are doing 45 or 50 mins a night and my dd thinks im a slave driver! any thoughts mums ? dont want to approach teacher as dont want to appear uncooperative...

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MrsWeasley · 15/02/2008 23:54

my DC in primary year 4 & 6 have a reading book (but no-one checks if they read it) and 8-10 spellings (which they practise in class as well as at home)and either 1 sheet of numeracy or literacy each week. It rarely takes more than 20 minutes.

Yours sounds excessive IMO.

Original poster

mummyoffrankie · 15/02/2008 23:59

should i stick with it and just do my best or take the issue up at school ? worry which is more damaging- doing it and stressing out or not doing it and dd getting left behind

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MrsWeasley · 16/02/2008 00:03

If you can approach the teacher or head?

If it was me (my DS teacher is very approachable) I would have a little chat and tell them its taking 45 mins and ask are they aware of the time it takes to do it all.
I would be concerned that it may put the kids off school work altogether.

Pesha · 16/02/2008 00:12

Seems very excessive to me. DD is yr2 and has about 8 spellings to practise each week, a new reading book every now and then and normally a sheet with a maths problem over the weekend but no pressure to complete any of it.

Christywhisty · 16/02/2008 00:28

MY DS didn't even get that in Year 6!

RosaLuxOnTheBrightSideOfLife · 16/02/2008 00:32

If your school is consistently near the top of the league tables why was it placed in special measures? What are the weaknesses the school is supposed to be addressing? The school should have a plan for this and it should be communicated to parents. As for frontloading the homework to make up for deficiencies in the children's performance, it should be obvious that this isn't on.
I would speak to the teacher and get him/her to clarify how much time the homework should be taking - at year 2 it should be more in the order of an hour a week than an hour a day.

peanutbear · 16/02/2008 00:36

My son has been sent home for the holidays with about 7 work sheets and 2 stories to write

Its a new school and I was really shocked by the amount we used to get a reading book and one piece of homework a week
I think 45mins a night is very excessive

Original poster

mummyoffrankie · 16/02/2008 09:54

think you have hit the nail on the head peanut bear . sending home excessive homework to make up for schools shortcomings in previous terms is unacceptable but feel i should be doing it to ensure dd is up to speed for key stage 1 sats.

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cory · 16/02/2008 12:03

If this is Year 2, I would have thought 3 pieces of homework a week (spelling, maths and literacy) plus a reading book or two would be quite sufficient. That should be quite enough to reinforce what they've learnt in the day. If the school can't teach them in the day, when they are fresh, what hope have you got in the evening when everybody's tired.
Your dd is doing more than mine for her Yr 6 SATS.
I would just cling to the thought that no harm will come to your daughter if she makes a complete pig's ear of her first SATS. No employer will ever bother to find out, it won't determine what GCSEs she does, and it won't hold her back in junior school- they test them for sets there, and the sets are flexible, you can move up at any time. It is entirely a problem for the school- and they should have thought of that earlier. Not your daughter's job to sort their problems out for them.
Just let it go. Let your daughter enjoy being a small child. There is no way I would let a 6/7yo do this much homework.

constancereader · 16/02/2008 12:15

Yes - I agree with cory. Year 2 sats are not important in the grand scheme of things. It is not ideal to put children this young under any pressure imo. I am a teacher too - but it Wales where SATS were were very sensibly abolished.

I really wouldn't make your poor dd do all that homework. She is only little. Talk to the school.

motherinferior · 16/02/2008 12:18

Jeeeeeeeezlouise my Y2 gets virtually nothing. And I like it that way.

SlightlyMadSecretSoundWinner · 16/02/2008 12:23

The government recommends 1 hour per week here.

This includes reading and spelling.

DTDs are probably doing a little more than this as I try to encourage them to read for 10mins every day which gives you 60mins per week for 6 days. The spellings probably only take 15mins per week and other homework probably 20mins.

So I think that gives us abou 1 1/2 hours per week depending on how much reading we actuall do (which can be different to what I aim to do!!)

motherinferior · 16/02/2008 12:24

I don't think they should get any. Not for ages. No point. A spot of reading, perchance, but nothing else.

coppertop · 16/02/2008 16:43

That sounds like a lot of work. Ds1 is in Yr3 and gets far less than that: one or two worksheets a week (not in the holidays) and sometimes a reading book.

Original poster

mummyoffrankie · 16/02/2008 17:31

thanxs cory feeling better now pressuring dd over meaningless tests is a mistake- am just gonna do as much as i feel is reasonable and let the school sweat over their statistics x x

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smartiejake · 17/02/2008 13:43

If this school is in special measures it's up to them to get themselves out of it.It's not your resposibility. They need to get kids to reach their potential with a LITTLE support from home. Regular reading, library visits to do some shared research about topics of interest, odd maths and writing worksheets, talking to them about what they are doing etc. - no more than an hour per week.

Your dd sounds like she gets more home work than my dd1 (she's in year 7!)

Why are they in special measures if so far up the league tables?

bookwormmum · 17/02/2008 13:49

My dd's school discouraged parents from doing SATs practice papers since they'd only be practising doing the exams, not working towards the exam iyswim. She's now in yr 3 and gets one piece of work at weekends, plus 10 spellings and one or two reading books a week (plus the 10-12 she has from the library). Dd is fine at reading - it's her maths that she's lagging behind on .

bookwormmum · 17/02/2008 13:51

I have supplemented dd's homework with those 'I can do' books when she was a trifle behind for her age as she was getting frustrated but I've let them go the last few weeks. She may do a page or so over the half-term next week. Preferably from the maths books!!

Original poster

mummyoffrankie · 20/02/2008 10:53

the school has been placed in special measures due to the lack of the more able children acheiving level 3 at key stage 1 sats . ofsted claims that the only reason the school is so high in the league tables ( 5th of 250) is due to the outstanding teaching in year 6 . not sure if this is possible myself, surely one teacher cannot compensate for 5 years of inadequate schooling !

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Mercy · 20/02/2008 10:59

My dd is Yr2 and gets appoximately one hour's homework per week, although it usually works out as less than this.

10 spellings, 1 maths worksheet and 1 reader, plus library book which isn't really homework.

OneHandedTypist · 20/02/2008 19:19

I'm well intrigued, not enough children got 3 at KS1 SATs? How many did get level 3 and how many do they say should have had level 3 (and how many in the year?). And how can Ofsted be so sure there should have been more level 3s??

At our school there were only about 6-7 level 3 scores in all the possible categories out of about 54 children (so, er, 7 level 3 scores out of a total of 216 scores). And our school is not in special measures nor threatened with it.

Original poster

mummyoffrankie · 20/02/2008 21:31

not one got level 3 out of 56 year 2s and the large majority entered reception with above average attainment . ofsteds concern was the lack of progress due to unsatisfactory teaching;children entering the school at an above average level are attaining broadly average standards by year 2. all parents of children who are performing well academically have now received a letter explaining the increase in homework is due to the schools belief they have the potential to acheive level 3s.i must say that all parents were very shocked to receive the special measures report !

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Loshad · 21/02/2008 10:10

it's still way too much homework though, my ds4 in Y2 gets mon - maths worksheet, takes about 5-7 mins, tues reading book, wed nothing, thurs spellings to learn for mon(8-15 depending on child's competance at spelling), fri reading book and something else, eg another worksheet, times tables to learn. Never spend more than about 10 mins per night, and he does none on weds or sat. I would write a note after you've done about 10-15 mins work and say sorry but your dds had run out of time/was tired/etc

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