Y7 homework- should I do anything?

[Erebus]

I appreciate that DS1 is half a week from finishing Y7.

However, I am wondering whether either for the record or to maybe avoid a repeat in Y8- or even to get a valid explanation!- I should write to the Y7 Head of Year to, well, 'complain' about the homework situation.

The school is the highest attaining state Y7-11 comp in the county, academically. It prides itself on not setting except in maths and MFL at this stage- however, I believe it 'sets' via exam course trajectory ie only the clever, 'A*to B'-bound get to do a full Maths GCSE, others do 'Foundation'; or only the clever get to do triple not double science. And it could be seen to be resting a little on its laurels. It is also in a very leafy area, thus might be expected to turn out 'better than average' results.

Thing is, at the start of school, a huge song and dance was made about the importance of homework (and the sanctions imposed if it doesn't get done) esp bearing in mind the way the school have deliberately brought the boys' GCSE results up in line with girls' by constantly setting and monitoring mini-goals, doing little and often.

Theoretically DS could get 15 pieces of homework a week. Initially he was getting around 2 a night though some were 'learn these 2 lines for Drama', or 'find an interesting image that shows...' or 'decorate your history exercise book'! Now we're 'lucky' if we see one piece a week! Really! And that's been the situation since Easter. And when proper homework does come home, I'm back to Y3-style evasion and delay in getting DS to settle down and do it as he's so out of the habit. DS claims to 'do' homework in school (I see what's been set in his Diary) but I think the fact is there's so little he's getting into a bad habit of thinking 'Ah, is that all? -5 minutes work, I'll dash it off on the bus' rather than 'OK, I have 2 pieces, I'll do it as usual at 4pm at home'. DS2 in Y5 gets more to do!

Is there any point at all in writing to the HoY (who will be their Y8 HoY as well) to express my concerns? Or am I wasting my time? Would it be your opinion that they will think 'Look at our stellar GCSE results, we know what we're doing' - or maybe I should wait to see if they up their game in Y8 then write in if the same thing happens?

WWYD?

What's the school's CVA?

Thanks for all the input!

We have decided that the way forwards, seeing as it's now practically the holidays, is to get DS1 to do a few 'school-related' things a week over the summer. His DB (Y5) has to do 20 mins or so 3-4 times a week as part of his Literacy tutoring so DS1 can do some stuff at the same time. (I case anyone is wondering, DS2 has got some real issues with Literacy. He is in real danger of 'failing' hence the tutoring- whereas DS1 is in 'danger' of slipping ever so slowly, almost imperceptibly towards Foundation Maths and Double Science so a different level of attainment but both worthy of 'addressing'.)

I am thinking I might make an appointment to see the HoY a couple of weeks into Y8 to just 'discuss' my concerns- as I also feel- and perhaps know, esp following MN threads on similar subjects!- that squeaky hinges etc. Recall the DCs who 'leap 4 reading levels overnight' when a perturbed parent goes in and queries why their DC's school level seems miles below what they are doing at home?!

FWIW and seeing as no one here knows me, here are DS1's levels- please note I have only really included Eng Bacc levels so as not to bore. I wish to make it plain I wish DS to try hard and preferably do well in all his other subjects too! I consider Music and Design Tech to be of high if not quite equal importance for a relatively academically inclined DC:

Eng 5 high
Maths 6 low
Science 5 middle
History 5 middle
RE 5 low
Geog 5 high
MFL 3 middle

All his 'effort grades' are 1 which goes to demonstrate that he's either a great actor or they aren't watching him closely!

Oddly I can't find the school's OFSTED so I don't know the CVA though I know it's not one of their strongest measures as the school confesses it takes on 'above average' DC from the start.

Not on OFSTED due to having become and Academy this year!

Are these levels the same as or below what he achieved in his KS2 SAT's?

Just thinking that if they take above average DC from the start, their final results should obviously be above average for the league tables. But I'm sure you know that!

MNITA, a quick look at google scholar would suggest otherwise. In fact, some of the research indicates that amount of homework completed is one of the best predictors of grades achieved.

And my post isn't based on anecdote. It is a series of rational questions that I would want answered if my son was not set homework; fortunately he is set homework. Having said that, I do agree with Fairenuff. If DD ends up at a school which doesn't set homework, I would get her to revise the day's work, learn vocab lists, work on general knowledge and so on instead. But I'd rather have clear instructions from the school. Without those instructions, education outside of school is down to the ability, choices and motivation of parents rather than the students.

Erebus, although term is over, your Head will still be going into school. I would contact him/her and explain your concerns in relation to the discrepancy between the stated policy on homework and the reality of it. You sound like someone who can put your point across calmly and invite discussion.
Setting work for your DC yourself will probably not be taken as seriously as that set by the school. He needs homework in Maths and Science and needs to see that the work is taken seriously by the school.

A school's CVA isn't on the Ofsted report as it is calculated yearly. You can find it on the school league tables (go to www.bbc.co.uk/news/education/ and put the school's postcode in the top right hand corner). The CVA of a school where the students are all getting the expected GCSE grades for their background and KS2 results is 1000. So it will take into account the fact that they're good kids. It's not the best measure, especially for high achieving schools because if a kid is predicted all A*s they can't exceed expectations, but it'll give some idea of how hard the school is pushing the kids.

BTW, if he is a low level 6 in maths at the end of Y7 he should be a level 7 by the end of Y9 and I can't imagine any school putting a level 7 kid in for the Foundation paper.

Little homework and good results fantastic! I'd encourage my children do do music, sports, reading, honour with their mates or drama club rather than writing to the school. Enjoy the time!

Year 10 brings so much work now that I'd be delighted if the teachers felt my children didn't need any. The main advantage may have been that they have taken to year 10 homework better because they were used to getting some.

If you insist on writing, wait for next September and catch it when it falls off, not now.

CVA is 1007.3 - is that good?!

DS1 got '5's in KS2 SATS, fwiw. They CAT all the DCs in their first term, anyway.

And yes, what I as a parent 'set' as homework would be taken far less seriously by the DSs than anything coming home from school! Occasionally you see here on MN people being advised, when there are 'issues' at school or when the 'right' school hasn't got a place, to Home Ed. It always makes me shudder slightly as it implies the assumption that all parents have the time and capability to HE a relevant, modern curriculum and that all DCs are going to be happy and receptive to the notion. Mine certainly wouldn't be and I, degree an' all, would presume to be able to teach!

Finally, as I'd said earlier, as much as anything, I wish there were some consistency in the handing out of HW (like the school implies there will be!) so the ramping up of it in Y9 onwards doesn't come as such a shock. Whilst we might all sneer at private prep DCs getting an hour a night in Y3, the fact is, come secondary, few of those DCs need a nightly boot up the rear to get it started! We see MNetters saying 'they private DCs get such good exam results because they're spoon fed all the way' and yes, to a certain extent, that would have to be true but their 7 year olds and definitely their 11 year olds are in the habit of sitting down at 5pm every evening and doing an hour's HW!

Mine isn't.

I meant, of course, I wouldn't presume to be able to HE my DCs!

Anything above 1000 shows they are making more than the expected progress.

Yes, 1007.3 is good. It means that in your school on average a student achieves one GCSE a grade higher than in a similar school with a similar intake.

You can certainly raise your concerns re homework in the new year, although as your issue seems to be with it tailing off in the summer term, perhaps your criticisms might be more timely later on. However, I think you might be fighting a losing battle if you want exactly the same amount of homework to be set in July as September. In my school, the amount of pressure we face to prepare the exam classes after Easter is immense and we are told to ease up on KS3 marking to give us time to do this. In the last term, we do activities which are sometimes not conducive to homework setting and the term is disrupted by various events which makes it difficult anyway. In this situation, where it wasn't appropriate to set homework following on from the lesson, I set a stand-alone homework that all the students in the class could access without any prior preparation and got a parent phoning up bollocking me for setting homework that was 'too easy'. You really can't win sometimes.

So there hasn't been a huge amount of progress from the end of Y6. Could he have had over-inflated results for the SAT's and now he is consolidating his learning (if the teachers are giving him 1 for effort?)

Did he start off the year getting lots of homework and it has dwindled, or has there never been much? I agree re:the getting into the habit of doing it, and the usefulness of revisiting what has been learned in the lesson, particularly wrt MFL and maths. Other subjects tend to extend the learning rather than practice IME.

I agree that it's hard to get DC to do "home-instigated" homework, but WHSmiths sell lots of pupil books for the secondary subjects which could be useful. IIRC, there were exercises to do in the ones DD insisted on getting to prepare for her Y7 exams as the school don't seem to use text books - they certainly don't get them for homework. Maybe you could get him to work from some of those on a daily basis through the hols to reinforce what he has learned this year?

If you are still concerned about lack of homework in Septhember, I would definitely contact the HOY or Head about it.