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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

How much homework does your Y7 grammar/independent child get?

91 replies

kitnkaboodle · 20/11/2013 10:41

Our Y7 son was a high-flyer at a good state primary. He's started at local, good comp. He would have sailed through 11+, I'm sure, but the nearest grammar is an hour's journey away and we saw no problem with the state school. He's happy there and has good friendship circle. I'm keeping a discreet eye on his schoolwork/homework. Homework is pretty cursory at the moment. I didn't worry last term as he had enough on his plate with settling in/getting himself organised on his own. Some of the homework tasks are a bit and not as challenging as he was used to at primary.

I know homework is not the be-all and end-all, and he's only in his second term, but just wondered what kind of stuff kids at more selective schools are getting, and how long they spend on homework each day.

OP posts:

OldBeanbagz · 20/11/2013 10:56

DD is at an independent school and the homework is nowhere near as bad as it was in the last year of her prep school.

It's timetabled to be 2 pieces per night but is often less. One of the subjects is an ongoing project which will be marked at Christmas.

I would say she generally does 30mins a night on average.

Seeline · 20/11/2013 11:00

DS is Y7 at a selective indy. He is timetabled 3 subjects every night and usually gets this. Each piece is supposed to be 30mins, but in reality can take alot longer especially when you can't decide which pen to use or it involves alot of googling.
Probably 1-2 pieces are for the next day, sometimes one will be for a couple of days time. Occassionally he will have a piece which is for 2 homeworks, so expected to take double the time.

indignatio · 20/11/2013 11:04

Exactly the same as Seeline

Thisisaghostlyeuphemism · 20/11/2013 11:06

DS is at a grammar, and he does hardly any. It has astounded me. He says he does it at school and I've had no complaints from teachers yet!
Maybe 20 mins at home, three times a week or so.

Original poster

kitnkaboodle · 20/11/2013 11:47

so far so good ... my son currently does about 40 mins' worth three or four evenings a week. I'm wondering if they will up the ante after Christmas, or if he will potter along like this for the whole year. He's knackered and ready for bed by 8.30 anyway ...

I imagined that if he'd gone to a grammar he would already be burning the midnight oil each night writing essays - maybe that's just stereotyping

OP posts:

Scoobyblue · 20/11/2013 15:27

dd1 is at selective indy and gets 3 lots of 25 mins per day. maths, languages and science are quicker than 25 mins; english, history, re etc can take longer; but even out at about the right amount of time.

intitgrand · 20/11/2013 16:24

three subject a night supposed to be 20-30 minutes but she seems to find time at school (and on the bus perhaps ) to at least break the back of it.

tigertwist · 20/11/2013 19:03

Too much IMO! She's at grammar and averaging 2/3 subject pieces a night - she can over think/waste time so it can take her ages too. I don't know about your yr 7's but mine is shattered! All this homework isn't helping no doubt.

tigertwist · 20/11/2013 19:06

PS Is supposed to be around 1hr and a half to do 3 subjects - she's about half hour for each so I guess is 'on par' with how much time she should be spending doing it. Is especially tiring after any extra curricular stuff she's done.

trinity0097 · 20/11/2013 20:18

We set 20min of prep at a time, 2 subjects on Mon, Tue and Thur and 3 on a Friday for years 6-8. Sometimes the prep takes less time to do if the child is able. This is an independent prep school.

bananadrama · 20/11/2013 20:19

My DS is at a selective indie & when he was in year 7 last year he got set 3 subjects a night for most nights. This was more than his friends got who went to our local grammar schools which he was not happy about! Now he is in year 8 it has been stepped up to 4 subjects for 3 nights. Some teachers add extra ones in & some nights he has been set 6 pieces! Far too much IMO as some pieces take more than half an hour each.

Sunnymeg · 20/11/2013 21:42

DS at state comprehensive. He has two sets of homework a night which are meant to take half an hour per subject. He also has a learning topic set every three weeks which he has to research and then write a report on. The topic is meant to take a minimum of three hours to do, though in reality it is taking him more like five or six hours to complete.

It seems a lot to me, but he is learning to manage his time and prioritise his work, which is a good thing.

Smartbutdopey · 20/11/2013 21:53

DD is in Y7 at a girls grammar. She is getting 1-2 pieces a night which doesn't take more than 1 hr tops. Always does it on the day issued which means she is always on top of it . I know it is early days but I have heard grammars tend not to issue lots of homework compared to comps. Not sure why this might be? My son is Y11 at an outstanding comp and he regularly got 2-3 pieces a night right from the start in Y7.

FormaLurka · 20/11/2013 22:30

My DCs get about 3 pieces of homework each night and it normally takes them 2 hours to complete.

curlew · 20/11/2013 22:39

"I imagined that if he'd gone to a grammar he would already be burning the midnight oil each night writing essays - maybe that's just stereotyping"

My grammar school dd never had much homework until revision for public exams kicked it.

Most homework is only set to please parents and is a waste of time anyway.

urbancupcake · 21/11/2013 17:58

My dd at a high achieving sought after comp with results not too dissimilar to independent schools. Admittedly they get a higher than usual percentage of level 5/6 students in the first place.

Since year 7, although now in year 8, homework has been 2 pieces a night, every other week 3 on one night. Usually consists of either two majors or a major and a minor and equates to roughly two hours a night.

Yet I still have been concerned about the lack of homework over school holidays which tends to be zero or a very small project.

marialuisa · 21/11/2013 18:35

DD now in Y8 at selective independent, the homework load is relatively low but was supposed to be no more than an hour per night in Y7. DD has a perfectionist streak so any project type homework expands. Our only gripe is that subjects like cookery have a homework slot which tends to be projects so DD will spend 2 hours creating a poster on "breads of the world" which doesn't seem very useful.

No homework in holidays and TBH I'd be horrified if they gave it as DD has plenty going on outside of school which we think is important and deserves h time too.

kernowal · 21/11/2013 18:37

Bog standard academy here. DD gets at least 1 - 2 pieces of homework each evening which range from having to be done by the next day to within the next couple of weeks. Some are more challenging than others, but I think year 7 is more about trying to get them organised and used to doing different tasks for different subjects at the same time rather than stretching them academically. She gets home around 4pm and is usually finishing it at around 5-5.30 when I get in from work (at least I assume she hasn't been watching TV the whole time!)

Marmitelover55 · 21/11/2013 18:51

My DD1 is in year 7 at a v high achieving comp and is meant to get on average 3 pieces a night, totalling about 1 hour, with a bit more at the weekends. I really wish she didn't have homework as I'm getting fed up with if myself.

Poppylovescheese · 21/11/2013 20:08

My DS is at an indie and gets loads IMO for YR7. Usually at least 3 pieces per night taking around half an hour each.

lisad123everybodydancenow · 21/11/2013 20:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

curlew · 21/11/2013 20:41

Why are people so hung up on homework? Why would you want an 11 year old to come home from school at, say 4.00, a lot even later- then have 2 hours homework to do? When do they practice instruments, read books, ride bikes, go to Scouts, watch telly, mess around with their siblings, write stories, do chores, go to extra curricular things, do nothing, get bored, walk the dog.............

teacherwith2kids · 21/11/2013 21:05

Agree, Curlew. Why is the measure of learning INSIDE school seen to be the amount of work they have to do OUTSIDE school? Simplistically - and I realise that this is a simplistic view - then the more the child learns IN school (ie the better the school), the less they should need to do outside it.

Obviously, some homework is useful - DS (year 8, comp) learns lots of vocabulary for his 2 MFLs and that is obviously useful, and obviously involves more repetition than is available in lesson time. Equally useful are reading / research / preparation homework - so lots of reading of a class novel, including areas to focus on, in preparation for English lessons. And I agree that a certain amount of 'rehearsal' homework, in subjects such as Maths, is of value so that class time can principally be used for new learning.

However, how much more beneficial is it to write an analysis of source material in History, say, in a lesson - with a teacher on hand to question and extend, all resources available, instant response to misunderstandings and queries, and instant extension / support or redirection as required - rather than slog through it at home, a long time after the point of teaching? I appreciate that at e.g. A-level, it is not time-efficient to write full essays in class. However, in earlier years, if we consider what will maximise the amount a child learns, 5 minutes of writing in direct response to a personalised question from a teacher in class may well be worth hour of routine homework slog.

teacherwith2kids · 21/11/2013 21:32

I am not, btw, advcating the removal of secondary homework. Some is valuable, and the idea of personal responsibility / individual study is valuable in itself.

However the idea that quantity of homework is in any way correlated to quality of school is not one that I quite understand.

Obviously, there may be a non-causal link - traditionally, gramars may have set lots of homework. Traditionally, grammars also get high results. The causal link is in fact that grammars get high results because they select the most able pupils. The correlation to homework is a red herring.

Or there may be a reverse link - non setting of hoimework may indicate lax teachers, which might indicate poor teaching in school. Or it may indicate that the school is in a very deprived area, where because such a high proportion of the students will be vulnerably or unsuitably housed, with minimal provision for doing homework, the school has made a policy decision not to send work home but to manage all 'formal' learning within the school walls. In the latter case at least, the poor reputation of the school will be everything to do with the socioeconomics of the intake and nothing at all to do with homework....

As I say, seems odd to me that 'more homework' = 'better school' in the eyes of some.

duchesse · 21/11/2013 21:48

My children got 3x 30 mn homeworks a night, although it could take them 2 hours sometimes.

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