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Secondary education

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Original poster

Y10 Easter homework

31 replies

Jux · 16/04/2014 15:49

So far this holiday dd has had one day off. Every other day has been spent on homework, almost from dawn to dusk, something like 10 hours a day, with small breaks.

She still has half of her ancient history to do, two paintings and a sculpture, a developed answer for RE, French and German.

She wasn't behind. This isn't catch up work. This is all homework set for the holidays.

The only reason she's had one day off was because we took her out. I asked her if she'd like to watch a film yesterday evening, she wanted to but refused as she had homework to do. I wanted to take her out today, but again she said she needed to get on with homework.

According to the school, she is among the brightest in her year. She is expected to do extremely well in her GCSEs. She is quite studious naturally anyway, but I am beginning to think that she may not get through to end of Y11 in a reasonable state of mind at this rate.

Is that much homework normal now? I did O levels in the early 70s, so have no idea.

OP posts:
BackforGood · 16/04/2014 16:21

No. Not normal at all.
I have a dd in Yr10 - as all MN children are bright, capable, predicted As and A*s and she's spent most of the holiday so far (we are in our first week here, in our LA), asleep. She will be away on camp for 4 days over the EAster weekend, and then will sleep a lot next week too. She's done a bit of homework, but was outside most of yesterday, and for a long day out on Sunday.
I was at a Parent's Forum at her school last year, and some parents were anxious about ridiculous amounts of homework, and they were adamant that they weren't setting those types of amounts, but there were a few girls in every year who put themselves under undue pressure, and took 3 hours to do a piece of work intended to take 30mins. It would be worth looking into specifics and perhaps talking with her form tutor / Head of Year about it.

mistlethrush · 16/04/2014 16:22

Sounds too much to me Jux - I did O'levels too - at a pushy school - and I'm sure that I didn't spend all the time working in Yr10. Even in Yr11 I took time off revision for horseriding and dog walking.

OddBoots · 16/04/2014 16:27

ds is in y10 and sounds like your dd in terms of ability/grades. he has done some work but not that much, by the end of the holiday he would have done 5 full days, the rest have been rest days. I wouldn't want him to do more than this really, they need some time off.

Nocomet · 16/04/2014 16:31

Sounds utterly ridiculous.
I don't think DD1 did much at all last Easter.

She hasn't revised everyday of the holidays this year either.

Sounds like your DD really needs to step back and ask herself what is actually required by her teachers and how long did they mean it to take.

I don't think they can possibly have meant her to work all holiday.

Dreamgirls234 · 16/04/2014 16:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fourcorneredcircle · 16/04/2014 17:17

Ladies, I give you Gove's Utopia... No, in all seriousness it sounds like your daughter is over doing it. It's quite common in high achieving students. As has been mentioned they put a lot of pressure on themselves. I am an MFL teacher and have sent my students home to prepare for their speaking assessment which is more work than the average piece of homework - but they've had six hours in class so the holidays should be about learning (I know, don't get me started) rather than pens on paper if that makes sense. I explained to them that 30 minutes concentrated work every other day plus getting parents/siblings to test them at random should be enough. I always tell my students that their HWK shouldn't take longer than it would in an exam so, for example I'm history/RS/geography if it is about answering an exam question they should know how long it should take them and limit themselves to that.

noblegiraffe · 16/04/2014 17:48

Is she actually working all that time (which would be completely unreasonable, kids need a break) or is she looking like she is working while messaging her friends on Facebook etc?

My brother 'revised' for hours for exams, sat at a table surrounded by books, but never actually did any work,

Either way, she need some support with her time management, she absolutely can't continue this way. She will burn out before her GCSEs.

Picturesinthefirelight · 16/04/2014 17:55

Just don't do it.

We go on holiday at Easter & there is no way either of my two when they get to that age are going to spend the holiday cooped up in the hotel room or caravan.

fourcorneredcircle · 16/04/2014 18:08

Pictures most parents want to support their Y10 students in their homework - the OP and others that come after her are not saying that they shouldn't do homework (because, then they probably wouldn't do so well...) but that they support with time management. Just not doing it will not help.

MrsDavidBowie · 16/04/2014 18:14

I am looking at my year 10 son who has got some German to do and nothing else.
10 hours a day is just ridiculous.

Lottiedoubtie · 16/04/2014 18:15

I agree, you need to work with her re. Time management.

Ask to see what she has done at regular intervals (30 mins-1hr) so you can get an idea if a) she is writing three lines an hour, b)she is staring into space, c) she's on Facebook, d) she's sitting stressing and not getting anything down on paper if it isn't 'perfect' (v. Common with high archieving girls) or e) working appropriately through a ridiculous amount of work.

I'd be quite surprised if it really is e), but if it is, you need to take it up with the school, because that's far too much work. Apart from anything else who is going to mark 2 weeks worth of 10 hour days xhowever many people in her year. It's unworkable for everyone concerned.

Original poster
Jux · 16/04/2014 19:11

Thank you all so much.

I know that with art she works quite slowly as her work is very very intricate and does take a long time. For the other things, she does put pressure on herself. A lot is expected of her, and she wants to go to Oxford. I've looked at their admissions requirements, and GCSEs are barely mentioned. I hoped that would take a bit of pressure off her, but it would not seem to have worked.

The French and German I think ought to be unnecessary. It's writing and then learning a piece (for French) and answers to questions (for German) for a class test or whatever the terminology is. It's work that counts towards the GCSE. I think that writing your answers and learning them (and then your teacher correcting them and you learning them with the corrections) is cheating, but apparently this is how it's done. It's not the first time they've had to do this sort of thing. (In my day, you had an exam when you did as well as you did but you didn't get to learn corrected things off by heart......... .)

The Ancient History is taking the most time. I'm not sure I entirely understand how it works, but there's a GCSE this year and then another next year.

I have tried to talk to her about time management before, when I've thought she was spending too much time studying outside school. That's another thread Grin. I do wonder how much time the A.History is supposed to take, and will talk to her teacher when they go back (Tuesday gulp!).

Thanks Mr Gove [boooooooo hissssssssss]

Poor little thing.

She has agreed to take some time off tomorrow, so I'll take her into town.

OP posts:
wincy · 16/04/2014 20:46

Never thought I'd be defending Gove, but he is phasing out controlled assessments/coursework in favour of end of course exams. Suits some people not others.Wink

Nocomet · 16/04/2014 21:43

Yes getting rid of CAs is the one good thing Gove has done.

However, I'm not entirely sure if they actually will disappear from languages, which have always had some sort of orals, before the main exam season.

Also I assume PE, drama, music and art will still have performances and course work of some sort and so will other DT subjects

BackforGood · 16/04/2014 22:00

No - I know it's unbelievable, but that is the way you get a GCSE in MFLs these days, Jux

fourcorneredcircle · 16/04/2014 22:07

jux and BackforGood It's a farce and I'm an MFL teacher. Results are spiraling out of control beacuse so many schools rely on the sort of 'fettling' of controlled assessments that you mention. The evidence suggests that Nocomet is correct in that there will continue to be an oral assessment in MFL (wouldn't make sense not to...) although I imagine it will return to the previous system where you had to give a short presentation on a topic, then answer questions about the topic, then do a role play - which were unseen before the assessment.

Nocomet · 16/04/2014 22:37

Although unfortunately I think my Y8 DD2 will still get the present system?

stillenacht1 · 16/04/2014 22:39

I set my year 10s revision for a test on one of their set works (GCSE music) and that is it...about 2 hours work .

fourcorneredcircle · 16/04/2014 22:49

nocomet who knows?! The powers that be changes his change their minds a lot...

balia · 16/04/2014 22:53

The time commitment for Art is massive - I remember my DD doing it - hours of work if they are going for top grades.

Nocomet · 16/04/2014 23:18

fourcorneredcircke Who knows was also the conclusion of the teacher I asked at the sixth form evening.

And art certainly swallows up all the spare time you have and then some more.

Original poster
Jux · 16/04/2014 23:42

The MFL work really is ridiculous, isn't it? She's very good in French and doesn't need to do the work at all, but she'll do it because she has to hand it in to get corrected. The German will artificially inflate her competence, but it is more necessary as they only started teaching it this year, so there's an amount of catching up with other schools to do.

She loves art and it helps her relax, so the amount of work - though a bit bonkers imo - is not so onerous.

Ancient History? I just don't know, but it's what she wants to do at Uni, so it's hard to know what to do for the best. The amount of work set seems a tad unreasonable.

Thank goodness there's no maths! That's her weakest subject, and will reduce her to tears. She's so knackered from it all. It makes me so sad for her. She should be loving most of these subjects and she isn't any more. Sad

OP posts:
Original poster
Jux · 16/04/2014 23:44

I don't approve of the strategy in German, by the way. I can't help but see it as cheating, and ultimately not helpful.

OP posts:
Picturesinthefirelight · 17/04/2014 11:09

I wholeheartedly support my children's education to the extent that due to poor local schools we have gone down the independent route.

But they don't do homework in the holidays apart from a small amount of revision for secondary age dd

The exception will probably be year 11. I would expect dd to be doing about an hour a day at that age.

Picturesinthefirelight · 17/04/2014 11:26

The amount the OPs dd has is ridiculous & unnecessary & whilst some may be time management it doesn't sound like most of it is.

I would be asking for a meeting with the head of year to address the situation

No good will come out of burnt out children.

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