How much homework does your year 7 child get?

[goldangel]

It seems DS was getting more homework in year 6, interested to see what the norm is, we are in London.

Thanks

Ds1 gets three pieces of homework every night, as well as 4-5 pieces over holidays.

Too much, in my opinion!

We’re in London too

Very little or so she tells me

5-7 pieces a week plus a couple of termly projects - grammar school.

Thanks, just wanted to add he's in a state secondary school with a "good" ofsted,

Can't help thinking more homework will help his progress. Still early days but having my doubts about the school, was our second choice.

Does his planner say how much homework he should be getting. Our school sets 30mins per subject, per week plus one 500 word essay per half term. With exception to the essay, the 30mins seems to be standard so bring it up with his form tutor if not.

My friends and I have had long discussions on this. Those DC in grammar school received much more homework, whilst those in other types of school seemed to have nowhere near as much as year 6. It seemed to us that really good primaries helping the DC score 5s and 6s in year 6 were covering some of the work then given out in year 7 at secondary school. I would do some work yourself with your child if you have time. Soon your child will be put into sets for maths, etc and it can be difficult to move up a set in the future. We found the school's initial perception of how clever or not your child was tended to stick. If you're not sure about the school and are able to sit on your first choice school's waiting list I would do this. You'll be surprised how many places come up from year 8, even in the most highly sought grammar schools.

Astro - that is not our experience - all our friends kids went to the local non GS options and they currently get much more homework. GS school day is almost an hour longer. Perhaps that makes a difference.

Home work doesn't automatically improve progress and learning.

It can do if it is well designed, develops specific skills, allows students to apply specific pieces of knowledge.

What tends to be of less value is open ended research tasks, make a poster, creative tasks unless there is some use of it in another lesson.

Personally, i hate homework plans because you get teachers being told 'year 7 must have weekly homework for english and maths' and 'parents have been complaining their child isn't getting enough homework' so teachers then have to find something to set for the sake of it because maybe the class started the next lesson's work early so the planned homework doesn't fit and what sort of teacher would slow a lesson down just because they've got a homeworl worksheet ready?

I must admit, I have a habit of partially ignoring our 'obsession with weekly homework at ks3. I would rather set a purposeful homework 3/4 weeks than a pointless one 4/4. Some half terms I give it fortnightly but the piece itself is a bigger piece.

If anyone in SLT decided it is a problem and could prove to me that 2 × 1hour of well designed homework with a fortnight gap is worse than 4 × 30 mins 'just because', then i'll change my approach.

I have twin DS year 7.
The one at grammar now gets far more and work over Christmas than the one at comp who had nothing over Christmas. It's a real eye opener to see the difference in homework between schools.

mine are at 2 different schools - Y7 was 30 min per subject per week + one project per subject per term.

One in 6th form now and up to 90 min per subject per day. (3 subjects, but has study periods)

One in Y11 GCSE year - about 1 hr per subject per week - half "homework" half revision.

With a relatively short day, well designed homework to support learning does help. If also promotes self reliance and is a good Work habit to build up. Mine had 1 hour a night for 3 subjects and 4 subjects at the weekend. It was boarding so this was set prep time and on top of a long day. Good habits were formed though! No homework should take hours every night at this stage and extra activities should be given time. If a child has to spend hours, there is a problem!

DD2 now y8, leafy comp with Good rating and good results.

Y7 very little, 2hrs per week tops generally.
Y8 similar.

Part of me would like her to have a bit more, but she is exhausted at the end of the day so she couldn't cope with much more.

I think, however, that higher sets get set more homework.

Thanks for the replies, he's already in the top set in maths so that's reassuring, we'll look to do more at home with him.

I've had a look at the year 7 booklet again & what's listed on typical homework per week is very far from what he's getting and what's in his planner.

Hoping it will change this term, if not we'll bring this up at parents evening in Feb or should we contact the teachers individually?

Thanks again.

I’d discuss with the teachers at parents evening.

I have one at super selective who gets incredibly little homework. Now in Y9, and slightly more but virtually nothing in Y7 & 8. The pace of the lessons though is eye watering. We are going to be discussing it at upcoming parents evening.

I also have one at “normal” grammar in Y7 and she gets a fair bit - say each subject 30 mins per week. Usually have 2-7 days to do each piece. Some project work as well, also over holidays.

It varies a lot between schools i think. Dd at a comp got tons in year 7, including in the holidays. A friend's ds at another comp has never had holiday homework

goldangel
Balance frequency with quality though.

Only saying that I would rather students did more detailed longer pieces once a fortnightthan split their homework weekly and give them a 20 minite task that doesn't stretch them as much. So a parent might look at my y8s abd say 'Mrs Pops doesn't set enough homework' but actually, thry are getting the same amount of time just balanced differently so I can push them rather than set a pointless 20 minute activity which they don't value, feels pointless and then i have to mark.

Obviously, if he's getting nowhere near enough then raise it.

Frequency with quality is a good point.

The other school in our town sets LOADS more h/w than ours. But comparing with a friend, a lot of it seems to be time consuming 'busy' work with relatively little learning. (We could revisit the making a model of a castle thread perhaps here?). Whereas 95% of my DD's h/w has a good learning:time ratio.

That's what I mean teen.

I don't see the point in setting homework 'because the learning planner says so'.

In my subject I've seen some garbage (often in menus or pick your own options):

• make a wanted poster for the villain in the book
• research the author and make a fact file (but nothing on what makes interesting or useful contextual info)
• research WW1 over the holidays before we study Owen
• summarise the chapter in tweets
• make a facebook profile for the main character
• write a poem about weather
• make a poster about an issue in the book
• write the next section of the story (but zero guidance or teaching on how to actually do it)
• make 5 predictions about what will happen next

What do pupils actually learn from those tasks.

Better tasks:
Write an analytical paragraph on this question based on what we have studied this week.
Do some research about X historical event. How does it link to what we have just read
Read this extract from a historical text. Explain why the theme of X was so important/revolutionary for that time.
Complete these comprehension questions on an extract
Select 5 key quotations from this chapter. Make notes on what language analysis you would do.

When schools starr policing the fact homework has been set vs actually considering if it is any good then you get more crap.

Yup Maisy .

The 'make a wanted poster' would in particular get my goat as it has turned an English homework into an art one.

(That said I'd like it if our English dept set any a bit more h/w.)

Does he not get a homework timetable? My school give these out (secondary) so teachers, pupils and patents know what to expect

My subject is only taught once a fortnight to year 7 and 8 so our tasks tend to bigger and more in depth