Homework

Homework is an essential part of a student’s education at Nower Hill.  Regular homework is set because it gives students the opportunity to practice at home the tasks covered in class and helps the students work towards improving important skills. It also helps our students to become confident and independent in their learning, which will help throughout their time at school and beyond.  Evidence has shown that students completing homework to a high standard improves outcomes.

Students are informed of the homework being set in their lessons by their class teacher.  All the details required to complete the homework are published on Satchelone.  This is an online homework diary to which all students are issued with their own personal log on.  Parents and Carers have their own log on which they can use for all their children at the school.  The Satchel:One website can be accessed by following the link in the quick links drop down at the top of the website, it can also be downloaded as an app from Google Play and the Apple app store.  Student and parental log on details are issued during September for new year 7 students. If you have any difficulty logging on to the site, please contact the school using the e-mail address at the bottom of this section.

G-Suite our Managed Learning Environment, is used to share resources that students will find useful during their private study including links to helpful websites, videos and past papers and their mark schemes. This can be accessed by following the 'Student G Suite' link in the quick links menu at the top of the website. Parents of students can gain access to this information by asking the student to share their log on details.

Years 7 and 8 will receive homework fortnightly in most subjects but will receive homework every week from English and Maths.  In years 9 to 13, homework is set weekly in every subject except Core Citizenship, Core PRE and Core P.E.  The amount of time students should spend on homework increases as they move up the year groups and is described in the document linked at the bottom of this page.

All homework will be marked, monitored or checked and acknowledged within a fortnight of it being submitted.   Teachers use a variety of forms of marking depending upon the activity and learning need.  Forms of marking used at Nower Hill include:

• Formative teacher marking in which the teacher identifies exactly what the student has done well, what they have been less successful in doing and an indication of how improvements can be made.
• Self and/or peer marking in which students are guided in marking their own or others work using success criteria and mark schemes, noting positive aspects and areas for development.
• Oral feedback in which teachers will speak to students about their work and give them formative feedback verbally.

Teachers use all types of marking to inform planning so that common areas of difficulty are addressed and intervention is put in place where appropriate.  Homework tasks completed to an exceptional standard will be awarded achievement points.

You can support us and your child with their homework in the following ways:

• Talking to your child about the homework they have been set each week.
• Ensure they have a quiet space to complete their homework away from phones, music and other distractions.
• Checking Satchel:One to ensure they have completed all the work set.
• Checking that the work has been completed to a good standard.

As a result of our two-week timetable -  KS3 homework will be given a two week deadline and all other key stages will be given at least a one week deadline.

If you have any concerns about homework, please use the e-mail address below to contact the school:  homework@nowerhill.harrow.sch.uk