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KELLS AND CONNOR PRIMARY SCHOOL

HOMEWORK POLICY

It is the policy of the school to set homework. Work done at home, structured to follow the
lessons taught in school, should be beneficial to pupils, parents and teachers.

WHY HOMEWORK?

REASONS FOR SETTING HOMEWORK

a) Homework can give practice and consolidate work cover in school


b) It can give the child an opportunity to work independently of the teacher and class mates
c) It can also give the parent an opportunity to co-operate and work with their child
d) It fosters initiative
e) It serves as a link between home and school, giving the parent an idea of the type of work
being covered
f) It is a necessary training for secondary education
g) It can foster a pride in the child’s attitude to work

These general reasons will be translated in each curricular area into specific home activities, which
will help for example:-

1. To arouse interest and curiosity


2. To stimulate imagination
3. To promote an open approach to problem solving
4. To help parents to understand and see the value of the NI curriculum and new
teaching/learning approaches

Considerations such as these will help to determine the kinds of assignments which will be given as
well as decisions relating to individual or group work.

POSITIVE USES OF HOMEWORK

Homework is an opportunity for the teacher to set a variety of tasks that enhance and develop
many important skills.

1. Memorizing and learning skills


2. Computational, problem solving and mental arithmetic skills
3. Measuring and estimation, observation and recording skills
4. Creative design and art skills
5. Written expression, grammatical and punctuation skills
6. Planning and preparation of work
7. Reading, comprehension, the development of an independent reading habit and appreciation
of literature
8. Geographical and historical research skills
This variety of skills and the tasks that could be developed would seem to be an important factor
in using homework positively. If we are to ask children to return home after school and start into
work again, it is important to make it interesting and stimulating as well as relevant to them.
Homework should reflect the variety of activities that are going on within the class and provide a
window to the parent of what their child is involved with.

AMOUNT AND LENGTH OF HOMEWORK

It is important that children receive just the right amount of homework to extend their learning
and not negate it. There are a number of factors that will affect this – age, ability, the nature of
the task, and the aims of the homework. Roughly speaking, homework in P1 and P2 will be in fairly
small amounts using very simple tasks. Reading would be the greatest single task at this age. In
P3 the amount of homework could be gradually extended in amount and in variety of tasks. P4-P7
would see a steady increase of the amount of homework set, as well as variety of tasks associated
with the children’s increasing ability.

SUGGESTED TABLE OF TIME SPENT ON HOMEWORK

Up to Primary 3 - 20 minutes
“ P4-P5 - 30 minutes
“ P6-P7 - 40-45 minutes

Homework’s need not be of equal amount each night. It might be useful to set two long and two
short homework’s a week. Homework should rarely be set at weekends. A balance of quantity and
content should be aimed for.

MARKING AND ASSESSMENT OF HOMEWORK

Homework’s should be marked or assessed as soon and as thoroughly as possible. The children
must realise that sloppiness or careless work will be identified immediately. Homework’s should be
designed so that marking and assessment can be completed quickly. Learning of poems, facts and
rules, will take longer to assess individually, but may be assessed by testing.

Marking of written work should indicate whether the work is accurate and correct in content and
whether the work is neatly presented and should also provide motivation by reward for producing
such work.

Difficulties that arise with the standard of homework’s produced by a pupil may take various
forms. The homework may be untidy and careless in presentation, it may be forgotten or not done
at all, or it may be inaccurate showing a lack of understanding of the task. These difficulties
manifest problems that the child has in producing work, which must be challenged and dealt with.
Sometimes parental help and support will be needed.

Individual comments addressed to the child can also have force and meaning, especially if the
child’s name is used.

a) Excellent homework Judith! I especially like your amusing sentences.


b) A good effort Amanda! You are definitely taking more care now.
c) This homework is a disgrace Roy! Please repeat it tonight in your best handwriting.
Such comments would normally be reserved for occasional use and thus have more motivational
clout.
PARENTS ROLE

Parents have a significant part to play in children gaining maximum benefit from homework.

Parents are to be encouraged to perform a quasi-teacher role, encouraging, checking, and

explaining errors, although some, for a variety of reasons, will find this impossible to do

effectively. Just as homeworks will vary in their tasks, so will the type and account of parents

help. In some cases, no parental help will be desired and this can be mentioned to the children for

particular homework’s. However, in many cases parental help will be useful and beneficial, if only

that interest is shown from home to back up what is happening in school.

Homework’s can be an important link between home and school. Parents can judge a child’s

progress as well as the standard expected from the homework received. If difficulties arise

parents should be encourage to point this out on homework books with a short comment. The most

common difficulty is that the child is unable to do the homework and spends a great deal of time

over it. A comment on the homework book from the parent informs the teacher who may be

unaware of the difficulty the child is experiencing.

A good practice is the parent initialling the homework. However, it could be made more useful if

the parent also wrote how long the child spent over the homework beside the initials. This would

help to keep the teacher aware of the varying demands made upon the pupils.
KELLS AND CONNOR PRIMARY SCHOOL

HOMEWORK POLICY

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