Home Learning

Parent/Carer & Student Guide

Overview

If you add a little to a little and do this often, soon the little will become great.

Hesiod (Greek Poet)

Reading

“The more that you read. The more things you will know.

The more that you learn. The more places you’ll go.”

Dr Seuss

We have a superb reading hub, a facility that provides our students with a varied and exciting selection of reading material that is tailored to each year group through our reading routes programme.

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”

Ernest Hemmingway

Online Platforms

Maths – Sparx

English, Science, History &Geography – GCSEpod

Languages – Languagenut

Maths

English, Science, History, Geography

GCSEPod podcasts are designed for mobile devices, so it’s like carrying a huge pile of textbooks and revision guides around with you everywhere.

Its like an online Knowledge Organiser!

Have an expert read and explain everything for you clearly and precisely with all the right facts, quotes, keywords, dates and annotated diagrams on screen. You won’t need to use it for long before you feel the impact.  Consistent use in short chunks is proven to support achievement.

Your teacher may create an assignment which will include a playlist of podcasts for you to watch and some questions for you to answer, or you can choose your own pods focussing on areas you know you need to improve.

After watching a Pod you must complete a retrieval activity in your book to help you memorise that information.

Languages

Home Learning Strategies

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Retrieval

What is it?

Learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience or being taught.

Retrieval is all about being able to recall specific information as an when required. Having the power of knowledge ready when you need it gives you the confidence and ability to unlock higher order skills such as analysis, evaluation,  synthesis and problem solve solving.

How to get better at it?

Improved knowledge retention comes from practise. Repeated retrieval of information itself makes this information more retrievable to you.

Its all about making your brain process and recall any information you’ve looked at, it is not about copying!

Aim to read and process any information you’re given. Then after a short break, cover it up and then complete a task in your practise book to recall that information. Then check to see if you missed anything and add this in after. Each time aiming to be able to recall more.

Your knowledge organiser is a collection of all the key knowledge essential to making progress in each of your subjects. Your job is to learn this information in your organiser. The more you know the better you will be at using it, applying it, analysing it and solving problems with it in your lessons.

Knowledge Organiser

YEARS 7, 8 & 9

Every student will be issued with a Knowledge Organiser every term  and home learning book each half term. You should use them to complete 20 minutes a day of retrieval practice.

Students will also be quizzed on key aspects of their knowledge organiser in lessons and around the academy.

Teachers may specify certain parts to learn at particular times and may set additional home learning tasks to go along side this.

YEARS 10 & 11

In some subjects, students will also be given a knowledge organiser at KS4 and be quizzed regularly. This is at the discretion of the teacher dependent on whether they decide it is beneficial in the lead up to their GCSE’s. All students in KS4 are also given half termly home learning booklets.

Home Learning Booklets

YEARS 7, 8 & 9

Every student will be issued with a home learning booklet every half term, these contain tasks that directly match up to learning from the knowledge organiser with tasks specifically chosen to match up with the curriculum that students are learning in their classes. Years 7, 8 and 9 contain 5 tasks to do every week in the following subjects: Maths, English, Science, History & Geography. These tasks will be checked on the blue line.

YEARS 10 & 11

Every student in Y10 and Y11 will be issued a KS4 home learning booklet every half term, these contain tasks that directly match up to learning from the knowledge organiser. They contain tasks in the following subjects: English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Physics, French/Spanish (if applicable) and History or Geography depending on the student’s options pick. These tasks will be checked on the blue line by Mr Wallace and members of the Senior Leadership Team.

Celebrate Success

We love to celebrate the work of our students both in the classroom and at home.

Send anything you or your child are proud of to:

We can then share this amazing work through academy celebration events, with class teachers, online or just with a quiet well done to the student.

We will check home learning booklets on the Blue Line each morning looking for great retrieval tasks and amazing presented work.

We will also be ready with questions to quiz you on the information in your knowledge organisers!