Homework Guidance

Independent Study Overview

At The Albion Academy, we are a school community who celebrate inclusivity, ambition, and aspirational learners as such, we believe that independent learning encourages the development of skills and allows students to take more ownership of their education. Promotion and emphasis of independent study skills from the start of Year 7 helps to prepare students for Key Stage 4 and beyond, and, in turn, aids our students’ progression and development. 

What study tasks will my child receive?

There are three types of task that your child could receive: 

  1. Online independent study: In KS3 (Years 7, 8 and 9) all homework will be set online and there will also be some homework set online in KS4 (Years 9 and 10). This will be in place of paper homework.  
  2. Paper independent study tasks: in Years 10 and 11, students may receive a study task that is paper based. Students will be given a week to complete this task and it will then be checked by their subject teacher. This will allow students to consolidate and extend their learning. 
  3. Self-quizzing independent study: Your child also receives self-quizzing homework once a week from each subject. This ensures that your child is memorising and recalling the powerful knowledge that they need to be successful. 

How many independent study tasks should my child receive?

Your child should receive one piece of independent study from each of their subjects once a week.

The independent study timetable is below, it shows what night each subject is set on and this is also the day it is due in: 

Key Stage 4

Monday 

Tuesday 

Wednesday 

Thursday 

Friday 

Year 10 & 11

English & Spanish

 

Maths 

Science

 

 

Key Stage 3

Monday 

Tuesday 

Wednesday 

Thursday 

Friday 

Year 7, 8 & 9

English 

Spenish

Maths 

Science

 

  • Students in KS4 should spend approximately 1 hour per homework. 
  • Students is KS3 should spend approximately 30-40 minutes per homework.

Note: Geography homework is set and due on specific days assigned by individual class teachers, who will inform their classes of this.

What additional help is available for study?

A study room is open daily during break, lunch and after school. The study room (G06) is open from 11:00-11:20am at break, from 13:20-14:00 at lunch and from 3:00-3:20 after school. Students can use the rooms to complete study tasks in a quiet environment or ask for help from subject specialists. Study rooms are fully equipped with IT equipment so online tasks can be completed.

How can you support your child with independent study?
  • Make sure your child brings their journal, independent study book and knowledge organiser to school every day.
  • Encourage your child to complete their independent study in order of priority, completing the task with the soonest due date first.
  • Make sure your child has a quiet, well-lit place to do complete independent study tasks.
  • Avoid having your child do independent study with the television on or in places with other distractions.
  • Be positive about independent study. Tell your child how important school is. The attitude you express about independent study will be the attitude your child acquires.
  • Help your child with time management. Establish a set time each day for completing independent study. Don’t let your child leave tasks until just before bedtime. Think about using a weekend morning or afternoon for working on big projects.
  • Encourage your child to attend study rooms. Study rooms are open before and after school every day. Students can work with teachers and access resources to help them complete independent study tasks successfully. 
Online Homework Platforms

We use several excellent online platforms to set homework tasks that are designed to promote recall of key knowledge, to practice key skills, and are adaptive to the level that the student is at. For the majority of these platforms, there is the option to sign up a linked parent account. This way you can get a deeper understanding of your child's progress as you can get a lot of information about their engagement, their areas of success and areas of improvement.

Many of our homework platforms adapt to the student to make sure they are working at a level appropriate to them. It is important that when supporting your child you let them have a go at the answers first of all, even if they get them wrong. You can then help them understand why the answer was wrong using the support videos or explanations on the programme. This helps us to see the areas that they are not yet secure with. It also prevents the programme from increasing the difficulty of the questions beyond the level that the student is working at.

Online Homework Platforms

We use several excellent online platforms to set homework tasks that are designed to promote recall of key knowledge, to practice key skills, and are adaptive to the level that the student is at. For the majority of these platforms, there is the option to sign up a linked parent account. This way you can get a deeper understanding of your child's progress as you can get a lot of information about their engagement, their areas of success and areas of improvement.

Many of our homework platforms adapt to the student to make sure they are working at a level appropriate to them. It is important that when supporting your child you let them have a go at the answers first of all, even if they get them wrong. You can then help them understand why the answer was wrong using the support videos or explanations on the programme. This helps us to see the areas that they are not yet secure with. It also prevents the programme from increasing the difficulty of the questions beyond the level that the student is working at.

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