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Total lack of homework - dont know what else to do.
I have had serious worries that I picked the wrong secondary school for my son, who started last September, but as all other school are full and with waitinglists, there is nothing I can do at the moment. However, the lack of homework is driving me mad. All of his friends who went to different school have roughly 2 pieces set a day. It is now Friday tomorrow and he hasnt ben set a single piece this week!. I have spoken to his form tutor, have had 2 meetings with the head of year, and all they keep saying is that they are working on it. They say it is the actual teachers fault for not setting it and will keep chasing them but nothing happens. And the odd piece he gets is so easy, well it could be done by a 10 year old. I just dont want him to get behind the level he should be at. What can I do?
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we never had homework....well i can probably count it on one hand.
i think too much homework is wrong. 6-7 hours of school work a day is plenty - give them some time to be themselves and play.
i don't see that setting little bits and pieces of work for them - that the teacher has probably thrown together half assed - and which lets face it many parents just do for them, is that necessary.
i would worry about it only IF he starts to struggle - in the meantime buy him some books and learning CDroms and run through them with him yourself.
At his age, he has 5 years to prepare for his proper exams so don't worry too much.
you can buy coursework books and text books on ebay for a few quid.... I daresay if you look you would find a few actual 'homework' books too.
(Incidentally - i hated school, and played truant as often as possible - now have a degree, a HND, and various diplomas etc and work in Television - i believe it is the nature of the child that matters, not the dribs and drabs of extra coursework.
i think too much homework is wrong. 6-7 hours of school work a day is plenty - give them some time to be themselves and play.
i don't see that setting little bits and pieces of work for them - that the teacher has probably thrown together half assed - and which lets face it many parents just do for them, is that necessary.
i would worry about it only IF he starts to struggle - in the meantime buy him some books and learning CDroms and run through them with him yourself.
At his age, he has 5 years to prepare for his proper exams so don't worry too much.
you can buy coursework books and text books on ebay for a few quid.... I daresay if you look you would find a few actual 'homework' books too.
(Incidentally - i hated school, and played truant as often as possible - now have a degree, a HND, and various diplomas etc and work in Television - i believe it is the nature of the child that matters, not the dribs and drabs of extra coursework.
Halifax son and daughter are the same - they never seem to have homework.
They are in years 10 and 8. H-son goes to the best state school in the area and H-daughter goes to a different, but still good school.
But, H-son is achieving As and Bs in his GCSE exams in Maths, English and Science.
So, maybe homework's not so important after all...?!
They are in years 10 and 8. H-son goes to the best state school in the area and H-daughter goes to a different, but still good school.
But, H-son is achieving As and Bs in his GCSE exams in Maths, English and Science.
So, maybe homework's not so important after all...?!
I'm not sure OFSTED will take action. There is no requirement to set homework. Some schools who achieve good results do not support regular homework. Personally, as a teacher, I think some homework is a good idea in theory as it helps students consolidate their learning and you can set them a challenging question; and it helps them plan their time. On the other hand when i was at school and when my children were at school there was 2 hours homework every night and I think that was too much.
But many teachers know that getting many pupils to do homework is a real battle. Apart from the conscientious few, most just come up with all sorts of excuses or just say "I didn't understand it". I often get notes from parents saying it was too hard or my son was feeling unwell/too tired". As a teacher I can spend several hours a week chasing up homework, ringing parents, giving detentions, then ringing home because the child has missed the detention...."
Ask the school for homework if you want it and they should provide some. But if they you can set work yourself. For Maths, for example, ask the school for access to MyMaths.co.uk which contains homework tasks for each topic.
But many teachers know that getting many pupils to do homework is a real battle. Apart from the conscientious few, most just come up with all sorts of excuses or just say "I didn't understand it". I often get notes from parents saying it was too hard or my son was feeling unwell/too tired". As a teacher I can spend several hours a week chasing up homework, ringing parents, giving detentions, then ringing home because the child has missed the detention...."
Ask the school for homework if you want it and they should provide some. But if they you can set work yourself. For Maths, for example, ask the school for access to MyMaths.co.uk which contains homework tasks for each topic.
God I feel so much better!! The primary school he went to was quite a way from our house and so the automatic feeder school for secondary was also that far, so I decided to try the local school here. Hence all his old classmates go to a different school. they all seem to get loads a week, which is what i am making the comparison to. He is in the top sets for all subjects at the mo, but whenever I ask what he has done/learned that day I just get "dunno" or "can't remember". Maybe it's just a boy thing!
Morning ummm. maybe - but I have my doubts lol. he has his first parents evening the week after half term so maybe I can ask a few questions then. Its just a combination of things - yesterday they had a new music teacher start. She told 2 boys to stop talking and they just walked out of the lesson!Got brought back by the head, and they just did the same thing again.
If it makes you feel better, my 10yr old and 4 yr old both seem to do either 'nothing' at school, or can't remember. I am starting to wonder if it is the first thing they teach.
If your son is doing well, then maybe he doesn't need extra work. I would worry more if he is failing. If you feel you want to do extra with him then get some books and see how he responds. It is quite nice doing work with your kids and it means they don't have to wait years to discover you have actually forgotten most everything you did at school.
If your son is doing well, then maybe he doesn't need extra work. I would worry more if he is failing. If you feel you want to do extra with him then get some books and see how he responds. It is quite nice doing work with your kids and it means they don't have to wait years to discover you have actually forgotten most everything you did at school.
we always had 2 per day to a set timetable 'back in the day' but homework is not the be all and end all ... !
why not increase the amount of family/home based education you do?
does you son go to scouts or music groups?
maybe go to museums, concerts and the like? encourage him to read plenty oif books and newspapers?
why not listen to music and have the telly off certain evenings?
join the library and encourage independent thought and logic! also money and household skills will set him up for life too!
cath x
why not increase the amount of family/home based education you do?
does you son go to scouts or music groups?
maybe go to museums, concerts and the like? encourage him to read plenty oif books and newspapers?
why not listen to music and have the telly off certain evenings?
join the library and encourage independent thought and logic! also money and household skills will set him up for life too!
cath x
I know in my son's school it depends on individual teachers whether they set homework or not, if he is in the top sets for all subjects you got nothing to worry about, as joko said there are lots of books out there, ask his teachers which books would esp help with home study, they would be only to willing to give you advice, make sure at parents evening you make a point in speaking to all his subject teachers and dont be afraid to ask questions on his progress so far and how you can help him study at home too.
My son left school with nothing at all. He played truant as much as possible and was nothing but trouble. Since leaving, (when he finally woke up), he has gained a BA with the Open University, and several other degrees, one in IT.
He did all this while working as well. Can't think why he didn't do it at school! As for myself, I always shirked doing the homework I was set, and did it as sketchily as possible.
He did all this while working as well. Can't think why he didn't do it at school! As for myself, I always shirked doing the homework I was set, and did it as sketchily as possible.
Smowball, the moment a child doesn't answer 'Dunno' or 'Can't remember' to "What did you learn at school today or 'Nothing' to 'What did you do there?', is the time to worry! LOL They all, certainly boys, do it. Children seem to regard such questions as intrusive investigation by parents into their private, secret, world of school. Just let them sense that you will help them if they have any worries ; that's all you can do; but chances are they think you know nothing about differential calculus or the Hapsburg Empire or even what 2 + 2 makes !
"She told 2 boys to stop talking and they just walked out of the lesson!Got brought back by the head, and they just did the same thing again."
Sadly, Smowball, this is not uncommon in many non-selective schools. In most classes there will be some students who openly ignore instructions to put their phone away, stop eating crisps, stop throwing other students' books on the floor etc and when challenged too many times just walk out, perhaps kicking a chair over as they leave.
It is very difficult problem to tackle. Exclusion from school has to be a last resort. We had to move one particularly disruptive student out to a special outside facility and I heard that it cost the school something like a thousand pounds a week from its budget. Detentions and phone calls home generally have no effect for these students. The hope is that these students will leave a and go elsewhere. However schools often find they have to take in disruptive students on a managed transfer from another school.
One way round it is for strong senior teachers/heads to constantly patrol the school, looking into classrooms, and to have a zero tolerance approach to misbehavaiour, but sadly most heads do not have the time or desire to do this.
If it's any consolation, if your son is in top sets the disruption will be fairly minor compared with what goes on elsewhere
Sadly, Smowball, this is not uncommon in many non-selective schools. In most classes there will be some students who openly ignore instructions to put their phone away, stop eating crisps, stop throwing other students' books on the floor etc and when challenged too many times just walk out, perhaps kicking a chair over as they leave.
It is very difficult problem to tackle. Exclusion from school has to be a last resort. We had to move one particularly disruptive student out to a special outside facility and I heard that it cost the school something like a thousand pounds a week from its budget. Detentions and phone calls home generally have no effect for these students. The hope is that these students will leave a and go elsewhere. However schools often find they have to take in disruptive students on a managed transfer from another school.
One way round it is for strong senior teachers/heads to constantly patrol the school, looking into classrooms, and to have a zero tolerance approach to misbehavaiour, but sadly most heads do not have the time or desire to do this.
If it's any consolation, if your son is in top sets the disruption will be fairly minor compared with what goes on elsewhere
Hi factor. Its the top sets that have a lot of the bad pupils strangely. When i asked the head of year why, she said that a lot of the bright kids had a short attention span and played up because they were bored(??). They certainly do seems to have a lot of bad behaviour, they expelled 2 boys last month and told the year in an assembley that after half term there will be several pupils that will not be coming back either. Dont know if thats good or bad!
i suspect he says 'dunno' because he simply cant be bothered to explain it - and strangely that may be a good thing... it may be that theres too much to mention, hes learnt so much that trying to condense it into a few sentences is too hard. it will be all swimming around in his head.
if he instantly told you one or 2 things in detail it could be that the rest of it didnt sink in and he only remembers the more interesting or fun subjects...
if he instantly told you one or 2 things in detail it could be that the rest of it didnt sink in and he only remembers the more interesting or fun subjects...
Next time you should check this site. They could help you. http://www.do-my-homework.net/
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