Homework

Beliefs and values about homework

At Waraburra State School, we incorporate the following values:

• Effective Relationships
• High Expectations
• Students Achieving Goals
• Outstanding Practice Displayed

At Waraburra State School, we believe homework must be:

• Purposeful and relevant to the students’ needs
• Appropriate to the students capability and stage of development
• Varied, challenging and related to class work
• Developing independent work habits
• Balanced in that it allows students to undertake other healthy activities

Teacher responsibilities

Teachers are responsible for:

• Setting regular homework in agreement with Waraburra State School Guidelines
• Checking set homework regularly and providing timely and useful feedback to students and parents/caregivers
• Explicitly teaching strategies to develop organisational and time management skills
• Clearly defining purpose, benefits and expectations of all homework

Student responsibilities

Students are responsible for:

• Understanding the expectations of Waraburra State School’s homework policy
• Accepting responsibility for the completion of homework tasks
• Organising their time to complete tasks and seeking assistance when difficulties arise
• Following up on feedback given by teachers

Parent and carer responsibilities

Parent and carers are responsible for:

• Understanding the expectations of the Waraburra State School homework policy
• Assisting students in organising their time to complete tasks
• Helping with balancing the amount of time spent completing homework, watching television, playing sport and chores
• Providing a quiet, uninterrupted setting and positively encouraging and supervising the completion of set homework tasks
• Communicating regularly with your child’s teacher regarding any concerns

Guidelines for homework

This is a guideline only as children complete homework tasks at different rates.

Homework is set from Monday to Thursday inclusive for each year level. Year 6 students are expected to complete (in addition to nightly homework) tasks such as assignments, which may extend over a number of weeks. Students may elect to work over the weekend on such tasks.

In the Early Phase of Learning, many activities at home or in play can assist children develop literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills.

You may wish to include:

• Daily reading to, with and by family members
• Play games such as Snap or Fish with sight words or make a word wall for sight word recognition
• Chant or sing number facts or play games that help with recall of facts such as rolling two die and adding numbers
• Link concepts with familiar activities such as shopping, preparing food, family outings
• Talk about what has been learnt at school
• Preparing for forthcoming classroom learning (collecting items, materials or information)

In the Middle Phase of learning, homework should be completed daily. A routine is vital and may include:

• Daily reading to, with and by family members. This becomes more independent with competency
• Reading across a variety of subject areas – Science, Health, History
• Including extensions of class activities, projects and/or research
• Preparing for forthcoming classroom learning – collecting information, materials, items
• Opportunities to write for meaningful purposes

Parents and teachers may agree to cooperatively negotiate additional tasks at home for individual students.