Overview
We expect all student to complete an hour of home learning each week day. This should be split into the follow three chunks:
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
At Hanson Academy we know that reading is the single most powerful skill that our students will ever acquire.
For 20 minutes each day we would like students to read for pleasure. To read books that they enjoy and to read books that challenge them to think, to imagine and to explore the word around them.
Reading is the tool that unlocks learning and progress in every single other subject area. The whole English curriculum is underpinned by research-informed practice, such as the theories of ‘Reading Reconsidered’ by Doug Lemov. Reading independently allows students to practise these critical close reading skills.
We have a superb Learning Resource Centre, a facility that provides our students with a varied and exciting selection of reading material from which to borrow. Students can build their reading independence by selecting books that intrigue and interest them.
How can reading be improved?
- Be encouraged to ask questions about the text. Why? How? What might happen next?
- Develop frequent reading habits. We advise our students to read regularly! •Read with another person and then discuss key features of the text.
- Read a variety of interesting texts from an array of writers with a range of purposes. For example: fiction, non-fiction, magazines and newspapers.
- Visit a library or bookshop to inspire varied reading.
- Discuss your current or recent reads with teaching staff and peers to develop a culture where reading is at the forefront of your learning experience.
- Read books that you enjoy and that challenge you!
- Try reading a new genre or a book by a new author.
“I do believe that something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
J .K. Rowling
Maths
Sparx maths is an online learning platform using videos, homework questions, and an overall data-driven approach to provide a personalised classroom learning and homework experience for pupils and insights into their learning for teachers and parents.
The platform covers the entire Maths curriculum and homework will be set each week by class teachers. At least two tasks and a consolidation exercise will be set, which should take students up to one hour to complete.
The tasks set, will cover what has been taught in the previous week and the consolidation task focuses on topics that students found difficult in previous weeks. This cycle allows full consolidation and recap of previous learning in order to continually practise and recall knowledge.
Students should watch the online videos to help with any questions they find difficult and use their Sparx book to write down full working out and answers.
Research has shown that actively working on Sparx for the recommended one hour of homework per week for one whole school year was associated with an increase of almost 30 per cent of a (predicted) GCSE grade.
You can always do more with Sparx. Alongside the compulsory home learning task that is set each week, Sparx Maths offers two additional sets of questions for students to complete – XP Boost and Target. XP Boost questions cover previously taught topics and give students the opportunity to further consolidate their learning.
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 Organisers
YEARS 7, 8 & 9
Every student will be issued with a Knowledge Organiser and Retrieval Book each 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. These could include:
Online Learning
Delta Academy gives all staff and students access to Microsoft Office 365, and can be downloaded for free here. This includes Outlook Email and Calendar, One Drive Cloud Storage, Teams Classrooms, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and many more of the Microsoft 365 packages to use where ever they may be in the world.
The Oak National Academy have also created lessons for pupils here
Sparx Maths provides personalised maths homework, proven to boost student grades.
Languagenut gives you access to all the vocabulary you have been learning in your Languages lessons. You can access it from any device, making it perfect for using it both on the go and when settling down for a longer home learning session!
The website and app are jam-packed with loads of different retrieval activities to keep your language skills tip-top. Play games on your own or challenge your friends and see who will be victorious!
Practise all four of your key skills – listening, reading, speaking and writing – in the zone dedicated to exam-style questions, perfect for GCSE preparation.
Your teachers can set you assignments to complete and you can deepen your understanding by independently exploring the wealth of knowledge available to you.
After completing any assignment you must complete a retrieval activity in your book to help you memorise that information.