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Home Learning
Benefits of home learning and independent study
Home learning is an integral component of college life and acts as a primary driver of our whole-school long-term memory strategy. Rather than isolated or disconnected tasks, home learning is intentionally designed to cement foundational knowledge and vocabulary, helping students form the essential mental schemata required to confidently access new concepts in the classroom. By completing simple, structured, and highly routinised consolidation tasks, students experience direct success in their subsequent lessons, which builds sustainable habits of attainment, enhances confidence, and establishes a genuine sense of classroom belonging. Our overarching objective is to build a supportive school culture where completing high-quality home learning is a celebrated and universal norm for every student.
Home Learning Timetables
| Year 7 |
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| Year 8 |
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How do students record their home learning?
To maintain absolute clarity for students and families, all home learning tasks are published uniformly via Google Classroom with unchanging set and due deadlines. Assignments prioritise high cognitive effort, focusing entirely on the revision and overlearning of explicitly taught material. Teachers provide immediate classroom accountability and feedback through subsequent low-stakes quizzing or deliberate integration into lesson "Do Now" activities to guide future planning.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is the platform that we use to set home learning for students from years 7-13. As a parent you are able to sign up to receive emails on a weekly or daily basis, if you have a google account (click on this link to Create a Google Account). As a college we are unable to change the time of the week or day that the email is sent out, as this is set by Google.
The emails that you receive will give you the class code, due date, title of the home learning and a description of what your child needs to do to complete it. This information will be a good starting point for you to talk to your child about the home learning they have been set. On occasion, teachers may also give further explanation regarding the home learning task in the lesson and your child may be able to provide you with more detail about it.
In the middle of the class code, there are letters for each subject. You can find out which letters correspond to which subject here. If you would like to know which teacher has set the home learning you can find that information on Arbor by looking at your child’s timetable.
For further assistance with the Google Classroom email summaries please see this comprehensive help page.
How much home learning can students expect to do per week?
The quantity and types of home learning are intentionally sequenced as students progress through the college. During Key Stage 3, home learning functions as a critical pillar of our whole-school long-term memory strategy, focusing entirely on simple, accessible retrieval and consolidation tasks that build foundational knowledge and vocabulary. To support a seamless transition from primary school and establish sustainable study habits without inducing cognitive overload, all subjects follow a strict, predictable whole-school home learning timetable.
Year 7 students are set 30 minutes per subject per week, while Year 8 students receive between 30 to 40 minutes per subject per week.
During Key Stage 4, the frequency and rigour of home learning increase to match examination demands, with an emphasis on regular retrieval, deliberate practice, and targeted overlearning of explicitly taught material. Students should expect to complete an average of one hour of home learning per subject each week. While students are expected to take greater control of their time management, all assignments continue to be logged centrally and natively on Google Classroom at the beginning of lessons to eliminate fragmented tracking.
To support their learning, parents and carers should ensure their child has a quiet, disruption-free space at home to focus, while actively monitoring and limiting the use of social media and computer games during study periods.
What happens if a student doesn’t do their home learning?
Home learning is a vital aspect of college life and if home learning is not completed to a good standard or it is not handed in on time students will be asked to attend a home learning support session at lunch time to ensure that the home learning is completed and support students with other home learning that is due. There will be staff members present to support them with their home learning and the session will be recorded on their behaviour log.
Repeated failure to complete home learning or attend home learning support means that a student is not engaging with their learning in a way that will ensure good progress and the Pastoral team will contact parents/carers to check at home. The college can work with you and your child to improve engagement and ensure home learning is completed.
We have a home learning support group for students with additional learning needs and there are spaces around the college where students can stay to work after college if they find concentrating at school easier or do not have an internet connection at home.
