We all have memories of home work from our youth, some positive and some (probably most) negative. As educators we probably have the same feeling about setting and organising homework. St Anne’s has introduced a new approach to home learning which aims to improve student outcomes, teachers workloads, whanau attitudes towards home learning.

‘Ora Ake’ means to increase wellbeing, and that is the number one aim of St Anne’s home learning programme of the same name. Our shift in approach began with research, community values, and student ‘Me and My School’ survey results. Now we have an exciting and innovative programme which improves students’ and whanau hauora and gets home learning happening.

Our approach is successful because it:

• is research based.

• recognises achievement with rewards.

• is shaped by student input.

• is achievable of every student, regardless of ability.

• recognises the great things students already do outside of school (eg. weekend sport).

• promotes personal growth year upon year.

• based on Catholic values and Hauora.

• promotes a range of interests (art, sport, academics, faith).

• simple for teachers to administer.

• keeps all of the positive aspects of traditional homework (discipline, research skills, time management, etc) while avoiding the negative ones (boredom, one size fits all, frustration)

• encourages personal choice to suit specific needs and interests.

• a shared approach for all our senior school.

Research shows that homework is not for students under 10. We should avoid our preteen students having more than an hour a night. The exception to this is voluntary home learning. This is where ‘Ora Ake’ steps in. Our programme is totally voluntary. It sits alongside our policy of nightly reading practice and options for maths and spelling practice.

Ora Ake forms the main aspect of home learning for seniors, however, we haven’t thrown the baby out with the bath water. We still have a strong literacy home learning programme for junior students, and monitor nightly reading for all students. We also prepare specific plans for individual students who need more learning support or when parents request specific things to do at home. However, we like to think that most of this can be covered under the Ora Ake Challenges.

We have tracked a steady increase in the uptake of this new programme each year. We encourage engagement and recognise commitment with a progression of rewards. We have a system of bronze, silver, or gold badges (Yr5, 6, 7) then a unique bone carving made for our school (Yr8). The numbers we track of student completion and surveys of students help us refine the programme each year so popular challenges remain and unpopular ones are replaced with ideas from students.

We all know that students who are happy and healthy are ready for learning. A student who has ‘Ora Ake’, is preparing for school learning by enjoying their home learning.

Further reading and resources:

School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why