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Stanley Bay Curriculum - Home Learning

John Waller —

Homework or home learning has always been a hotly debated subject...by teachers, parents and students. We often get asked 'what does it look like at Stanley Bay?'. We are hoping that this article will help clarify our expectations of home learning.

The New Zealand Ministry of Education allow individual schools to make the choice about what homework to set or whether to set it at all. 

The cause of many dinner table arguments, the educational value of Home Learning is questioned by many educational researchers. At Stanley Bay we believe Home Learning should be an extension of the classroom programme and has three key aims: 

· Consolidating teaching and learning in reading and maths

· Reinforcing the idea that learning does not just take place at school

· Develop self management skills and build habits and routines for the future

Students are responsible for their home learning and should complete as much of it as independently as possible. Students should also take responsibility for aspects of home learning they do not understand and they are encouraged to follow this up with the teacher themselves.

Students in year 5 and 6 are expected to spend approximately 30 minutes a night (Monday to Friday) on Home Learning and 20 minutes for year 3 and 4 students. This time could include:

· Reading - A combination of the child reading alone, the child reading to an adult and an adult reading to the child

· Maths - A combination of tasks set by the teacher on mathletics and practice of basic facts

· Inquiry tasks - Tasks set by the teacher relating to the school values, graduate profile and class based inquiry. The purpose of this is to build and develop skills, attitudes and dispositions and to broaden learning around a subject covered in class. These tasks will generally be open ended and involve discussion and conversation with an adult at home. They will be peer assessed, parent assessed or self assessed.

Home learning for younger students follows a different model to that of older students with the aim of developing and learning the basics. Students in year 0-2 spend approximately 15 minutes (Monday to Friday) on home learning and this 15 minutes should include:

· Magic words (year 0 and 1) Spelling words (year 1 and 2)

· Home reader

· Poem of the week

The role of the parent is key to make home learning as effective as possible. Home Learning is often the first step in the student becoming an active learner. Talking to your child about the tasks rather than just supervising is important as it is encouraging them to be independent and responsible. 

Helping your child understand and develop the school values of respect, integrity and resilience is probably the most valuable learning you can help with at home. Allowing your child to learn from their mistakes and allowing them to struggle through a challenge will enable them to grow into a better life long learner.

Home Learning, in whatever form it takes will only be beneficial if it is a positive experience for everyone involved. If you ever find Home Learning is causing stress or anxiety please do not hesitate to talk to the class teacher. Learning should be fun!