“Have you done your homework?” ~ One of those questions which can cause awful tension between parents and their children. As a school we’ve done our own homework on the matter to ensure that we take an evidence-based approach to any decisions around what we will do….and as importantly what we don’t do.

Our school view is that formal homework serves little useful purpose and research confirms this.

World renowned Education researcher Professor John Hattie has ranked various influences on student learning and achievement (by analysing all the existing research studies from around the world), & found that homework in primary schools has little to no impact on a student’s overall learning, with some evidence suggesting that it can be counterproductive for primary aged children.

Two of the common reasons that are often mentioned for children doing homework (other than curriculum learning) are to improve time management and to help prepare them for high school. However, there is no research evidence that homework improves either of these.

Consequently, at Te Ao Mārama we do not set formal homework.

We do however encourage our students to be active outside school hours and see value (academic, health and social benefits) in parents supporting with some the activities below:

• Encouraging reading for pleasure and information
• Listening and talking to children about things of interest or what they’re learning at school
• Providing children with opportunities to help at home
• Encouraging and supporting your child in their interests, hobbies or sports

The activities above also align nicely with our schoolwide values of being creative, curious, collaborative, confident and community-minded.