Homework

Why do we have homework?

Homework is an important part of school life. Students develop responsibility by learn to work independently and getting it completed on time. Doing homework helps students develop and embed the knowledge and skills they have learnt in class. Homework also allows parents to have an active role in a child’s learning – parents can see what students have been learning at school and they can help, for example, by testing their child. Most importantly, homework is a key review point which prevents students from immediately forgetting and losing what they've learnt in school.  “The evidence shows that the impact of homework, on average, is five months additional progress.” (EEF, April 2020) 

Setting challenging homework matches our values: “We are ambitious.” 

• All KS3 homework will be set with Sparx. At KS4 Sparx and different online platforms are used and written tasks set.
• Students need to complete all of the tasks set on Sparx or other platforms used.
• Students who do not complete these tasks will be placed in a catch-up session after school to ensure that they do not fall behind with their work. ​
• If students require help they should go and speak to their English, Maths or Science teacher before the due date.
• Satchel (used previously) will be phased out, families can see homework that has been set by looking at their child’s Microsoft Teams pages.

The homework schedule 2025 - 26

In Years 7 – 9 some other subjects may set additional homework tasks to support class-based learning.  These tasks will be assigned on Microsoft Teams. All students will be provided with resources to support revision for Mid & End of Year assessments.

How do I access Microsoft Teams?

1. Type office.com
2. Students should sign in – top right of screen

3. Students use their Microsoft logins to sign in

4. Each class has a separate ‘Teams’ folder – go to Teams on the left-hand side of the screen.

5. Assignments will be posted into each subject Team, except for Maths, English & Science which will not because it is set every college week.  Sparx homework is not set over the holiday periods.

How do I access Sparx?

Students can access their Sparx Maths, Reader & Science by using their school Microsoft logins. 

1. Type Sparx Maths; Sparx Reader or Sparx Science into a search engine eg. Google
2. Students will log in – top right of screen

3. Select school

4. Click on log into account using Microsoft

5. The you will find the homework that has been set for the week.  Click onto the date and the homework for Sparx Science, Reader and Maths will start.
6. As parents/ carers you will receive an email alert updating you on how much of the homework has been completed for both Sparx Maths & Reader.

How to access Seneca

All students have a Seneca account.  Go to https://app.senecalearning.com/login and choose Continue with Microsoft, enter the username and password and homework will be displayed on-screen.

How does my child access their student emails?

Go to office.com and click on sign in at the top right, enter your school email address and password and choose sign in, once signed in navigate to the outlook icon on the left hand side of the screen. Outlook will open and then you can access your emails online, you also have the option to download the client on personal devices

How do teachers check on homework?

Teachers monitor standards in several ways including retrieval practice, tests and checking for completion rates on Sparx. Students will be tested in class following self-quizzing knowledge organiser homeworks. Teachers will set a detention if homework is not completed on time or to a high standard – for example if Sparx homework is not 100% completed. 

How can parents support with homework?

Talk to your children about their homework and support them in checking Teams regularly to ensure they are looking at the homework they have been set. You can also support by testing their knowledge using the knowledge organisers or supporting them with their understanding by watching the videos on Sparx with them. 

Useful Sparx Parent guides

Sparx Maths - Sparx Maths - A parent's guide to Sparx Maths
Sparx Reader – Sparx Reader - A parent's guide to Sparx Reader