Home › Learning at SJS ›

Homework

Home learning is the time students spend outside the classroom on assigned learning experiences to practice, reinforce or apply skills and knowledge and to develop the necessary skills of independent study.

Home learning at SJS is designed to: 

  • Positively reinforce and consolidate skills and concepts explored in the classroom
  • Be ‘doable’ by the child
  • Assist the development of self discipline and time management
  • Facilitate communication between school and home and encourage parental awareness of student learning
  • Provide children with a sense of achievement and satisfaction
When setting home learning teaching staff take into consideration:
 
  • The importance of children spending time in other activities outside school hours
  • The complexity of modern life and the time constraints placed on families
  • The different levels of English proficiency within the school community
  • The need for students to have equitable access to resources
  • The expectation that prompt feedback be given to students
Home Learning should not include:
 
  • Assessment tasks
  • Tasks that mandate parental involvement especially those that require children to visit a site, engage in group work, manipulate dangerous materials (e.g. hot glue guns) or purchase resources beyond basic stationary. Exceptions may be granted with prior approval from a member of the senior leadership team
  • Open-ended research tasks unsupported by the school
  • Tasks that mandate computer use
  • Classroom tasks that are incomplete at the end of the school day
As children mature they are able and therefore expected to spend an increasing amount of time completing home learning tasks. We encourage students to adhere to the time allocations set which are based on educationally sound rationales.
 
Year 1 – 1 hour over a 6 day cycle (we suggest 4 x 15 minute sessions this includes 5 minutes of Mandarin home learning)
Year 2 – 80 minutes over a 6 day cycle (we suggest 4 x 20 minute sessions)
Year 3 – 2 hours over a 6 day cycle (we suggest 4 x 30 minute sessions)
Year 4 – 2 hours over a 6 day cycle (we suggest 4 x 30 minute sessions)
Year 5 – 3 hours over a 6 day cycle (we suggest 4 x 45 minute sessions)
Year 6 – 4 hours over a 6 day cycle (we suggest 4 x 60 minute sessions)
 
The school does not expect children to complete home learning on Friday night, Saturday or Sunday, public holidays or during school holidays. However, as some tasks may be set over the course of a 6 day cycle parents should assist their child to organise the completion of home learning tasks around family and other commitments and this may, if parents so choose, mean that home learning is completed outside the recommended days (Monday – Thursday).