Homework Letter
Dear PCS families.
We hope that you have had a wonderful summer. It has been lovely to see the students back in school over the last two weeks; we have had an incredibly positive start to the new term.
Exam results
We are really pleased to share with you that PCS achieved some fantastic final assessments and GCSE results this year and that we have made significant improvements since the last external exams in 2019. Our students showed our PCS values of resilience, responsibility, rigour and showed us all that hard work really does pay off, they fully deserve this success.
Please see the table below for a summary of some of our GCSE results:
GCSE Headlines
Subject | Grade 4+ | Grade 5+ |
Maths & English Combined Pass | 61% | 41% |
Maths GCSE | 67% | 48% |
English GCSE | 73% | 55% |
Science GCSE | 65% | 45% |
Humanities (Geography/ History) | 56% | 45% |
MFL (French/Spanish) | 70.1% | 53.7% |
Homework
Research shows that homework has a positive impact and adds up to an extra five months of learning, particularly with students in secondary school. Studies involving digital technology typically have a more significant impact. We believe that consolidating their learning from school at home will help them to achieve greater success.
Therefore, we will be focussing on homework this year and into the future. We would value your ongoing support in this area. Homework is expected to be completed weekly by all students.
We will be setting homework as outlined below:
KS4 Homework Tasks
Throughout Years 10 and 11 students should be set tasks as below:
Homework will be set weekly for Core Subjects and fortnightly for Option Subjects.
Homework tasks should take no longer than 45 mins to complete. There should be an emphasis on quality rather than quantity.
• Set questions/ quizzes using digital resources - GCSE Pod, Educake, Seneca, MyMaths, Maths Watch, or Google form quizzes.
• Exam practice questions. (These will be marked and students will have the opportunity to improve their response)
• Mind maps or flash cards
KS3 Homework Tasks
Throughout years 7, 8 and 9 students should be set tasks as below:
Homework should be set weekly for Maths, English, and Science and fortnightly for
Humanities and MFL. Other subjects as appropriate. Homework tasks should take no longer than 30 mins to complete. There should be an emphasis on quality rather than quantity. A timetable of when the homework will be set and due in will be supplied to students and parents.
• Set questions/ quizzes using digital resources.
• Set homework that explicitly involves reading and comprehension that consolidate previous learning.
Please see the timetable that outlines which night each subject will set homework. Students will always have one week to complete the task. E.g. if it is set on a Monday, it will be due the following Monday.
KEY STAGE 3
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
English *Food Preparation & Nutrition *Geography *MFL |
Maths | Access *History |
*RE | Science |
*These subjects will be set fortnightly and on a rotation so that the homework is spread out.
KEY STAGE 4
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
*Dance (Y10) *Food Preparation & Nutrition *Geography English *MFL |
*Sociology DT Maths *Music *Art 10X *Computer Science & *Creative iMedia |
Access *Dance (Y11) *History *VCERT Health & Fitness *ART 11Y |
*Drama RE |
*Art 11Z Science |
*Option subjects are set fortnightly.
For children that would prefer to stay at school or for those who would like additional support, we will offer a staffed room for subject-specific support with homework each night. Please see this timetable below, and encourage your child to access this support where needed. The rooms being used are in brackets.
KEY STAGE 3
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
English (EN3) History (HU6) RE (HU4) Food Preparation & Nutrition (FT1) |
Maths (MA3) Science (IT4) |
MFL (LA4 & 5) Access (LA7) |
Geography (HU5) |
KEY STAGE 4
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
English (EN3) Maths (Y11) (MA3) Dance (Y10) Food Preparation & Nutrition (FT1) RE (HU4) |
Sociology (HU6) DT (DT1) Science (IT4) Maths (MA3) Music (MU4) Art (AR1) Computer Science & Creative iMedia (IT2) |
MFL (LA4 & 5) Geography (HU5) Access (LA7) Dance (Y11) History (HU6) VCERT Health & Fitness (IT4) Drama (Drama Hall/Library) |
Art (AR1) |
We will be launching this with students in assemblies this week and homework will begin on Monday 26th September.
Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding any of the above.
Yours faithfully
Victoria Jenkins
Deputy Headteacher - Quality of Education