Whole School procedures
Wider Learning may take a variety of formats from short tasks to longer, extended work and may address a variety of learning skills.
In order to support teachers to set relevant Wider Learning there is no ‘specific’ day on which it must be set. There is however a guide for staff, students and parents with regards the indicative expectations for the amount set.
Year 7-9
- English/ Maths /Science - Minimum of one Wider Learning per week
- All other subjects - Minimum of one Wider Learning per fortnight
Year 10 & 11
- English/ Maths /Science - Minimum of two Wider Learning tasks per week
- Option subjects - Minimum of one Wider Learning per week
Sixth Form
- Wider Learning should reflect the equivalent number of curriculum hours (eg 4 hrs lessons = 4 hrs Hwk)
Students can typically expect the following amount of Wider Learning:
- Year 7 – 30 minutes – 1 hour per night
- Year 8-9 – 1 hour – 1½ hours per night
- Year 10-11 – 1½ hours – 2 hours per night
- Year 12-13 – 3 hours+ per night
All Wider Learning will be published on Go 4 Schools. Go 4 Schools is a parent and student portal that provides many features including an onscreen Wider Learning calendar which tracks and monitors set Wider Learning . Staff, students and parents are able to view published Wider Learning by simply clicking on the ‘Go 4 Schools’ link (see links below.)
For those pupils who do not have access to a computer at home, students will be encouraged to access Go4Schools on a school computer and print the work assigned, likewise ALL students are encouraged to keep a record of all Wider Learning in their school planner/diary.
Completion of Wider Learning will be checked by teachers, through a range of ‘in-lesson’ strategies including, though not limited by; peer marking, quizzing/knowledge testing, presentations, use of model answers for comparator/self-marking.
Curriculum Leaders supported by Pastoral leaders are responsible for monitoring Wider Learning in accordance with whole school procedures.
Go 4 Schools links
Go 4 Students
Go 4 Parents and Guardians
Consequences for non-completion of homework
WL1 | Missed Deadline but reason given before the day of the deadline. Logged on G4S. No Consequence. |
WL2 | Logged on G4S. Detention the next day, students must arrive with completed work. |
WL3 | Logged on G4S. student issued with an After School Detention. |
WL4 | Logged on G4S. student issued with a Saturday Morning Detention. |
- NB. A student receiving multiple WL2’s or WL3’s will be placed on Wider Learning report. If this is within one faculty it will be a faculty report, if across a number of subject areas this could be a mentor report or pastoral report.
Knowledge Organisers
Research around memory suggests that if knowledge is studied once and not revisited or revised, it is not stored in the long-term memory. This means that after one lesson, or revising for one test, the knowledge will not be retained unless it is studied again. It won’t be recalled unless it is revisited frequently, which will embed it in the long term memory. In the long term this makes recall far easier.
As part of home learning, students should be revising what they have been taught recently but also content they were taught previously. Therefore as part of our strategy to embed learning over time we have started to develop knowledge organisers across year groups and curriculum areas. These will provide key content and knowledge allowing students to pre-learn and re-learn, a vital part of processing all the information required to be successful in their GCSE’s.
Retrieval practice using the look-cover- write-check technique, when done in regular small chunks, is one of the best ways students can learn relevant knowledge over time. Our students will be given a knowledge organiser for every subject. These will show the exact facts, dates, events, characters, concepts and precise definitions that we need them to remember for that topic. Securing this knowledge base will allow students to develop their skills of understanding, analysis and evaluation in lessons more effectively.
Additionally parents can support their son/daughter with this Wider Learning method by practice quizzing key facts, dates and definitions.