At Blaise High School, we recognise that completing homework each day with Integrity can have a huge positive impact on students’ learning of key knowledge, their progress and confidence.

Our homework systems have been designed based on scientific research into how students learn. We know that we need to rehearse things many times to be able to remember them for a long time. We also know that becoming an expert in any area requires us to learn key knowledge as a starting point.

This is why our homework system is based around every student using their Knowledge Organiser to self-quiz. Repeatedly rehearsing this knowledge, using the Look, Cover, Write, Check process, will allow students to learn key knowledge over time that will lead to fantastic progress and outcomes.

Our homework system is also intended to be easy for students and families to understand, so that every student is able to complete homework with Integrity each day, contributing to their progress in school.

This section of our website has electronic copies of the 25/26 Knowledge Organisers to date, in addition to the physical copy of the Knowledge Organiser your child has with them at home and in school each day.

Just like self-quizzing, Sparx Maths and Sparx Science homework contains knowledge that students have been learning in lessons and will use in future lessons. Each week our teachers carefully decide which topics students will answer questions on. Sparx Reader homework supports students to read regularly outside of lessons and improve their reading skills. Strong reading skills underpin success in every subject, not just English.

It is therefore vital that students have 100% completion in their Sparx homeworks each week – students who do this throughout their time at Blaise achieve outstanding results at GCSE and go onto great future success. 

We want all of our students to be successful in completing their homework tasks. To support this we offer space after school in base camp for students to complete their self-quizzing.  In addition, R01 and R08 are open every lunchtime for students to come and complete their Sparx and get support.

Homework Curriculum

KS3 Overview

The expectation is that students will spend 30 mins each day self quizzing and 30 mins each day completing one of their three Sparx homeworks. This means students in KS3 have one hour of homework each night. 

 

	Self-Quizzing		Sparx Reader		Sparx Maths		Sparx Science from 20th January
	Expectation	Time	Expectation	Time	Expectation	Time	Expectation	Time
7	One page from KO - Daily	30 mins	100% - Weekly set every Weds	30 mins	100% - Weekly set every Thurs	1 hr	100% - Weekly set every Tues	30 mins
8	One page from KO - Daily	30 mins	100% - Weekly set every Weds	30 mins	100% - Weekly set every Thurs	1 hr	100% - Weekly set every Tues	30 mins
9	One page from KO - Daily	30 mins	100% - Weekly set every Weds	30 mins	100% - Weekly set every Thurs	1 hr	100% - Weekly set every Tues	30 mins

 

*During the assessment windows students should also be spending at least 15 minutes a night using their revision resource to prepare for their assessments.

Y10 Overview

The expectation is that students will spend 1 hour each day self quizzing and 15 mins each day completing their Sparx homework. This means students in Y10  have 1 hour and 15 minutes of homework each night.

 

Homework	Expectation	Time
Self-Quizzing	Two pages of self-quizzing each day, one page of definitions and a second page of applied self-quizzing.	1 hr - Daily
Sparx Maths	100% completion of tasks each week.	1 hr - Weekly
Assessment Manifest	During the assessment window students complete tasks from an assessment manifest each day, this is one page of quizzing and one page of applied tasks	30 mins - Daily

 

Y11 Overview

The expectation is that students will spend 30 minutes each day self quizzing, 30 minutes each day on their Sparx homework and 1 hour a day on subject homework.  Therefore, students in Y11 have 2 hours of homework each night. In Unit 2 self-quizzing stops and the time spent on subject homework increases, total homework time remains at 2 hours each day. 

 

Homework	Expectation	Time
Self-Quizzing	One page of self-quizzing each day. This stops for Y11 at the end of Unit 1.	30 mins - Daily
Subject homework	One task set during a P6, this is weekly for core and fortnightly for options	1 hr - Weekly/Fortnightly
Sparx Maths	100% completion of tasks each week.	1 hr - Weekly
Sparx Science	100% completion of tasks each week.	30 mins - Weekly

 

* During the mock windows Y11 complete tasks from an assessment manifest, this is additional 30/45 minutes of work each night.

The video below gives further detail on what students will see when they login, as well as how you can support them with Sparx at home:

Thank you for all the support you give to your child – if you require any further assistance, please email info@blaisehighschool.co.uk and an appropriate member of staff will respond to your query.

The video below gives further detail on what students will see when they login, as well as how you can support them with Sparx at home: