At The Hurlingham Academy, we know that learning outside of lesson time is essential to long term academic success. It allows our students to extend their learning and to reinforce what has been learnt in class. Every day, your child is expected to study for around one hour. Each subject is set homework on a particular day, to help your child spread their work across the week. Students have a full week to complete each piece of homework.
Sparx is an online platform that your child will use each week to study English, Maths and Science. Sparx can quickly identify the level that your child is working at in each subject and will set questions suited to them. It provides additional questions in areas that your child is struggling with, to help them close their knowledge gaps.
In Maths, Sparx is set weekly and students must gain 100% in all tasks. Students must also write their working out in their Sparx book. Additional support videos are available if your child is struggling. Students can complete extra work to challenge themselves via the XP Boost or independent learning sections.
In English, students must achieve a pre-set number of Sparx reader points each week (Year 7-9 only). Of course, if they would like to push for extra points, they are welcome to!
In Science, students are set Sparx questions every fortnight and must score 80% (Year 7-9 only).
Rewards are given out in assembly each week for achievement on Sparx.
Students should use their Office 365 login for Sparx.
Other homework websites
A number of other online platforms are used to set homework. Students are expected to write their logins on the page dedicated to this in the front section of their planner:
Music (Year 7-9): Focus on Sound (use Office 365 login)
Science (Year 10-11):
Educake MFL (Quizlet):
Quizlet Hospitality & Catering: Quizziz
Subject self-quizzing
Your child has been issued with a Knowledge Organiser. It has been created to help our students learn a wide range of knowledge, which in turn will allow them to connect different ideas and apply higher order skills in their lessons. Once a fortnight, your child’s subject teachers will quiz your child on the essential knowledge that they are expected to learn.
According to significant educational research, frequent quizzing has many benefits for memory and motivation. These include producing better organisation of knowledge, causes students to learn more from their next study episode, identifies gaps in knowledge and improves long term retention.
At home, your child should revise specific sections of their Knowledge Organiser, using the highly effective Look, Cover, Write, Check self-quizzing strategy. The video here provides guidance on how to do this. Students practise this technique every Thursday in their Study Skills sessions in tutor time. Please be proactive and support your child by quizzing them daily. Your child must bring their Knowledge Organiser to school every day and take it home every evening. Knowledge Organisers can also be accessed electronically here.
Homework support
If your child is struggling with any aspect of their homework then please encourage them to go and see their tutor or subject teacher. Your child can also attend our after school Homework Club, which is held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3.30 – 4.30pm in I2. Please contact your child's Head of Year to secure them a place.
Reading for pleasure
Year 7-9 students will read independently each week using the Sparx Reader platform, described above. However, we encourage all students to read beyond this, to increase their sense of achievement, build their confidence and develop their vocabulary – but most of all, for your child to learn to enjoy reading. We encourage your child to challenge themselves with their choice of reading material. Your child should try to read a range of fiction across genres with increasing levels of difficulty. Students visit the school Library in their English lesson each week, and have the opportunity to borrow books and discuss what sort of book they might like to try next with our Librarian.
Catching up from missed lessons
When students have missed a lesson in school (e.g. due to illness), they should speak to their teacher about how best to catch up the work they have missed, to ensure they do not fall behind. Our Heads of Department have also compiled lists of links to online lessons that students can use to catch up. These are organised by date and can be found here.
Exam revision
Students sit two sets of exams each academic year:
Year 7-9: January and June
Year 10: March and June
Year 11: November and March
Many of the homework tasks described above can also be used for independent exam revision. For example, students can independently self-quiz to learn key vocabulary. They can then use the relevant online platform to revise key content or practise questions. Of particular use will be the ‘Independent Learning’ sections of Sparx Maths and Sparx Science; students can also search for a topic on Seneca that they want to work on.
In Year 10 and 11, students are taught additional revision techniques in their Study Skills sessions. A summary of these techniques can be found here: Assessment Manifest
In advance of each set of exams, students will be issued with a set of ‘revision manifests’, which explain how they can best prepare for their assessment in each subject. Manifests are uploaded to the school website here.