At Livingstone Academy Bournemouth, we have utilised a strategic mix of self-quizzing (retrieval practice), deliberate practice, on-line platforms and effective revision.
Pupils will follow the core homework timetable below located in their home learning booklet. This underpins the learning that takes place within each half term, and it is expected that all tasks are completed in full.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 mins Self Quizzing | Maths | English Lang & Lit (Alternate) | Science | History or Geography (Alternate) | Option A or B (Alternate) |
| 30 mins Deliberate Practice* | Maths | English Lang & Lit (Alternate) | Science | History or Geography (Alternate) | Option A or B (Alternate) |
*Deliberate Practice – Set first lesson each week and due the first lesson the following week.
Online Platforms – Set on a Friday and due on a Friday
Sparx Maths – 60 minutes (3 x sessions of 20 minutes)
Tassomai English – 60 minutes (3 x sessions of 20 minutes)
Tassomai Science – 60 minutes (3 x sessions of 20 minutes)
Self-Quizzing
Pupils will be set 30 minutes of self-quizzing on the lines set in their home learning booklet each weekday evening using the ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’ method below:
- Look: Look at the line/section, read, re-read and memorise the content, say it out loud if necessary (look, cover, chant), until you are confident enough to use your practice book to write it down.
- Cover: Close your home learning booklet or cover up the section, it is important that you don’t look so you are testing your memory.
- Write: Now try to recall the knowledge by writing out the section from memory.
- Check: Open your homework booklet and look at the answer – tick the ones you got right and correct the ones you got wrong in a green pen. Do the ones you got wrong again, until you get them right.
Advisors will check the completion of self-quizzing as part of their daily morning checks. For example, the subject completed on a Monday night will be checked on a Tuesday morning following the home learning timetable. If an advisory group has an assembly, the advisor will check during DEAR whilst students are reading independently (AIR). Please refer to the table above.
Deliberate Practice
Subjects set pupils exam style questions each week (30 mins in total). Vocational/Creative subjects have the option of setting controlled assessment research or assessment preparation (30 mins in total).
Pupils should be given one week to complete their deliberate practice home learning, in this way they can manage their own time and deadlines. Deliberate practice will be set in the first subject lesson each week and due in the first subject lesson the following week. Teaching staff are asked to set the deliberate practice task on Arbor by ‘creating an assignment’ and setting a due date. This will help parents/carers support at home.
Online platforms
Pupils will be provided with logins for these platforms and for each of the platforms and there are also useful methods for parents to engage in the process. Tasks will be set on Monday morning and the due date will be the following Monday morning. We estimate that per week pupils will need to complete approximately:
- Maths – 60 minutes (3 x sessions of 20 minutes)
- English – 60 minutes (3 x sessions of 20 minutes)
- Science – 60 minutes (3 x sessions of 20 minutes)
Effective Revision
During periods of academy assessment (mock exams or assessment points), pupils have the choice to replace self-quizzing with multiple effective revision techniques including mind maps, retrieval clocks or flashcards. Pupils will need to keep a daily revision log in their self-quizzing exercise books with evidence of techniques used to show their advisors. Each page will need to be dated and content kept neat and tidy following our self-quizzing expectations.