Home Learning: Working Together to Support Your Child

Home learning is an important part of every student’s education at Heartlands High School.  It reinforces and extends classroom learning, while helping students develop essential skills such as independence, organisation and effective study habits.

Home learning is most effective when school, students and families work together. We therefore ask parents and carers to support consistent routines at home and regularly check the Dynamic Progress Report (DPR) with their child. By working in partnership, we can help students take greater responsibility for their learning, develop positive habits and make the best possible progress.

How much home learning should my child expect?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Key Stage 4, students are also recommended to undertake approximately 1.5–2.5 hours of independent study each day, including home learning, revision and preparation for assessments.

Where can I find my child’s home learning?

All home learning is published centrally on the Dynamic Progress Report (DPR) platform. This provides students and parents/carers with one place to find home learning instructions, supporting resources, expectations and deadlines. This might include links to online platforms such as Tassomai, Seneca or Sparks. 

How can I support my child?

Parents and carers play an important role in supporting successful home learning. You do not need to be an expert in every subject or mark your child’s work. Instead, we encourage you to:

• Check what has been set and completed. Regularly check DPR with your child and discuss upcoming deadlines.
• Establish a routine. Encourage your child to have a quiet place to work and a predictable weekly routine for completing home learning.
• Encourage them to ask for help. If your child is struggling with a task, they should speak to their class teacher before the deadline so that appropriate support can be provided.
• Use Artificial Intelligence responsibly. AI can be a useful learning tool for explaining difficult concepts, supporting revision and checking understanding. However, AI should support learning, not replace it. Students must not use AI to complete tasks or submit AI-generated work as their own.

What support is available in school?

Students are welcome to use our Home Learning Club in the Library every day, both before school (8:00am–8:25am) and after school (3:00pm–4:00pm). Students can also go to S3.6 every lunchtime to complete their home learning. These sessions provide students with additional time and a suitable environment in which to work.

Recognising excellent home learning

Excellent effort and high-quality home learning will be celebrated through merits, recognition in lessons and our weekly pastoral bulletin. 

What happens if home learning is not completed?

If a home learning task is missing or not fully completed to a good standard, the class teacher will issue a Yellow Card.

Students who receive two Yellow Cards in a week will be required to attend supervised Home Learning Help sessions. These take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00pm–4:00pm, providing dedicated time to complete outstanding work and access additional support where needed.

If you have any questions about a particular home learning task, please encourage your child to speak to or email their class teacher in the first instance.