At Cornerstone School we understand that the school day can be both mentally and physically exhausting for many of our students. This was a major factor in our decision to not have compulsory homework in key stage 3. Instead we provide Home Learning Opportunities throughout half-term with students having access to a range of online resources, with login details in their planners.

Feedback from parents/carers and students suggested that some students would like more ‘traditional’ homework. From this we introduced homework books, however these still did not provide the personalised approach that we value at Cornerstone School.

As a consequence of the above, a different approach to home learning has been introduced. For maths, all students have access to mathletics, their login details are recorded in their planners. We would suggest that students do a minimum of two 20-minute sessions per week. For all other subjects students have knowledge organisers which is a summary of the work being completed this term. Students should read through these regularly and try to learn the vocabulary and key facts. Information about knowledge organisers, and how best used, can be found below. Students are given copies of the term knowledge organisers and also have access to them on a google classroom.

If you have any questions about this please do not hesitate to contact your child’s form tutor.

Knowledge Organisers 

What is a Knowledge Organiser? 

A knowledge organiser (KO) is a document that contains key facts and information that students need to have a basic knowledge and understanding of a topic. It is no more than 2 sides of an A4 sheet.

Depending on the topic KO’s may include: 

• Essential facts about a topic, usually laid out in easily digestible chunks 
• Key vocabulary or technical terms and their meanings 
• Images such as maps or diagrams 
• Famous quotations, if relevant 
• Timelines and key dates

Where to find the Knowledge Organisers

1. Students will be issued with paper copies in a folder each term that they can take home.
2. Students have access to a shared folder on their google drive that contains knowledge organisers for their year group, and past years. They can access this using their school email address.

How to use the Knowledge Organisers

Here are 4 steps on how to teach students how to use this resource: 

1. Look – at a small section (read it over and over in your head) 
2. Cover – one side you have been reading and copying 
3. Write – as much as you can remember of the whole section without looking back 
4. Check – with green pen to ensure 100% accuracy – spellings, order of words. 

Each time there is a mistake or spelling mistake – try again.  We want students to use the process above at home on their own, with parents and siblings.