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Homework, Reporting and Assessment

Homework

At Beacon Academy, we believe that homework plays a vital part in a student’s education. The benefit of doing homework must be instilled at an early age so that independent study can be achieved. Homework inextricably supports the teaching and learning in the classroom and should inspire and challenge every student to enable them to make excellent progress.

We are acutely aware that children have opportunities and experiences outside of school that are equally important in developing and enriching their lives. We will therefore give careful consideration to making homework relevant, well-balanced across the school, whilst encouraging self-motivation and independent learning.

Where there are issues with homework, parents will be encouraged to contact the relevant subject teacher. Homework will be recorded on Edulink. For further information, please refer to our EduLink One Guide for Parents/Carers.

If you have any issues with Edulink, please contact office@beacon-academy.org.

Homework Policy

Homework will be set weekly for English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography and Modern Foreign Languages.
Homework will be set fortnightly for Religion and World Views, Art, Music and Drama.
Technology, PE (Physical Education) and PD (Personal Development) will set homework only when appropriate, particularly in preparation for the Curriculum Knowledge Assessments.
Homework in each subject for Years 7 and 8 should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Homework in each subject for Year 9 should take approximately 45 minutes to complete.
In addition, students are expected to read for pleasure for the equivalent of 20 minutes every day.
In Term 1, Year 7 students only complete homework in core subjects, English, Maths and Science.

Homework will be set weekly for all examination courses/subjects.
Homework pieces should take approximately 60 minutes to complete.

Homework will be set after every lesson for all examination courses/subjects. This should be a mixture of exam practice, other written work, and pre- and post-lesson reading.
In addition to completing the work set by their teachers each week students in the Sixth Form will be expected to work on their subjects independently. This might consist of ongoing revision activities, independent further research into areas covered in class, exam preparation or reading ahead to enhance their understanding in lessons.
Guidance about how to do this preparatory work will be uploaded to department Share Point pages. By the time they are in year 13, the most successful students complete ten hours a week of work outside of lessons per subject. During the two years we support all students to work at an ambitious level.

Reporting

Approaches to Learning and Approaches to Homework/Independent Study:

We want our students to learn our curriculum. To create the right environment for this to happen, we expect our students to behave well and work hard. Similarly, we expect our students to spend time working independently and at home. Reports for students in all years will include each student’s approach to learning in the classroom and their approach to homework/independent study. These are shown as a number 1-4 in the Approaches to Learning and Homework descriptor tables below.

Approaches to Learning and Homework Descriptors: Years 7 - 11

Approaches to Learning and Homework Descriptors: Years 12 and 13

Indicator grades

Indicator grades have previously been generated via a national database based on students’ KS2 scores. For students taking GCSEs in 2025 and 2026 this is not possible as Covid prevented them taking KS2 assessments.

We have created our own internal indicators based on the Year 9 CKA scores. These are given as a range of grades. For example, a student may have 567 as their indicator. We mean that 6 is the mostly likely outcome, but students could easily do better and achieve a 7 or a little worse and achieve a 5.

Points to note:

These indicator grades are not a guarantee. They show us all what is possible for each student to achieve in your exams in the summer. Students are more than capable of beating these indicator grades – the vast majority of our students do.

Students who exceed their indicator grades do so because;

they work hard in lessons and out of school;
they listen to the advice and feedback from their teachers;
they make the best use of the many opportunities that are presented to them.

Below is a short video explaining indicator grades for Year 10:

Over the course of the year, students have 2 sets of Curriculum Knowledge Assessments. These take place in lesson time. Shortly after the Curriculum Knowledge Assessment a report is sent home to parents. This includes the percentage achieved in each assessment, a standardised score and the average percentage for each subject.

What is a standardised score?

A standardised score compares the performance of an individual student against all other students in their year group at Beacon Academy. The scores range from 80 to 120, with 100 being the average score.

*Why are we using standardised scores?

Because the average score on an assessment will vary between subjects, standardised scores allow you to compare how your child is doing across subjects. You can also see how their performance in a particular subject compares to the rest of the year group.

The table below sets out an example of how these scores for your child are received and what these scores tell you:

	Student Assessment Percentage	Assessment Average in Year 7	Assessment Standardised Score	What does this tell me?
English	60	60	100	Their performance is average in English
Mathematics	80	60	120	Their performance is one of the highest in the year group in Maths
Science	29	40	91	Their performance is below average in Science

Students in Year 9 will also receive an indicator grade for English and Maths. Please see below for information about indicator grades.

Reports will show indicator grades for each subject being taken and a projected grade, be that GCSE, A Level or an equivalent qualification. Teachers will use their knowledge of the student, their current attainment, their current approaches to learning and homework/independent study and their attendance to ‘project’ their students’ attainment in their final examinations. Teachers may use a +/- with the projected grade, for example a 5+ or a 7-. + denotes a strong performance at the grade, with the potential of achieving the grade above if the strong performance continues. – denotes a weaker performance at the grade, showing concern that the student may drop to the grade below.

For further details relating to specific year groups, please contact the relevant Head of Year by clicking here.

For information about viewing and downloading reports from EduLink, please refer to our EduLink One Guide for Parents/Carers.

See Beacon Academy’s Assessment Policy for more detail.