Science Department Homework Policy
In as far as is reasonable, the School has a common, manageable policy on marking that is implemented by all the teachers. As well as helping pupils to achieve higher levels of attainment in a science, good marking also aids the development of 'basic skills', e.g. Language and Numeracy are developed and enhanced in all curricular areas if pupils receive praise when:
Assessment of day-to-day progress depends heavily upon the marking and correction of written work and other tangible forms of pupil response. The main purpose is formative - helping pupils to see how their work can be improved and developed, identifying weaknesses and uncertainties as a basis for remedial action, and as a major and effective practical means of establishing suitably high expectations of each pupil. Most pupils want to please and believe the marking of their work to be worthy of your time. Thorough, effective marking can improve pupil motivation and ineffective erratic marking can most certainly have the opposite effect. In order to keep the marking load down to an effective minimum staff can use selective detailed marking of key pieces of work supported by a lighter scrutiny of other work.
All pupils are issued with the a grading information sheet (included in section), and staff are asked to apply the criteria where applicable.
All staff need to ensure that:
marking is regular and thorough enough to spot errors and inaccuracies;
marking is fully integrated with the system of rewards, e.g. merits are awarded when appropriate;
written comments and oral feedback communicate clearly to individual pupils and their parents the pupil's strengths and weaknesses, level of performance, suggested strategies for improving their knowledge, understanding and skills, and goals to be achieved. This can help parents who take an active role in their child's education;
they do not readily accept inaccurate or inadequate responses to written or practical tasks;
steps are taken to act on missing, incomplete or poorly presented work
work is returned promptly to pupils;
corrections are carried out by the pupil. Parents may take an active role in this activity;
the marking of formally assessed work allows for an easy transfer of marks to their National Curriculum records;
they implement the common grading systems. Pupils are informed of the common grading system and have attached a copy of the grade descriptors in the front of their homework diaries. Staff need to ensure that pupils clearly understand the criteria that are used to award the grades and are aware why one piece of work might attract a higher grade than another;
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