Home Study

Home Study: A guide for Selkirk High School students and Parent/Carers

The Purpose of Home Study

Home Study is used to encourage you to develop the confidence, motivation and skills you need to study effectively on your own.  These independent study skills become particularly important once you reach the Senior Phase and are preparing for qualifications.  At Selkirk High School, we believe that it is important to begin embedding the skills needed from S1 enabling all pupils to start knowing themselves as learners and this is an important part of your Achievement Journey. Home Study gives you the opportunity to:

• Plan and organise your time
• Develop successful study habits and the ability to learn independently
• Consolidate, practise, recall/review or extend work covered in class
• Prepare for assessments
• Develop resilience and confidence in the Golden Skills of problem solving and positive attitude.

Types of Homework

Home Study can take many forms and will often not be a ‘traditional’ piece of written work.  For example:

• Practise questions focusing on knowledge retrieval of work covered in class – this could be a written task or an online activity.
• Vocabulary, key words recall
• Researching a topic about to be covered in class
• Watching a clip related to class work
• Creating an essay plan
• Creating a mind-map of learning on a specific topic
• SQA Past Paper questions
• And so on…

Frequency of Home Study

• Home Study will be regularly provided as appropriate with the oversight of the Faculty Principal Teacher.
• You should have ample time to complete Home Study – normally a week.
• If you are in S1-S3 you will be set Home Study tasks at certain points throughout the year in each subject and more regularly in Literacy/Numeracy.
• If you are in S4-S6 you will have specific Home Study tasks each week but should also be developing your own Home Study timetable. Please see file below for the Senior Study Skills Guide to help you support your studies.

How can parent/carers support pupils with Home Study?

• Sign up to Showbie – this is the platform used by teachers to issue all set Home Study tasks.  Please see file below containing guidance on how to sign up for Showbie.
• Discuss Home Study with your child – do they understand what they need to do?  Have they used available resources e.g. class notes on iPad, internet, other information on Showbie to help them complete the task?
• Assign a specific space/time (where possible) for your child to complete Home Study, this helps them to build a routine.
• Contact the school if there are any issues with finding a suitable place at home to complete work and we can provide space/time during lunch/after school. Contact class teacher or Pastoral teacher if your child is struggling to complete Home Study.
• For Senior Phase parents – talk through the study support guide with your child, help/encourage them to create a timetable and to do short/regular periods of study.  This will help them to be more prepared for examinations and avoid cramming before an exam.

Challenges with engaging in Home Study

• Teachers will focus on first attention to best conduct: SHS Home Study recognition for excellence.
• Responsibility for completion of Home Study lies with you in line with our Ready Respectful Safe guidelines. Particular arrangements may be put in place for you if you are struggling with completing Home Study such as in-school supports to complete tasks.

RELATED FILES