The Student Room Group

how should the school day be restructured?

like should home work be timetabled in to the day over the afternoon or should an hour be added to the day like in a boarding school for "prep" or "study hall" like in the USA should academic subjects be done in the morning and have the more creative subjects or PE in the afternoon or what?

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Original post by jonathanemptage
like should home work be timetabled in to the day over the afternoon or should an hour be added to the day like in a boarding school for "prep" or "study hall" like in the USA should academic subjects be done in the morning and have the more creative subjects or PE in the afternoon or what?


I personally think that especially as you get older, homework should be a lot more flexible... have your study periods, and waste them if you want... I feel that if you don't do the homework, then no punishment, that's just your fault...

As someone who went to boarding school, I did more work outside of 'prep' time, than I did in it...
Original post by mobbsy91
I personally think that especially as you get older, homework should be a lot more flexible... have your study periods, and waste them if you want... I feel that if you don't do the homework, then no punishment, that's just your fault...

like in uni?
Original post by jonathanemptage
like in uni?


Yeh exactly... I think up to uni, you're too 'molly-cuddled', and that culture should stop, and give people more freedom... they don't want to do the work, their problem...!
Original post by jonathanemptage
like should home work be timetabled in to the day over the afternoon or should an hour be added to the day like in a boarding school for "prep" or "study hall" like in the USA should academic subjects be done in the morning and have the more creative subjects or PE in the afternoon or what?


They should just make the lessons longer an extra 10 mins ..... Sorted


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They should most definitely have a day, say Monday for example where half the day is Maths, and the afternoon is English, then that is the week's lot of those core subjects out of the way with. :yep:
Reply 6
Original post by mobbsy91
I personally think that especially as you get older, homework should be a lot more flexible... have your study periods, and waste them if you want... I feel that if you don't do the homework, then no punishment, that's just your fault...

As someone who went to boarding school, I did more work outside of 'prep' time, than I did in it...


Ha same, those 'prep' hours were just me messing around then rushing for the food - then having to cram in all the work I didn't do late at night by the light lamp..
You do realise that the purpose of "home work" is that you do it at home, right? Otherwise it would be "class work".

I assume that the reason for homework's existence is two-fold:

1) Giving the student the responsibility to make sure that the work is done on their own time (ie; preparing them for the real world where you don't get a detention for being late to work, you lose your job. Making sure paperwork/taxes are done on time, etc).

2) Kinda comes under the above point, but it attempts to give the student time management skills.
Reply 8
I think academic lessons should finish before lunch. Afternoons should be reserved for (elective) music, drama, DT and / or sport. IMO those subjects should not be "academised". They should be coached at a high standard, for an adequate amount of time (pupils should be able to do at least 5 hours per chosen elective per week), and they should not be taught to an exam except for the occasional practical exam offered by professional bodies (ABRSM, LAMDA, SMSCP + productions, competitions etc).

I also think there should be no homework (unless a pupil wants to do extra study...). There should be work in lessons and frequent feedback on that work. If a pupil does not work in lessons then that pupil should get immediate detention lasting until he has completed all the academic work he has missed.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Drunk Punx
You do realise that the purpose of "home work" is that you do it at home, right? Otherwise it would be "class work".

I assume that the reason for homework's existence is two-fold:

1) Giving the student the responsibility to make sure that the work is done on their own time (ie; preparing them for the real world where you don't get a detention for being late to work, you lose your job. Making sure paperwork/taxes are done on time, etc).

2) Kinda comes under the above point, but it attempts to give the student time management skills.


But in the real world work finishes at 5 pm or whatever if you want to prepare them for the real world then extend the day and abolish the home work


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Reply 10
Morning - Academic work
Afternoon - Clubs/Activities/ work experience / Sports/ Extra curriculum
Evening - Prep for everyone :wink: ( boarding school)
Original post by jonathanemptage
But in the real world work finishes at 5 pm or whatever if you want to prepare them for the real world then extend the day and abolish the home work


Try telling that to people who run their own businesses, I'm sure you'll get real far.
Start the school day later(for secondary at least). Have a few hours of academic subjects then a few optional hours of music, PE, RE, DT etc., although whether languages and PHSE are included and where in the day depends on how they are taught.
The whole thing rests on schools being able to learn how to teach academic subjects, but I guess it would be an improvement in any case.

I don't think schools give out much homework. We got hardly anything until college. It should be optional and there should be more of it.
Original post by Drunk Punx
Try telling that to people who run their own businesses, I'm sure you'll get real far.

Ok regular hours are 9-5 for the most part and your splitting hairs.
Reply 14
Original post by morgan8002
I don't think schools give out much homework. We got hardly anything until college. It should be optional and there should be more of it.


Personally, I don't think there is any point in homework. IME People who do it don't need it, and people who need it don't do it. Most teachers don't even mark it. It's just a waste of time all around. I'd rather do a test in class every few weeks, give / get really good personal feedback on that and then make pupils correct their work in response to that feedback.

Original post by lytran
Morning - Academic work
Afternoon - Clubs/Activities/ work experience / Sports/ Extra curriculum
Evening - Prep for everyone :wink: ( boarding school)


Is daily practice on a musical instrument time-tabled? I guess lessons would fall under "extracurricular", just wondering if practice would too.
Reply 15
Original post by llys
Personally, I don't think there is any point in homework. IME People who do it don't need it, and people who need it don't do it. Most teachers don't even mark it. It's just a waste of time all around. I'd rather do a test in class every few weeks, give / get really good personal feedback on that and then make pupils correct their work in response to that feedback.



Is daily practice on a musical instrument time-tabled? I guess lessons would fall under "extracurricular", just wondering if practice would too.


well , praciticing an music instrument goes under the extracurricular ! if you're actually serious about it then it would be beneficial :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by lytran
well , praciticing an music instrument goes under the extracurricular ! if you're actually serious about it then it would be beneficial :smile:

Yes, but is it time-tabled? If it is time-tabled, I could just bunk off during that time. If it isn't, I wouldn't have time to practise all day.
Original post by llys
Personally, I don't think there is any point in homework. IME People who do it don't need it, and people who need it don't do it. Most teachers don't even mark it. It's just a waste of time all around. I'd rather do a test in class every few weeks, give / get really good personal feedback on that and then make pupils correct their work in response to that feedback.


More practice is often good and you've got to be able to do stuff by yourself. To get good at something you need to work on it outside of the class.
It's their problem if they need it but don't do it. Obviously the subject isn't very important to them.
The usefulness of marking really depends on the subject. For some you can just make the answers available(with the homework or maybe a week later or something) and they can go through it themselves and ask the teacher if there's anything they don't understand, but some things really do need to be marked.

In class tests are sometimes useful, but eat into class time and don't substitute for practice.
Reply 18
Original post by morgan8002
More practice is often good and you've got to be able to do stuff by yourself. To get good at something you need to work on it outside of the class.


You could just do that then. You don't need a teacher to set homework for that.

Anyway, I think you said you would make it optional. That's fine with me - though I predict nobody would do optional homework except a few people who don't need it. So you might as well not bother.
Reply 19
Overall, I think school should start a few hours later.

Original post by mobbsy91
Yeh exactly... I think up to uni, you're too 'molly-cuddled', and that culture should stop, and give people more freedom... they don't want to do the work, their problem...!


nah I don't agree with this, alot of students need like support and some people struggle with self-motivation and procrastinate alot. I think it's necessary.

if people continuously still don't do work after repeatedly being sanctioned then yeah you can give up and just stop trying with them but I think the structure in place rn is necessary.

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