St Olave's - Homework

[turnip08]

I've heard that boys often spend 3 hours (or more) on homework every day at St Olave's. I'm not convinced - even if my DC should pass (for Y7 entry) - that this school is for him/us.

We would like a well-rounded education but if 3-4 hours per day is required on homework per day, well, that's not the sort of thing we would want for our DC.

Anyone with children at St Olave's who could shed some light on this please?

[PettswoodFiona]

I was surprised at how little the girls get a NW, it is far less than what she had at primary school, however it does seem effective (apart from the first week of Y7 which involves decorating books and folders!), she probably has about 45 mins a night tops, but often less than that and at the weekends rarely has something that needs doing beyond one or two short bits of work. The challenge are the group projects which can be a bind for the girls to get together to sort out. DD has friends with brothers at Olaves and one of the mums said to me that her son gets about twice the amount of homework as her daughter got for the same year but did add that her DS was the worlds best prevaricator and often the first fifteen minutes was moaning about what needed to be done and stomping about and going off to find the right pens etc.

I hope someone with first-hand knowledge will come along and let you know more although I think a good number are avoiding St Olaves full stop at the moment and it isn't necessarily about the homework...

It also depends on how much time each DC WANTS to spend on their homework, how much time they spend phaffing about and how much time they end up adding bells and whistles or checking their work. I am convinced DD who can be a bit of a rusher at her work could spend longer on it if she wanted to. She once had a space project and the guideline was to spend no more than half an hour on it and she must have spent hours one weekend doing research and looking into it, but she didn't consider it homework she considered it just background reading and something she was passionately interested in. She says also that if she gets time she does some in break time so when she comes home saying she didn't have any homework it often turns out that actually it was half an hour and completed in two sets of break times. What is an hour and a half to one DC could be 45 mins for another child.

[Hershel]

My sister's son goes there. He has about 30 minutes per day home work and he doesn't spend more than that. It takes a bit longer if he need to research something on the computer. Sometime he does the homework at the school and has nothing else to do at home. I think 3 hours per day is bit too much and it could be a false information.

you better ask some other parents to get better picture.

[turnip08]

Thanks that's really helpful both of you. This person's son is apparently academic so it made me rather worried that someone like that would need to spend 3 hours or so per day! Not that I think my DC has passed - said the test was 1,000 times more difficult than either Bexley or Kent!

[Crescent26]

Hi OP, I have a DS in y9 at St Olave's. And was as shocked as you were to hear about the 3 hours a night of homework. Is this from a current student?

DS seems to have a very light amount of homework most of the time, for example, no homework Monday, about 30 minutes yesterday. Sometimes there can be 1-2 hours, but that is the rare exception, not the rule for us. Like his classmates who went to various different schools, they do seem to get a lot at the beginning of y7 which can be massively overwhelming: my DD1 has just gone through that at Newstead wood this September as a new starter, and it seems to be calming down a bit now. I'd say, talking to friends with kids at private/ academy/ comps and grammars, they seem to have very similar amounts of homework - perhaps private being the most.

But as I think others have said, it can depend on the child as to how long they spend - not just if they find some aspects challenging, but how focussed they are. I remember a lot of staring out of my window when I was supposed to be doing my homework.

When DS started at St Olave's, there was information on not spending more than a certain amount of time on homework, and if it was taking too long, to have a word with the form tutor/ class teacher etc. There was a lot of support.

DS (and DD1) are quite good at managing their time (I am not sure where they got this from, not me or their father!), and often say 'oh, there would have been HW but I finished it off in class'. Some of DS's St O classmates do HW at lunchtime as they have sporting/ music commitments after school.

DS and DD have got into the habit, sometimes a little bit OCD about it, of doing the homework the day it is set, which is great, but a little stressful if they get set a lot on a certain day (due in on various different days), and they are learning to be a little flexible with that. Some boys in DS's class don't do any homework in the week, and do it all at the weekend. Horses for courses. Other boys have parents who set them revision timetables for the weekend, even weeks away from assessments: that was an eye-opener! It increasingly seems that a lot of the pressure in my DS's class is from the parents and their expectations, not school. Despite the negative press and negative perception on many of these forums.

St Olave's does seem to attract a lot of negativity, and while there is a lot of stuff in the press at the moment, for us, it's not the terrible place it is often made out to be. DS had a middling experience at his local primary, a fair bit of bullying for being a 'nerd' but has absolutely flourished at St Olave's. He has had some lovely teachers and some not so great ones - like most children's experience at most schools. When he has had a couple of blips, I have been in touch with school, and there has been very good pastoral care and support and exceedingly quick response, and good communication.

I hope this helps (and feel free to private message me with any other questions).

[Sparkle16]

+1

I'm also shocked to hear about "3 hours a night of homework" and not sure why people spread false information about the school... dare I say because there DC didn't get in to the school , Ok scratch that!
My son is in year 7 at St Olave's. though it may be early days but so far, he has never spent more than an hour on his assignments per day. Last week he had about four H/W in to total(which I thought it was much) but on average he hasn't spent more than 40mins on each subject and has spent less on others.. He does however, have a Project (not due until after half term) which IMO will take about 2-3hrs but there's ample time to research and prepare for it. The boys are friendly and seem to get along well.. They also have a class whatspp group where they interact and also ask questions about their h/w, notes etc..

Hi OP, I have a DS in y9 at St Olave's. And was as shocked as you were to hear about the 3 hours a night of homework. Is this from a current student?

DS seems to have a very light amount of homework most of the time, for example, no homework Monday, about 30 minutes yesterday. Sometimes there can be 1-2 hours, but that is the rare exception, not the rule for us. Like his classmates who went to various different schools, they do seem to get a lot at the beginning of y7 which can be massively overwhelming: my DD1 has just gone through that at Newstead wood this September as a new starter, and it seems to be calming down a bit now. I'd say, talking to friends with kids at private/ academy/ comps and grammars, they seem to have very similar amounts of homework - perhaps private being the most.

But as I think others have said, it can depend on the child as to how long they spend - not just if they find some aspects challenging, but how focussed they are. I remember a lot of staring out of my window when I was supposed to be doing my homework.

When DS started at St Olave's, there was information on not spending more than a certain amount of time on homework, and if it was taking too long, to have a word with the form tutor/ class teacher etc. There was a lot of support.

DS (and DD1) are quite good at managing their time (I am not sure where they got this from, not me or their father!), and often say 'oh, there would have been HW but I finished it off in class'. Some of DS's St O classmates do HW at lunchtime as they have sporting/ music commitments after school.

DS and DD have got into the habit, sometimes a little bit OCD about it, of doing the homework the day it is set, which is great, but a little stressful if they get set a lot on a certain day (due in on various different days), and they are learning to be a little flexible with that. Some boys in DS's class don't do any homework in the week, and do it all at the weekend. Horses for courses. Other boys have parents who set them revision timetables for the weekend, even weeks away from assessments: that was an eye-opener! It increasingly seems that a lot of the pressure in my DS's class is from the parents and their expectations, not school. Despite the negative press and negative perception on many of these forums.

St Olave's does seem to attract a lot of negativity, and while there is a lot of stuff in the press at the moment, for us, it's not the terrible place it is often made out to be. DS had a middling experience at his local primary, a fair bit of bullying for being a 'nerd' but has absolutely flourished at St Olave's. He has had some lovely teachers and some not so great ones - like most children's experience at most schools. When he has had a couple of blips, I have been in touch with school, and there has been very good pastoral care and support and exceedingly quick response, and good communication.

I hope this helps (and feel free to private message me with any other questions).

[mumsdarling2]

Three hours a day for homework is simply untrue. DS is in year 8. He doesn't even seem to spend half that time the day before an end-of-year exam. It is true that not all days are the same. Some of the homework could be quite lengthy and some just a few minutes long. Your friends son could be spending all that time (voluntarily) researching the topics to extend his understanding. DS and his friends seem to have loads of play dates and find time to do a lot of extra curricular activities. So it's all about individual time management I guess.

[turnip08]

This is very reassuring to hear. Doubt DS will pass anyway but good to know. The person who said it is definitely a parent at the school but glad to hear that 3 hours or so per night is not the norm!