A school has made every little kid’s dream come true and stopped giving its students homework because of the stress it causes.
Littletown Primary Academy in Devon has stopped giving all its pupils ‘homework’, except for the unlucky souls in Year Six, and is instead asking the kids to spend their time reading.
The scheme will run for the whole academic year and headteacher David Perkins claimed the school reached the decision after consulting with staff, parents and the kids.
The Midweek Herald reports that research has shown weekly written maths and English homework have little benefit because of the stress it causes families.
Instead the school is recommending that pupils spend 20 minutes reading every evening, which they claim can have huge benefits on a pupil’s outcomes and opportunities.
Mr Perkins explained that reading for 20 minutes a day can make a massive difference to a child’s education adding that the school is raising funds to improve its library.
Literacy subject leader Cathy Binmore told the Midweek Herald:
Reading is the foundation that underpins all other learning.
Promoting a love of this will set our children up for a life of adventure and intrigue and will enable them to continue learning throughout their lives.
The school’s also recommending that children practise their times tables as well, as studies have shown that this is the best maths homework kids of this age can do.
Research conducted at Stanford University and published in The Journal of Experimental Education suggested that students who spend too much time on homework experience more stress and physical health problems.
Doctor Denise Pope, who worked on the study said:
Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good.
A separate study, also conducted at Stanford, found that when teachers cut homework from the curriculum test scores were unaffected suggesting homework isn’t all that.
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More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.