Prep (Homework)
Students in all year groups will be set work to complete outside of normal lesson time. This homework (or ‘prep’) is intended to help students consolidate their learning and aid progress across their academic studies. Students will typically receive an average of two or three preps per day in the Main and Senior Schools, although this may vary somewhat according to timetables and the time of year. Teachers are asked to, wherever possible, follow a set timetable for when they set prep for Lower School and Middle school teaching groups.
All students are provided with a student planner when they join the College and are encouraged to get into the habit of using these effectively to record and monitor the subject preps they are set. Many departments also use Microsoft Teams to communicate prep tasks as well as provide appropriate resources for student use.
All students in the Lower and Middle School have timetabled supervised Prep lessons through the week. These lessons should be used to help students complete prep tasks, with prep sessions also held during the week after supper for boarders.
1 English, History, RS & Geography will set Prep for Third Form when appropriate according to their own timetable, with pupils being informed of these times at the start of the academic year.
College guidelines for prep by year group:
1st form = 20 mins per subject per night2nd form = 30 mins per subject per night3rd form = 30 mins per subject per night
No prep will be set for First Form in first week of the new academic year.
Music, Computing, DT and Art may occasionally set prep according to the stage they are at in the curriculum
This timetable indicates the day prep will be set, with prep to be completed in the next available prep time. Prep deadlines will allow preps to be staggered through the week; groups set more than two preps on a given day will not be expected to complete all subject preps for the following day.
On an Exeat weekend, Saturday preps may be set in the previous lesson for that subject.
College holidays: Prep will not routinely be set for Lower School pupils over holiday time, although pupils may be encouraged to use this time to catch up missed work, review work already completed in a subject or to prepare for internal exams.
On an Exeat weekend, Saturday preps can be set in the previous lesson for that subject.
Homework (Prep)
Pupils are encouraged to complete prep as fully as possible and make every effort to submit work of the highest quality. Pupils who do not understand the prep should seek clarification from their teacher before leaving the lesson. Prep should be entered into the relevant section of the student planner that each pupil is given at the start of the academic year. Pupils should endeavour to hand in prep – fully completed – at the correct time and place.
There are numerous opportunities to complete prep. The time to do regular preps is during special, timetabled prep lessons in the daytime that are supervised by a member of staff; during evening prep sessions (in the case of boarders); during the evening at home (in the case of day pupils) and at times throughout each weekend. Supervised prep periods are timetabled for some Middle School pupils and all pupils will be expected to use their own available time to complete prep where appropriate. The amount of prep to be done in the evening commensurately rises as pupils work through the GCSE years. Pupils can expect to receive 2 or 3 subject preps every day, as per the above timetable. Time spent on prep for each subject set should on average be: 4th and 5th Forms - 2 or 3 subjects @ 2 x 45 minutes or 3 x 30 minutes per subject – totalling 1½ hours. Prep is not routinely set over holiday periods for Middle School pupils but there will be occasions when this is necessary and reasonable, especially over the Easter holidays in the Fifth Form.
College holidays
Holidays are primarily intended as a time for rest and relaxation for all members of the College. For non-examination years (1st to 4th Form), prep will not routinely be set for pupils specifically over holiday time, although pupils may be encouraged to use this time to catch up missed work and review work already completed in a subject. Pupils in examination years (Fifth and Sixth Form) can reasonably expect to use some holiday time completing academic work, although tasks set will always be reasonable in scale. This is especially likely to be the case during the Easter holidays, where pupils will be expected to spend time preparing for forthcoming external exams.