A primary school has ditched homework for its students in a bid to increase their productivity and concentration.
Loreto Primary School in Rathfarnham, South Dublin, has been trialling the policy since last month – except for its sixth year students.
Principal Sr Maria Hyland said despite some worried parents, it has been a success for teachers so far.
She added: “Teachers find they have more time during the day for more contact time with the children instead of trying to organise homework and get it corrected, give it back and talk to the child about it.
“It’s going quite well as expected and feedback from parents has been quite positive and maybe some parents are a little nervous about it.
“They like the structure of written homework but so far it’s going well for us and we’re happy.”
The school made the decision after acknowledging the stress that comes with homework.
Sr Hyland said it also allows for children to get outside or be creative at home instead of having their heads stuck in school work. She added: “We have been talking about it for some time and the quality of homework and the stress around homework seems to be getting worse.
“What we want children to do when they are at home is different things like listening to the RTE children’s news to discuss with parents. Children are worried about homework, parents trying to do it and maybe police getting it done. That’s not really the focus for parents, they should be more of a sounding board for children instead of saying will we get this done.
“They are doing a little bit of oral work which is their spellings and a little bit of their table work and time to play and be creative at home.”
However, to prepare them for secondary schools, sixth class pupils are excluded and unfortunately have to work at home.
Fifth class students will be introduced to homework towards the end of the year to get used to the workload.
Sr Hyland told RTE Radio One’s Drivetime that the school will survey parents and teachers in the New Year to ensure the new system is working for everyone.
