Making home learning calmer for everyone. What the evidence says about primary homework, why it can be so hard after a long school day, and how families and schools can keep it purposeful rather than painful.
Plain English, no jargon. You don't need a teaching background to use this — just read the parts that feel useful and skip the rest. If something raises a question, your child's teacher or SENDCO is the best next step.
The Education Endowment Foundation's review of the research finds that homework in primary school makes a small difference on average — much less than in secondary school. Short tasks linked to what children are learning in class, such as reading and practising number facts, seem most useful.
Reading together, talking about the day and showing interest in learning appear to matter more than getting every worksheet finished.
Most children need a snack and some downtime before they can think again.
A predictable, calm spot and routine reduces the daily negotiation.
Ten focused minutes with a timer, then a break, is often better than forty minutes of struggle.
Read the task together and do the first bit alongside them. Starting is often the hardest part.
If it is causing tears every night, stop and talk to school. A short note explaining what happened is helpful information for the teacher.
Schools set their own homework policies, and most teachers would much rather know if homework is causing distress. You can ask whether tasks could be shorter, adapted, or swapped for reading together — especially if your child has additional needs.
The EEF's summary is that homework in primary school has a small average impact, with less secure evidence than in secondary. That does not mean primary homework is worthless, but it does mean that homework causing distress or conflict at home is unlikely to be worth the cost. There is no national requirement to set primary homework; each school decides its own policy.
The EEF finds homework has a larger average impact in secondary than primary, where effects are smaller and the evidence less secure. Short, focused tasks linked to classroom learning, with feedback, are more effective than volume.
Suggests that encouraging a positive home learning environment — reading together, talking about learning — matters more than parents directly teaching or policing homework.
Recommends adapting tasks to pupils' needs — which applies to homework as much as classroom work.
Expects schools to make reasonable adjustments and to work in partnership with parents.
The professional Evidence Library shows the same ideas written for teachers, SENDCOs and school leaders.
Open the Evidence LibraryA calm handful of next steps — not a checklist. Follow whichever thread is most useful right now.
See the same evidence translated for teachers, so home and school can pull in the same direction.
How children think, learn, remember and organise information — working memory, executive function, attention and beyond.
Each guide below connects to the one you've just read. We've noted why — so you can follow the thread that matters most to you.
The mental notepad that lets a child hold information in mind long enough to use it — and the small changes that make the biggest difference.
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Planning, flexibility and impulse control — the mental machinery that lets a developing brain get things done.
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How lesson design shapes what a working memory can carry — and the small design choices that free up thinking for learning.
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The pace at which a child takes in, makes sense of and responds to information — and why slower doesn't mean less capable.
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How children make sense of what adults say — and what we can change about the way we communicate so that more children understand, participate and show what they know.
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How children put their thoughts, ideas, needs and experiences into words — and what adults can change so that more children can show what they think and know.
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What it means to really know a word, why word knowledge sits underneath so much classroom learning, and how adults can build it deliberately without turning language into a deficit.
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Being hard to understand is not the same as having less to say. What speech sounds are, how clarity develops at different rates, and how to keep a child fully included while it does.
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Not the ability to stay calm. What emotional regulation actually involves, how it grows through relationships, and what genuinely helps at home and in class — with the strength of the evidence stated plainly.
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Most childhood worry is ordinary and passes. This guide is about telling the difference — what anxiety is, how it shows up when a child cannot name it, what genuinely helps, and when to involve someone else.
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Behaviour is information. This guide looks at what tends to sit underneath it — need, context, relationship, communication, learning — and how to respond in a way that is both understanding and clear.
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Feeling known, safe and wanted is the ground everything else stands on. This guide looks at trusted adults, friendship, inclusion and repair — and at what schools and families can actually change.
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Attention, impulse and activity are shaped as much by the situation as by the child. This guide looks at what ADHD is, what it is not, and what actually helps in a mainstream primary classroom and at home.
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Autism is a difference in how a person communicates, experiences the world and makes sense of it — not a list of deficits. This guide looks at what may be relevant, what the environment contributes, and what genuinely helps in a mainstream primary school.
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Dyslexia is about accurate, fluent word reading and spelling — not reversed letters or a visual learning style. This guide separates what is known from what is myth, and sets out the teaching and adjustments that actually help.
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When getting to school becomes the hardest part of the day. What can sit underneath attendance difficulties, how families and schools can work on it together, and what the guidance actually expects.
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Moving from one thing to the next — between activities, places, people and years. Why change can be so hard for some children, and the calm, predictable preparation that helps.
ExploreSome children experience noise, light, touch, smell or movement more — or less — intensely than others. What that can look like, why it matters for learning and wellbeing, and the calm adjustments that help.
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Small, steady changes that help a child settle and stay asleep — and why sleep matters so much for learning, mood and coping. Based on NHS advice.
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