• Do not allow your books to be decorated with stickers or graffiti. Always head written work with a title and the date.
• Always check your work for content, organisation and accuracy.
• Take care with layout, making proper use of margins and paragraphs.  Write in blue or black pen and only use colour when this is necessary to aid presentation.
• Do not hope for the best – make sure that your work is correct otherwise your marks will suffer.

Independent Study

Independent study is any work or activity that you are expected to do outside lesson time, either during the school day or at home.  The Library (with ICT facilities) is available for you to do independent study at lunchtimes and there is a homework club with teacher support each day. The Realsmart virtual learning facility is also available via the schools website.

Most teachers will allow a set period of time (usually 2/3 days) to complete tasks. This allows you the opportunity to manage your independent study workload and seek further guidance if necessary. Some learning tasks may be required the next day (such as vocabulary learning in languages). Use your planner to record tasks, make sure the completion date is noted and plan your own work to meet deadlines. The amount of independent study expected of you depends on your age:-

Student Responsibilities

• You must ensure that you complete each task to the best of your ability and submit it on time
• You must keep a record of when work is set, what the task is and when it is due in your planner.

Students who regularly complete independent learning activities are more successful in examinations. 

Always do your independent learning activities carefully.

Developing good independent study skills at an early age will prove invaluable later on.