ONE high school in Bolton is revolutionising homework by giving pupils the freedom to choose their own tasks.

Kearsley Academy has scrapped the traditional way of setting homework to get more pupils enthusiastic about learning in their own time — and to put an end to the "dog ate my homework Miss” excuses battles every school experiences.

And the new model — which teachers stress challenge the young people more — is proving to be a huge success, with children even carrying on their love of learning while on holiday.

Eleven-year-old Corin Gallagher will be visiting the workshop of the great Spanish painter Joan Miro, with his mum when holidaying in Majorca during the summer break.

The school says by allowing pupils to choose their own homework task it makes it “more engaging, challenging and valuable to students”.

Assistant headteacher Mel Hughes said: “Pupils are talking about their homework to each other and to their teachers.

“Homework can be quite prescriptive and we want pupils to develop themselves outside of the classroom and be creative.

“We found when we researched our model that creativity is what employers are looking for — people who can think about the next big thing and bring something to the table."

She added: “All pupils are taking pride in their homework, and the quality of what they are submitting is very high — and it is being handed in on time.”

Miss Hughes said that the new model was furthering young people’s enjoyment and fascination with learning while challenging them to achieve their personal best.

Young people in years seven to 10 use a “homework challenge map” and pick tasks including designing a fact sheet, write an article, create a scrapbook, research key figures, creating graphs and diagrams and much more.

They can pick which challenge they want with many opting for the most difficult.

Miss Hughes said: “Homework is about quality over quantity and they are asked to spend five hours on each subject per half term, because it is said that five hours of studying embeds their learning and knowledge.”

Under the new homework model, parents play an active part, ending the nightly homework struggle of excuses 'I've already done it' or 'I wasn’t given any', for not only do they sign a cover sheet but also leave comments.

The school says the feedback from parents has been positive with them playing a pro-active role in helping their child’s learning, for example visiting art galleries and museums with them.

Miss Hughes added: “The students are visiting places like the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester with their parents, and building their knowledge.

"And in-class subjects discussions are much more in depth because they already have so much knowledge.”

Corin said: “It makes homework more interesting, you have more choice and I don’t think I would be visiting the workshop in Majorca, if homework wasn’t like this.”

Eleanor Pollitt, aged 12, used her homework task to learn the respiratory system through her favourite subject art — by drawing it.

She said: “I enjoy doing homework a lot more this way, you can work on it longer and think about it more.”

For his art homework, Daniel Peach, aged 11, put together a book detailing the works of different artists.

He said: “I enjoyed doing the homework, and I found out information about artists I had not heard of, and I will be visiting more art galleries with my mum.”

Flynn Coucill, aged 12, said his visit to The Fusilier Museum for his homework with his granddad led to him finding out more about the military men in his family.

He said: “My granddad came with me and told me information about my family I never knew.

“It was all because I thought I would visit the art gallery and museum in Bury for my homework.”