Home → Head of Maths Hub → Homework ideas for Mathematics Lessons
I wanted to share some homework ideas for mathematics lessons that do not turn setting homework into a marking chore. Homework should consolidate what happened in the classroom, extend it, or prepare students for what comes next. It does not have to be another login, another green tick, or another sheet that nobody discusses.
Online platforms have a place. They keep completion visible and they take some of the admin off the teacher. They are not enough on their own. In Developing Mathematical Thinking I argued that homework should be more than internet-based practice. Fluency matters, but students also need tasks where they choose a method, explain a mistake, or sit with a problem that has no obvious first step.
These four tasks have worked well for me because students rely on each other, not only on me. I have added two further sources that sit alongside them: the free worksheets on the topic blogs, and UK Maths Challenge questions for genuine problem solving. Use one idea at a time. You do not need a new homework policy to try any of them tomorrow.
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Print this one-page poster for the department office. It summarises the four homework tasks, the topic-blog worksheets and UK Maths Challenge questions.
Guided online homework is good at retrieval and at keeping a class on the same practice. The risk is that it becomes the only experience of mathematics outside the lesson. Students get used to a prompt that tells them which method to use. Then an exam question does not, and they freeze.
That is the argument in Developing Mathematical Thinking. Homework still has real value. Retrieval, fluency and spaced practice all belong in a department plan. The question is whether every home task is a short, signposted question with instant feedback, or whether some of it asks students to write, check, explain and choose.
The ideas below keep workload low because most of the checking happens in the next lesson, between students, or against a published mark scheme. You are not collecting 30 extra books.
Ask students to write five questions based on what you taught that lesson. Two easy, two medium, one hard. They assign marks and write a short mark scheme. At the start of the next lesson they swap with a partner, complete the questions, then mark using the scheme the author wrote.
This works because writing a question forces students to decide what the skill actually is. A weak hard question is often just a longer easy question with messier numbers. That becomes a useful discussion. Award a merit or house point when the mark scheme is clear enough that a partner can use it without asking the author what they meant.
If the class has just used a topic worksheet, you can tighten the brief. After simultaneous equations through elimination, require one question where the coefficients already match, one where a scale factor is needed, and one worded problem. Students then see the difference between practising a method and writing a question that actually tests it.
Set homework on what is coming next, not only on what has just been taught. Keep it short and specific. If you are about to teach formulae, ask students to research five mathematical formulae that changed the world, who created them, and why they mattered. Next lesson, share findings in pairs or as a joint presentation.
You can also flip a skill using a topic blog. Students watch the video, attempt two questions from the free worksheet, and bring one thing they are unsure about. That is enough. You then start the lesson from their questions rather than from a blank board.
The Calculating a Percentage Change blog is a good example. The video models writing an increase or decrease as a single multiplier. The percentage change worksheet then moves from fluency into worded problems. Students who have already tried questions 1 and 2 arrive ready for the matching activity and the money problems, rather than meeting the multiplier for the first time in the lesson.
Give the class a page of your notes. Pretend notes, if you like. Some of the working is wrong. Their homework is to find the mistakes, correct them, and be ready to show you where you went wrong at the start of next lesson.
For students who need more structure, tell them what the final answers should have been. Their job is then the reasoning, not the arithmetic. For a stronger class, leave the answers out and ask them to write the corrected method in full.
This is a useful alternative to another practice sheet when the class has already met the method. It also surfaces misconceptions you can address in five minutes, rather than discovering them a week later in a book you have not had time to mark.
Students teach what they have learned to a parent, carer or other family member. As an end-of-term revision task they can pick any topic from the term. They write a short question sheet, the adult completes it, and the student marks it and feeds back.
A planner signature is enough to confirm the conversation happened. Some parents will write more than a signature. That is a bonus, not a requirement. The point is that the student has to explain the method in their own words. If they cannot explain it at the kitchen table, they have not secured it yet.
Keep the sheet small. Three questions is plenty. One fluency, one worded, one “explain the mistake”. Students who copy a worksheet without teaching anyone have missed the task. The teaching is the homework.
When you do want a printed practice set, use the free worksheet on the matching topic blog rather than searching for a random PDF. Each of those pages already has a video, a print-ready sheet and worked solutions. You are not inventing a homework resource at 6pm.
Two examples I use as they stand:
Do not set the whole sheet every time. Two or three questions, with a check in a different method or a different equation, is enough. Browse the Curriculum Hub for the topic you taught today. If the blog has a worksheet, that is your consolidation homework. If you want students to think rather than complete, set one exam-style question from the same page and ask them to write the method in full.
When the homework needs to be a problem rather than a practice set, use a UK Maths Challenge question. The UK Mathematics Trust Junior, Intermediate and Senior Challenges are built so that the method is not obvious. Students have to sit with the problem, try a systematic approach, and accept that they may not finish.
That is the opposite of a guided platform item. I made the same point in Developing Mathematical Thinking: a standard question might ask students to list the two-digit multiples of 7. A UKMT-style question might ask how many two-digit numbers have a digit sum of 10. There is no routine to follow. They have to organise the work themselves.
Set one question, not a paper. Junior Challenge questions suit Key Stage 3. Intermediate questions suit Years 9 to 11. Tell students they are not expected to finish quickly, and that a clear diagram or a list of cases is a valid start. Next lesson, spend five minutes on approaches rather than on the answer. Past papers and solutions are available from the Junior and Intermediate Challenge pages.
If you want a classroom problem-solving sequence rather than a single homework question, the four lessons in From Key Skills to Deep Connections give a longer run at the same habit.
Four low-marking tasks that work well are: students write and peer-assess five questions; a short flipped task before the next topic; students correct deliberate mistakes in the teacher’s notes; and students teach a parent using a three-question sheet. Alongside those, use a couple of questions from the free worksheet on the matching topic blog, or one UK Maths Challenge question for problem solving.
Build the check into the next lesson. Peer assessment, a five-minute mistake hunt, or a planner signature from a parent keeps the accountability with students. If you use a worksheet, set two questions and go through the method, not a full set of books.
Platforms are useful for retrieval, fluency and tracking completion. They should not be the only homework students meet. Developing Mathematical Thinking argues that homework needs to be more than internet-based practice, because heavily guided questions can create an illusion of competence. Mix platform work with written reasoning, peer-created questions and occasional UKMT problems.
Use the free PDF on the matching topic blog rather than a random sheet. The simultaneous equations blog includes a five-question GCSE worksheet. The percentage change blog includes a six-question worksheet with fluency, matching and worded problems. Set two or three questions, not the whole sheet, and keep the richest question for class discussion.
Set one Junior or Intermediate Mathematical Challenge question instead of a full paper. Tell students they may not finish, and that a systematic list or diagram counts as a start. Mark the thinking in the next lesson, not only the final answer. Past papers are available from the UK Mathematics Trust website.
If you want the research case for mixing fluency with independent thinking, start with Developing Mathematical Thinking. For classroom problem-solving lessons, use From Key Skills to Deep Connections. Topic worksheets live on the matching blogs in the Curriculum Hub.
Try this tomorrow: pick one of the four student-led tasks, or print two questions from the topic you taught today. Keep the platform homework where it helps. Add one task this week that cannot be finished with a green tick.
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