Schemes of learning in Sparx Maths are predefined pathways through your curriculum that align topics with homework weeks. Sparx Maths will set homework for your students each week, based on your schemes of learning. This article guides you through the process of building, editing and sharing schemes of learning in Sparx Maths.
Before you start
Before creating your scheme of learning, we highly recommend:
Adding your holiday dates first - this will automatically keep holiday weeks clear of topics and set the weeks to no-homework weeks. See Setting up your school holidays for more information.
Planning for the right number of topics per week:
For 60-minute homework: 3 topics
For 30-minute homework: 1-2 topics
Completing our interactive training module on schemes of learning
Creating a scheme of learning
Using a template
Using a template
Sparx provides ready-made scheme of learning templates for common curricula, including the Sparx Maths Curriculum, White Rose Maths, and various exam boards.
To use these templates in your school:
Go to 'Management' → 'Schemes of Learning'
Select the 'Templates' tab
Search or filter the list of templates by curriculum ('scheme')
Use the 'Options' dropdown next to your chosen template to either:
'Preview': to check whether the template is suitable
'Use in my school': to create a new scheme of learning based on the template
Fill in the basic scheme of learning details and click 'Create'
Your scheme of learning will appear in your chosen academic year
Go to 'Options' → 'Edit' to customise the scheme of learning (for example, if you want to change which topics appear in which weeks)
Note: many templates in Sparx Maths have more than the recommended number of topics per week so you will likely need to remove some topics from each week before you use these with your classes.
Once you are satisfied with your scheme of learning, click 'Options' → 'Publish'.
Your scheme of learning can now be assigned to classes. See Setting or changing the default homework settings for a class for more information.
Creating a custom scheme of learning
Creating a custom scheme of learning
Go to 'Management' → 'Schemes of Learning'
Choose the academic year that you want to create the scheme of learning within and click 'New blank scheme'
Fill in the basic details and click 'Create'
Go to 'Options' → 'Edit' to build your scheme
Use the editing tools to search for topics and drag and drop them into the relevant weeks for your scheme of learning
Once you are satisfied with your scheme of learning, click 'Options' → 'Publish'.
Your scheme of learning can now be assigned to classes. See Setting or changing the default homework settings for a class for more information.
Best practices for building a scheme of learning
Best practices for building a scheme of learning
Plan to deliver topics one week after teaching them in class
Put topics in order of priority from the top of the list each week
Consider using consolidation-only weeks occasionally, but keep these to a minimum to avoid repetitive homeworks
Review topics carefully using the blue (i) icon to see:
Topic descriptions
Example questions
Support videos available
Methods used
Editing a scheme of learning
You can continue to edit the scheme of learning after publishing by selecting 'Options' → 'Edit'.
This will create a draft version underneath the published scheme. When you're ready, select 'Options' → 'Publish Changes' on the draft version.
Note: Publishing changes will override any manual adjustments that teachers have made in the Planner for their classes.
Copying and sharing schemes of learning
Sparx Maths allows you to share schemes of learning with other schools in your group and copy existing schemes to use in different academic years. This helps save time and ensures consistency across your school or school group.
Share a scheme of learning with other schools in your group
Share a scheme of learning with other schools in your group
Click the 'Options' menu next to the scheme you want to share
Select 'Share as Template'
Choose your School Group from the dropdown list
Once shared, other schools in your group can find your scheme in their 'Templates' tab and use it as a starting point for their own schemes of learning.
Copy a scheme of learning into a different academic year
Copy a scheme of learning into a different academic year
Before you copy a scheme of learning to a different academic year, add holiday dates for the target academic year first to ensure homework will automatically be turned off during holidays. See Setting up your school holidays for more information.
Copy a scheme of learning to a future academic year
Copy a scheme of learning to a future academic year
Go to 'Management' → 'Schemes of Learning'
Click 'Options' → 'Copy' next to the scheme
Select next year in the drop-down menu
Click 'Create'
Check homework is turned off for the correct weeks
Copy a scheme of learning from a previous academic year to the current one
Copy a scheme of learning from a previous academic year to the current one
Go to 'Management' → 'Schemes of Learning'
Select the 'Archive' tab
Tick the boxes next to schemes you want to copy
Select 'Copy Schemes' → 'To this academic year'
Check homework is turned off for the correct week
Delete a scheme of learning
You will not be able to delete a published scheme of learning if there are any classes using it - you will need to assign a different scheme of learning to these classes first.
You can delete any published or draft scheme of learning via its 'Options' menu.
Frequently asked questions
Can I assign more than one scheme of learning to a class?
Can I assign more than one scheme of learning to a class?
No, it is not possible to assign more than one scheme of learning to a class.
What happens to homework if I edit a published scheme of learning?
What happens to homework if I edit a published scheme of learning?
Publishing edits to a scheme of learning that is already in use will override any manual changes teachers have made in Planner. If you want to amend homework content for individual classes, we recommend doing this in Planner instead.
What happens to my schemes of learning during holidays?
What happens to my schemes of learning during holidays?
If you have added holiday dates in School Settings and these span Monday to Friday, homework will automatically be turned off in your scheme of learning for those weeks.
What are consolidation-only weeks?
What are consolidation-only weeks?
If no topics are added to a particular week, but homework is still turned on, then students will be set the same length homework as usual, but this will consist of only consolidation topics. See Key concepts of a Sparx Maths homework for more information on consolidation homework.
If I copy a scheme of learning, will my homework settings also copy over?
If I copy a scheme of learning, will my homework settings also copy over?
Most settings will copy, but No Homework Weeks need to be set up again in the new scheme. Always check your homework settings after copying a scheme.