Case Studies
Improving Homework Engagement Through Greater Visibility at Ark Boulton Academy
At Ark Boulton Academy, ensuring consistency in how homework is set, tracked and completed had become increasingly complex. While Microsoft Teams was already in use, gaining a clear, school-wide view of homework activity required significant manual effort.
By standardising homework through Teams and introducing Cloud Design Box Assignment Analytics, the academy has improved consistency for staff, clarity for students and visibility for leaders. Within a single term, homework activity increased significantly, while leaders gained the insight needed to support both staff and students more effectively.
The Context
Ark Boulton Academy serves a highly diverse community, with a significant proportion of students eligible for pupil premium. Despite these challenges, the school maintains a strong focus on ensuring that every student has access to the support and opportunities they need to succeed.
Technology already played an important role in supporting this ambition. Students use Microsoft 365 as part of their daily learning environment, and homework was recorded through Microsoft Teams to provide visibility for both students and parents.
However, while this created a level of structure, it did not provide leaders with a clear understanding of how homework was being used across the school.
"Assignment Analytics allows me to look at one student across all of their subjects. Then we can determine what intervention we put in place."
-Rosalyn Chalk, Assistant Principal, Ark Boulton Academy
The Challenge
Before introducing analytics, gaining a complete picture of homework activity required time-consuming manual checks across multiple platforms.
Different departments used a mixture of tools alongside Microsoft Teams. While each worked well in isolation, together they created a fragmented view of activity. Leaders often had to check individual lessons or systems to understand what had been set and completed.
This made it difficult for middle leaders to maintain oversight, identify patterns or provide targeted support. For students, inconsistency across platforms also created confusion, with some unsure where homework had been set or how to access it.
The Approach
The school made a deliberate decision to standardise homework through Microsoft Teams assignments, creating a single, consistent location for students to access work and deadlines.
Alongside this, Cloud Design Box Assignment Analytics was introduced to provide a centralised view of homework activity across subjects, teachers and year groups.
This enabled leaders to see patterns more clearly, monitor engagement and support staff more effectively. Heads of department were able to identify where additional guidance was needed, while senior leaders gained visibility across the whole school.
The Impact
The impact was both immediate and measurable.
Within a single academic year, the number of assignments set through Teams doubled, and the number of subjects consistently setting homework increased from three to fifteen.
Leaders can now view homework activity across all subjects for an individual student, making it easier to identify whether challenges are subject-specific or more widespread. This has enabled earlier and more targeted intervention.
At the same time, the need for manual reporting and spreadsheet tracking has been significantly reduced. Instead of piecing together information from multiple systems, leaders now have a clear and immediate view of homework activity across the academy.
The result is a more consistent, visible and manageable approach to homework, supporting both teaching and learning beyond the classroom.
