Getting Back to School for Youngsters

How have you and your child found the return to school? Whilst many of the parents we’ve spoken to have expressed relief, there is also concern about making sure little ones catch up so that all the key building blocks of those early years are firmly in place despite the lost school time.

However talented you are as a home-teacher, home-schooling was hard, and we’ve identified three key areas which families have particularly struggled with but are absolutely essential for your child’s future progress.

Phonics and number bonds

Argh! These tricky little skills in the first years at school aren’t always easy to master (for parents or children) but they are the absolute bedrock of all your child’s future learning: from fluency, reading, writing and arithmetic to comprehension, critical thinking and problem solving!

Don’t worry if your child still needs a bit of help with these, because they are exactly the sort of skills we can help with in our tutor-led workshops.

Writing and manual dexterity

With everything moving online during lockdown, for many, it was particularly hard to ensure children got enough writing practice. But again, this is one of the fundamental skills which is important to develop now in these early years to ensure your child can progress.

Our traditional tuition workshops help to ensure your child is where they should be (or maybe even ahead) with their handwriting and other skills. We provide fun and practical learning in support of the curriculum, all designed around your child’s needs…getting them offline and used to actually writing again!

Social skills

We know that a major concern for many parents was the loss of the chance to socialise for their children and to interact in both a formal and informal setting. And that’s really no surprise.

Luckily, we offer workshop style tuition, where your child can start rebuilding those vital social skills and their confidence as well as improving their maths and English. Our children work in small, COVID safe groups, with a programme that’s designed around their individual needs but that is fun and very interactive.

Our workshops take the pressure off parents, whilst ensuring your child catches up. Get in touch, if you’d like to know more.

Back to School Grumbles for Upper Primary

Here at MagiKats, we’re pretty sure we heard a national cheer when the children finally got back to school early this month. But despite the relief, we know that for many upper primary parents, there are a number of specific areas which children have really struggled with as a result of the lockdown.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG)

Love it or hate it, although SATs may still seem a long way off, it’s so important for your child to have good SPAG skills before they get to the end of their primary school journey. These are lifelong skills without which they’ll struggle. In fact, your child needs them to be second nature in order to achieve their full potential.

We know SPAG isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but our workshops are designed to embed the basics in a way that is engaging, memorable …and yes, fun! And we do it hand in hand with supporting your child in other areas of the curriculum so that they thrive in school.

Times tables

Learning times tables can be boring. There, we’ve said it, and we really do understand. And reciting the 7 times table one hundred times to try and help your child remember it can be very frustrating.

It’s one of the reasons behind our workshop style private tuition. We take the “not so exciting but very important,” stuff and make it fun, as well as memorable. It’s all part of our English and maths tuition programmes designed to help your child achieve their full potential.

Lost learning

It’s difficult to assess the impact of lockdown on primary school children but early research last autumn suggested children had already lost two months or more in terms of progress, with large numbers under achieving and struggling with tests.

If that is your child, then don’t panic! Our face to face workshops are ideally placed to help. We provide (very small) group sessions, with a learning programme designed around your child’s specific needs and served up with a large dose of support and encouragement.

Our workshops are fun, practical and designed to ensure your child doesn’t suffer as a result of the school closures. We’ve got strict COVID measures in place to ensure safety so get in touch today to find out how our mentors can help your child.

The New Challenges in finishing Primary school

Moving up to “big school” is always daunting, but the pandemic means your child has had to deal with more issues than normal. Having lost a whole term last year, and nearly a term this year (and that’s before any local school closures or bubbles being sent home), you may be worried about gaps in their maths and English, or a more general slide in their learning skills or confidence.

A confidence boost

One of the top areas cited by parents as worrying, is the impact of school closures on their child’s social skills and confidence. This is even more of a concern if your child is about to make the transition to secondary school.

Our face to face workshops are designed to help your child make that move with confidence. Working in small, COVID safe groups, we provide lots of encouragement and interaction, making sure they have the confidence and the skills needed for this exciting new stage in their school life.

SATs, CATs and assessments!

Your child may have breathed a deep sigh of relief that there weren’t any SATs this year, but many children will still have to sit CATs in September. In fact, CATs (Cognitive Ability Tests) are likely to be more important than ever before because they will be the only independent source of information that your child’s secondary school has about them.

With little more than six months to prepare and make good any lost learning, now is the time to sign your child up for MagiKats private tuition. Building on what they know, helping them to understand anything they struggle with and preparing them for CATs are all a key part of what we do.

Get in touch today to have a chat about your child’s needs as they enter this important phase of their schooling.

Secondary School Blues

How have the school closures affected your child? There’s always some risk of drift in the early secondary years, and we’ve already found that this has been amplified as a result of the lockdown.

Did your child disengage or lose interest?

Lots of parents have reported that their children lost interest in learning online and were disengaged with the whole process. Now you have the challenge of getting back into a routine, making up for lost learning and reinvigorating your children as they get back into school life! This is especially challenging for the early years of secondary, where the pressure of final exams is not there yet and the temptation can be to take a more laid-back approach.

Rebuilding routines and positive habits

Our private tuition workshops help get your child back on track. We can help you identify any weak and strong areas, then build on both, we can help make up for lost learning and to get them back into the habit of study. Our workshops are fun, affordable and centred around the National Curriculum, so that you can be sure that lockdown won’t have negatively affected your child’s chance of future success. Get in touch today to chat about how we can help.

Our Tuition Centres provide a structured but fun environment to help your child get back to learning. We focus on the fundamental areas of the curriculum in a way that boosts your child’s confidence as well as re-igniting their interest in learning as a whole. Get in touch today to chat about how we can help.

Get Back on Track with Learning!