3 minute read - updated June 2021
Your child’s primary school years are coming to an end and this last year has been an unusual one. Normally, you’d be waiting for your child’s SATs results and planning visits to their new school. You’d probably also be starting to relax after all the hard work and stress and enjoying your child’s last few weeks as a Year 6.
But let’s be honest, this year, after all the disruption and uncertainty of the pandemic and all the challenges of home schooling; summer schoolwork and holiday learning are probably not a priority right now.
BUT…
There are a few very good reasons why you should try and keep up a programme of learning over the summer. We’ve written before about the loss of learning children can experience over the summer holidays, and the detrimental impact this can have as your child starts secondary school. In fact, the evidence suggests that in some cases, as little as six weeks of holidays can set your child back by many months, if not longer.
If your child is already starting to wind down in advance of the summer holidays, that six-week break in learning actually starts to look more like eight weeks or more without any clear educational direction.
CAT TESTS IN YEAR 7
Many secondary schools will require your child to take CATs (Cognitive Abilities Tests) at the beginning of Year 7. The results of CATs are often used to stream children into sets for certain subjects where the school splits pupils based on ability. The tests assess strengths and weaknesses in reasoning and identify each child’s ability in verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and spatial ability. In a year when SATs didn’t happen, CATs results are going to be more important than ever, but unfortunately, this year, your child doesn’t have the benefit of the experience of sitting their SATs to help prepare them.
Even if your child’s secondary school doesn’t have CATs, the start of a new term at a new school is daunting. It’s a big step up from primary school with significantly more homework which is of a more challenging nature. Add to this weeks of non-learning and if your child lacks confidence or was already struggling to keep up, it really can make it a very difficult time.
DON’T LOSE MOMENTUM
All of which means, it’s really important as a parent to make sure your child doesn’t completely lose focus and abandon all meaningful learning for the next few months. We appreciate that when you’re busy, this isn’t always easy, so we’ve put together the three easiest ways to help your child continue to learn and develop over the next few months:
1. Educational days out and confidence building activities
From now, through to the end of the summer holidays, why not plan a number of educational days out. They don’t have to be expensive. Trips to historic buildings, gardens and visitor centres often have interactive tours for children to take part in, where the children have to read instructions, find items or answer questions. Join in with this process, asking them to explain or expand their answers or explain to you why something was done in a certain way.
Similarly, physical activities such as adventure trails can be great for building confidence. Perhaps invite one of your child’s friends to join you and encourage them to work as a team as they go around.
2. Keep up the reading, writing and maths at home
With the call of the Switch or You Tube, it’s not always easy to make sure your child keeps reading, writing and practising their maths skills when at home.
Try and find something they love reading, even if it’s only the latest Marvel or Beano comic. Then remember to ask them about what they’ve read and get them to explain why things have happened. If it’s comics they love, encourage them to draw and write their own. If it’s Harry Potter that’s their favourite, again, why not encourage them to make up some short stories or write their own spells.
Use every opportunity you can to encourage them to use their maths skills. Adding up the shopping, weighing ingredients, working out bus timetables for when they start secondary school or measuring up for their new school uniforms. It all helps with their numeracy skills.
3. Enrol on a summer school programme
Summer school doesn’t have to feel like hard work and is an easy way for you to make sure your child carries on learning and building their confidence over the summer. In fact, the MagiKats Summer Programmes are designed specifically to stimulate and educate but without pressure.
Our summer tuition programmes are suitable for any child aged 4 to 16 years of age and this summer, we’re also focusing on rebuilding skills and providing a launchpad for learning that will see our students return to school with restored enthusiasm.
Enrol now
So, tempting as it is to ignore the rest of the term’s homework and relax the Switch or You Tube rules, it really won’t help when your child starts at their new school next term. If you’d like to know more about our Summer Programmes or what we do, please get in touch today.
