It’s been a tough few years for secondary school children. They missed so much school as a result of the pandemic and many of them are still affected by those lost learning hours. And whilst everyone deserves a rest over the summer, it’s actually a valuable opportunity to help your child consolidate their learning, make good any gaps and set them up well for the start of next year.
Lost learning
There is little doubt that the current generation of secondary school children have lost a lot of learning. The pandemic had a big impact on reading and writing abilities for many children. It also meant that they didn’t get the practice of sitting tests, for example, at the end of Year 6. And for many, their social skills suffered too after months spent at home on the laptop. In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic concessions were made for GCSE and National 5 students and the syllabus was adapted to take account of this. But those concessions have now come to an end.
summer term
The summer term is pretty full on. Your child may have tests that they are revising for, or there may be school trips, sports days and all sorts of other activities. The impact of those lost learning hours, especially in the upper years of secondary school, needs to be taken into context with lost learning over the summer holidays.
What impact does this have?
There is a body of evidence that shows that children lose learning over the summer holidays and this loss can take weeks and sometimes months to make up once back at school in the autumn. And the autumn is such an important one whether they’re just starting secondary or getting ready for GCSEs or National 5s. Above all else, they need to feel confident at the beginning of term whether that’s socially or academically.
How does the MagiKats summer programme help?
Our workshop style summer programmes help in three ways: they ensure your child has no gaps in their learning, consolidating what they know and making sure they are where they should be. But better than that, they also help your child to actually progress over the summer rather than stagnate or fall behind. And finally, because of the workshop style way we run our programmes, they help build confidence and social skills, the importance of which cannot be understated.
What do we teach?
Our programmes are tailored to your child’s needs, but we place particular emphasis on mathematical reasoning (the ability to follow instructions carefully and correctly), verbal reasoning and writing skills. These are skills that are now needed in every school year and are fundamental to successfully working through the curriculum and passing tests and exams.
At home, we continue to work on core skills, but with worksheets that look different to what they would normally see, either in MagiKats or at school. This helps them feel that they are ‘doing something different’ whilst still using their brains and maintaining learning momentum, ready for the new school year.
Above all else, we make sure our workshops are fun, so your child won’t begrudge coming along during the holidays and this in turn helps take some of the burden off you.
If you’d like to know more, get in touch or enrol your child now. The summer holidays will be here before you know it.
