General comment

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Looking forward to Summer? Spare a Thought for Summer Learning Loss

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Summer learning loss or the ‘summer slide’ is something researchers have been looking into for more than a century. First documented in 1906, what starts as a mild hiccup in a four-year-old’s school career can be a crisis by the time that child reaches secondary school.

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Why We Prefer Handwriting at MagiKats

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Good handwriting might not seem to be a necessary skill in today’s world where typing documents on a computer at breakneck speed, or sending rapid-fire email messages is the way most companies work. Why teach handwriting at all?

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What Made All the Difference When You Were Ten?

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Ask yourself this question: What special things about school and education would you remember if you could go back to when you were a ten year-old?

Are we becoming a world of individuals? The personalised learning approach.

Visit a restaurant or coffee shop in your local town and watch the groups of people who are sitting together. How frequently do they check their phones? Are they engrossed in conversation, or glued to their screens? Are the adults chatting whilst the kids play on devices?

"My child just doesn't want to do school work with me!"

If I had a penny........ Seriously, this is mentioned in most (if not all) the enquiries I get for MagiKats. So, if you think it makes you abnormal, think again! 

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Is tutoring your child for entrance exams “abhorrent”? One private school head thinks so!

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A recent article in The Telegraph led with the headline, “Private tutoring is abhorrent says private school head.” (read it here) The position taken by the piece was that if a child needs tutoring to get into a school, then the school is probably not for them. I agree – to a point.

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Tuition for your child - who to choose?

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Are you one of those parents who, without realising it, has been quietly mulling over the comments made either in your child’s report at the end of last term or at the parent teacher meetings you recently attended?

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What are the maths and English changes in the UK National Curriculum?

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There have been lots of headlines created by the press about the forthcoming changes to the UK National Curriculum – but how does the average parent find out the facts?

Just admit it - you do want the best for your child!

And what is wrong with that?  I actually want even more!  I want the best for every child – which is much harder to achieve. “I'm not a pushy parent.”  That statement followed by ‘but’ forms part of almost every conversation that I have with a parent who gets in touch with a view to bringing along their child to see me about a boost in their maths or English.