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Six Weeks of Summer Holidays!
Summer is a time for hope and wonder for most young children. It’s a time where they’ve put the previous year of school behind them, and do not have to worry about the next school year for at least two months. Many children wish to put the things they’ve learned as far back in their brain as possible – and focus on the important things like digging for worms, playing football, jumping in a pool or eating as much ice cream as possible.
Those Hazy Months of July and August
If your child is of this mindset – and they probably are once the sun is shining and the weather heats up – there are things that you can do to help prevent summer learning loss in your children. The hazy months of July and August should provide an outlet for your children to play more than they work, but these months should not be without work altogether. The middle of the year is the perfect time to prepare your children for the next, to reinforce the things that they learned previously and to keep their minds active as their bodies are bursting with energy.
How Much Could a Student Lose During the Summer?
It is important first to know that all students will experience learning loss if they do not remain engaged during the summer. During the months of the summer, a student can lose as much as 2.6 months of grade level or mathematical computation skills. Low-income students especially – because of the absence of educational stimulation during the summer – are the most prone to education loss while out of the classroom.
How Can a Parent Prevent Summer Learning Loss?
As a parent, you can do your part to make sure that your children are best positioned to learn during the summer. And this can start with one concept that is just as important during the regular school year: making sure your children enjoy a normal and nutritional meal schedule. They may fall into some irregular hours during the summer, and keeping them eating three squares a day – with all food groups involved – will prime their minds and bodies to learn during the summer. Studies have also shown that time out of school can be a dangerous time for many students, and this is never conducive to learning or to retaining knowledge.
Because around 4-6 weeks are spent by teachers re-teaching material from the previous year, it is important to allow your children to retain as much knowledge as possible from the previous year. There are a number of things that you can do personally to help your children keep as much information stored as possible – and to prevent them from forgetting many of the important lessons that they have learned.
Look in Your Local Paper
Some of these methods may take thinking outside of the box, and some may be presented to you in almost any community that you might live in. You can check your local newspaper or community centre for summer programmes for children. These programmes offer opportunities for both fun and learning, and they are usually in the form of camps with swimming, crafts and field trips. These camps are often bolstered with reading enrichment programmes and math tutoring, and allow children to stay abreast of their lessons over the summer.
Check Out Your Local Library
Fostering a love in your child of the local library can also be an essential way of allowing them to keep their brains active. You can find grade-level appropriate books and lessons.
Surf the Internet
You can also direct your children toward safe and parent-approved websites. This will allow them to learn while they are surfing the Web, and stay on top of any daily activities and crafts that can keep them learning.
What's on Offer From Your Child's School?
Look into any summer programmes that are offered directly through the school. These programmes are offered by both public and private schools, and can be taken advantage of in the form of simple classes or organized learning academies. These programmes intersperse game-like activities with basic educational tenets.
Private Tutors
Tutors can also give you a chance to link your child with supplementary education, or to enrich them with topics that they will be learning the following year. These moments allow you as a parent to give your child the chance to pull in the kind of education that many other children may be sorely lacking during the months when the sun is shining and the beach is tempting.
More Specialized Advanced learning
The Leaders are Readers summer school classes allow your child to receive specialized help in the areas that are the foundation for academic excellence: maths, English, reading skills for the younger ones, and reasoning for those with impending entrance exams. With small classes of around 12 children, your child will receive individualized attention. The gifted student will be stretched beyond their normal capabilities, and will often have the chance to study with older students. Weaker students trying to master a concept will have the opportunity to do so with an ample amount of help. Those who have missed out on school through illness or family upheaval, etc, can catch up.
This type of learning will take your child deeper into the important topics, and lay the groundwork for an education that is both complete and comprehensive. The skills learned at our summer school include reasoning, creative writing, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, mathematical computation and comprehension skills.
Including 15 to 20 minutes break each day for fun outdoor activities and games such as football, hoola hoops, climbing frames, obstacle course, tag, children get to interact with each other and enjoy their summer at Leaders are Readers.
Call us on 01992 651 300 for further information or to book a trial lesson for our next Open Day, or use the online booking form. You can secure your child's place straight away by completing the enrolment form online. If you pay early, you are entitled to early-bird discounts.
Updated: 03/06/11
Summer School
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