Holiday Tips!

Some holiday tips: 

It is very easy to see the holiday break as a time for relaxation and fun, and so it should be - children deserve a break. However students often return to school having lost some of the learning that they had previously mastered.  So if you want your child to start the 2024 school year ready for learning, please set some time aside over the holidays to:

Read! Make sure that students are continuing to read, every day if possible.  Books make great Christmas presents, and they can be read and reread many times. Newspapers and magazines are popular, even comics to entice the more reluctant. Older children can read to younger siblings.  Set up some routines to make sure there is time for reading: each night before bed, in the morning, or while dinner is being prepared.  Parents read with or to your child, children can read to you or retell the book or chapter they read.  Discussing the content of the book is also crucial. 

Count! We don’t expect you to teach the mathematics curriculum, but making sure that your child has automatic recall (less than 2 seconds) of maths facts is crucial. Driving in the car is a good time to practise, encourage students to improve becoming faster and more accurate (with all students having different competence – ranging from counting forwards and backwards, and knowing numbers before and after in Prep to confidence with addition and subtraction facts, multiplication and division facts in the senior school). 

Talk! Building a strong relationships and positive social skills requires regular conversations and an understanding of the etiquette of conversation. The greater a student’s vocabulary and communication skills, the more confident they are at communicating with peers and adults when needed, and knowing they will be really listened to. Put the devices away for some time each day, and just spend some time talking – this is the most valuable time you can give children.