Weekly Blog

29th March 2023

Well, it has been a long time since I have written a blog and I have lots to update you on.

Growth Mindset Tutoring has gone from strength to strength and is now fully booked for the 3:30pm - 7pm slots, which is brilliant. However, the Easter holidays are coming up and I am offering additional sessions from 10am to 3:30pm Monday to Friday over the two weeks. You can book one to one sessions and also group bookings which are at a reduced rate per child. This is ideal for SATs preparation and also as a booster for primary year groups. I have spaces opening up in September and urge you to book now if you feel I would be able to help your child improve in their English and Maths. Please email me on gmtcirencester@gmail.com or visit the booking page on my website, www.growthmindsettutoring.co.uk/booking

The reason for not writing for so long is due to the undertaking of a counselling qualification and a diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which has been so informative and helpful. I am now offering sessions for £45.00 per hour - first consultation FREE!

The children and young people I have been teaching have been absolutely amazing and I thoroughly enjoy each and every session - each one is different and unique to the child and it makes my job so fulfilling. 

When I first started this venture, I was worried that I wouldn't get clients, wouldn't succeed in improving individual learning or get repeat clients. However, I have been so lucky with the support from the families I work with and even have teachers from local schools recommending me. I am so grateful for all the recommendations and the feedback I have received. THANK YOU!

I am now looking to support home-school children with English and Maths and hope that I can get my name out there even more (any help would be most welcome).

 

TIPS to help your children:

READ! I cannot stress enough how important it is for children to experience reading from an early age, be it reading themselves, listening to audio books or (and) being read to. Spelling continues to be a real issue for children. It slows down their writing, reduces their confidence and impacts their reading ability. Being exposed to text helps children to recognise and understand words in context, improve their vocabulary and heighten their imagination. Be excited about reading, it really helps.

CHALLENGE! As my students will tell you, I say BORING a lot. This is my way of challenging the children to come up with exciting and adventurous vocabulary, (I only use this once a rapport has been established). Ask them to choose a variety of ways to solve a problem - whatever it is. This teaches the skills of growth mindset, where it is ok to try a variety of things until you succeed.

SHOP! Get you children to read or write the shopping list, ask them to add up the prices as you go around the shop, look for phonics and punctuation in signage. Always go out with a piece of paper and a pen. they can draw what they see, write down words, add up prices and give you the opportunity to do the shopping whilst keeping the children busy!

NUMBERBONDS! Knowing the numbers that are used to make 10 and 20 helps your child understand and speed up their learning in a great deal of maths concepts. Make it fun: hand prints, drawing, model making.

TIMES TABLES! Practice, practice, practice. Times tables underpin so much in maths - multiplication, division, fractions, factors, multiples. Know times tables to 12 but make it fun. One of the games I play with my students is times table tennis. This is so easy to do. I have written which times table we are working on on a tennis ball and we pass the ball back and forth shouting out the tables. If the ball is dropped, you start again.

 

Please get in touch if you feel I would be of help to your child. I have increased the age range to year 1 to year 8. Also please email me if you would like support through counselling and/or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT

Emma 

25th November 2022

To Nativity or Not to Nativity

To me, as a teacher, Christmas is Christmas when rehearsals for the school Nativity begin: The children learning traditional songs, or a twist on the tradition, the costumes, the frustration and joy. The school comes together as a whole; children work with siblings in different classes; the 'good' of all coming to the fore, with children and adults supporting one another.

I have recently been informed that many schools are no longer staging the most traditional of Christmas staples. Is this because there is no time due to curriculum requirements?

 

There are no set teaching hours for any phase in Primary schools, however, maintained schools need enough time to cover the content set out in the National Curriculum. 

Schools must provide a school week of 32.5 hours a week by 2023. this is 6.5 hours a day. Most lessons are timetabled for 45 minutes with Maths and English lasting 1 hour.

The subjects that need to be taught during the week are:

• English, to include, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
• Maths
• Guided Reading
• Science
• Art and design 
  Computing 
  Design and technology 
  Geography 
  History 
  Languages 
  Music 
  Physical education
• PSHE
• Wellbeing
• Collective worship

Each area of learning has a programme of study that must be adhered to. On top of that, children must have a morning break lunchtime break and attend collective worship. This can take the school day down to 4.5 hours a day. With 1 hour for English, 1 for Maths, that takes the school day down to 2.5 hours to teach all the remaining subjects.

Most teachers arrive for work at 7:30am and don't leave till at least 5pm. They then take work home in the evening to prep for the next day following marking the children's work. This is to ensure that children's learning is personalised and relative to their individual understanding of a concept. They then spend their weekends planning for all subjects for the following week. Teachers receive PPA every week, this is usually an hour but is determined by their contract size, to plan, prepare and assess children (which cannot be done). So, is it fair that teachers have to also take time to plan and prepare for a Nativity?

If we look at the National Curriculum and RE, PSHE and wellbeing requirements, isn't there a way to combine the skills needed in the programmes of study of these subjects, to provide children with a collaborative and traditional way to learn through the Nativity?

One teacher spoke to me and stated that he was told that the Nativity is, '...a waste of academic learning time'

Another stated that, '...we cannot catch up the learning that is missed during rehearsals.'

And another said, 'As a person raised with a Christian ethos, I think it is a great shame, I understand diversity and believe schools should reflect all religious customs for groups within their community - that promotes religious tolerance and respect for different beliefs. A traditional nativity is part of our heritage and surely promotes British Culture and what it means to be British. I feel sad for the children who are not given an opportunity to perform - such a rich learning experience - and how many 'stars' reflect back to this as one of their first learning opportunities'.

Can't music lessons be used to learn songs? Can't English lessons be used to learn about writing scripts, producing performances? Can't we utilise tradition to teach expected skills, confidence and oracy?

I would be really interested to hear what you think, whether a teacher, parent or grandparent, your views are extremely important.

 

Have a lovely weekend

See you soon

Emma

We Shall Keep the Faith

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valour led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honour of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

by Moina Michael

6th November 2022

Just a little reminder for educators out there...

28th October 2022

 

We are all different. We see things and learn things in a plethora of ways. For example, I have a grey armchair, but my husband swears it's blue!

Over the past month, I have had the privilege of welcoming three new students, all in year 3, who all struggle with reading. One child has been diagnosed with dyslexia and the other two are having catch up sessions to support their learning. 

This is a commonality that I see across schools, and I do not feel that it is being addressed properly. An Ofqual report from 2020, where children were tested, reports the following:

Figure 1. Estimated no. months behind in reading (blue) and maths (red) for students tested early autumn 2020 (reproduced from study 1)

As you can see, all children will be behind in both reading and maths. But what are schools doing to address this issue?

The Department for Education (2020a) has dedicated over £1 billion of additional funding to support this process [of interventions], with a small £8 million portion of it specifically dedicated to psychosocial recovery (DfE, 2020b). It is now up to school leaders to determine where they focus recovery spending in a time of great uncertainty, (Milsom. T, 2020). 

However, school funding is at an all-time low, are these allocated funds being used appropriately? Coming from a small village school, overall funding is a pittance. This year, for example, they have £100 to spend on stationary. How can a school provide the resources needed to support children? Will they need to use some of the allocated funding to top up the shortfall? 

The school-led tutoring grant is to support disadvantaged pupils in catch-up learning and schools will select the pupils in need of support. This will focus on providing tuition to pupils eligible for pupil premium but also includes pupils with other types of disadvantage or additional needs. This includes special educational needs and disability (SEND) children who have a social worker, previously looked-after children, young carers and other vulnerable pupils.

However, if a school or academy trust feels that a pupil who does not fall into these categories would benefit from catch-up tutoring, the funding can be used to provide this, (G0V, 2022)

Due to the pandemic, there are so many children who are now behind in their age-related expectations in English and Maths so how can schools decide who has the greatest need. 

Maintained schools must teach the year group related expectations set out in the National Curriculum. However, children have missed out on nearly two years of learning, so when are they going to be able to catch up on the skills missed during National lockdowns and be able to access their age-related expectations.

If a child has had their learning disrupted in Reception and Year 1, for example, they will have missed learning basic reading skills through phonics, analytical skills through oracy and access to a variety of books, which some children would not be able to access at home.

I am a firm believer in synthetic phonics when taught alongside providing access to a variety of texts. Coming back to my new students, this is where their struggles begin. They have not had the basic skills of blending and segmented taught due to the pandemic. They are behind in these skills by 2 years. Now in Year 3, where age related expectations included reading aloud, answering word problems and writing a variety of genres. How are they going to cope? What will this do for their self-esteem?

Teaching Assistants can be seen as a luxury in today's world of government funding, so how can a teacher, with 30 children in their class, provide the support needed for these children, without jeopardising the others?

 

I do not know the answer but maybe we need to question the expectations in the curriculum. Surely, children being competent in reading, writing and numeracy take precedence over learning how to spell selected words?

In Year 3/4 children need to know how to spell the following words:

 

I would be really interested to hear what you think?

More next week

Have a lovely weekend

Emma

14th October 2022

What a busy week!

This week has been a fantastic one for Growth Mindset Tutoring. We now are nearly full to capacity, with enquiries coming in most days for new students. I cannot believe how much support we have had, and I cannot thank you all enough.

This week, with my Year 6 students, we have been looking at fractions. This can be a minefield for children especially when looking at common multiple: times tables are key.

I have observed that children are not secure in their times tables, and it seems to be holding them back.

There are many things you can do at home to support this learning. Rote learning doesn't work for everyone.

By Year 2, your child should be confident in the 1, 2, 5 and 10 times tables. In Year 3 they will learn the 3, 4 and 8 times tables and in year 4 the rest of the tables. In years 5 and 6 they should be consolidating this learning.

It is a good idea to have visual aids dotted around the house. Focus on the calculations they struggle with. This is usually the 7x 8x and 9x tables. Play games. There are many cheap board games you can buy from discount stores including bingo - which children love! If money is tight, grab a pen and paper and make your own with your child. It holds far more meaning to them.  Make sure you practice them in real life situations: shopping, sharing sweets etc. 

Make it fun by turning times table practice into a competition or challenge for your child, by timing them and keeping a record of their scores. You could even join in yourself and set a challenge to learn a more difficult times table, such as the 13 times table and get your child to test you at the end of the week in exchange for testing them.

You might want to create treasure hunts, matching questions to answer games, board games, etc. 

See below for some ideas.

Have a lovely weekend...more next week

Emma

7th October 2022

Raising awareness.

This week, I have started to write a few poems to raise awareness of the struggles some children face. I am finding it a great way to share what I have observed and studied over the years. I am hoping that this could lead to putting them altogether in a book, to help teachers, parents, grandparents understand traits and symptoms and support children may need.

As a parent of a child (now an amazingly well adult) who had severe medical needs as a child and missed a great deal of school, I was not aware of certain issues that this raises. Persecuted through letters from school for poor attendance, it was a one size fits all model, where if you are not at school, you seem to be punished. I truly believe that schools have improved since my daughter was there and staff are a lot more understanding, but local boroughs/ authorities/ trust seem to have a model which does not address this problem. Their policies do not address the mental health, medical needs or societal issues that have increased rapidly since the onset of Covid.

The school I have just left does have a fantastic system in place. A wonderful woman, who is trauma informed trained, runs support interventions for children. The children she has supported have improved so much. She also is now training the rest of the staff to change systems to improve the welfare of children. This is something that, I believe, the government should really get behind and ensure it is available to all children in all schools. However, funding to schools has dropped again and resources are tight. Simple items that could help children's well-being: art supplies, for example, are a rarity.

The curriculum is so full, that time for mindfulness is limited. As a teacher, I understand that it is vital that children possess basic skills in order to develop:

• Sharing
• Listening
• Manners
• Self-care
• Building independence
• Making decisions
• Resilience
• Communication skills
• Self-regulation

The Prime areas in the Early Years curriculum are:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This is exactly what all children need as a foundation. However, pressure from education authorities mean that this is not always at the forefront in school/ Ofsted criteria. Children are expected to be able to write full sentences, write mathematical calculations by the time they leave Reception - AGE 5. Although I agree that children who are capable to do this should be encouraged, there are many children who now start school who are not toilet trained, have had poor experiences, have missed out on communication and language development due to lack of socialisation through the COVID pandemic. These children are placed under the same expectations and if they do not meet every learning goal, by the end of the reception year, are classed as 'Emerging'. Schools do track progress and celebrate this, but data is always about the end of year goals. When a child reaches year 6 and completes their SATs, it is reported that they either are, or are not, secondary ready. There score is also down to the average score across the country out of 100. This means that, for example in Maths, a child needed to get 58 out of 110 which leads to a standardised score of 100. BUT if the average standardised score across the country is 115, then the children who did get the 100 would be deemed as not secondary ready. How demoralising can that be at an already anxiety ridden time.

Governments need to be aware that if we have not been given the time to teach resilience, self-care and GROWTH MINDSET, how are children supposed to get through their education? If children are not supported if they cannot attend school due to long term illness, mental health issues, how are we going to develop a society of well-adjusted adults?

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

See you next week

Emma

30th September 2022

Spelling and the English Language

We seem to live in a country where we have unnecessary alternative spellings for a vast array of words. How do you know which spelling is which? To help us understand the different spellings there are certain rules we can follow. 

Children begin learning phonics from nursery and are tested on blending and segmenting these words at the end of Year 1. It is extremely important that we practise as knowing long and short vowel sounds helps us understand spellings.

Every word is broken down into syllables, each syllable has one vowel sound. This vowel can be on its own or with a selection of consonants. Breaking words down into syllables gives you clues on how to spell the word. 

For example:

• ex - cell- ent.
• a - maz - ing
• brill - i - ant
• app - le
• ban - a - na

As you can see, there is one vowel in each of the syllables

The meaning of words can be changed by adding prefixes and suffixes. 

A prefix is added to the beginning of the word:

• un - happy
• dis- illusion
• mis - place
• under-estimate

A suffix is added to the end of a word:

• entitle-ment 
• go-ing
• largest

The root word can change slightly, it is important to understand these rules:

If a root word ends in a consonant + -y, change the -y to -i before adding your suffix: petty becomes pettiness.

Break the rule above if it would result in two i’s next to each other: copy is copying, not copiing. 

If a root word ends in a vowel + -y, keep the y: joy becomes joyous.

If a root word ends in a silent -e, remove it before adding your suffix: change becomes changing.

Break the rule above if your suffix is –ly: late becomes lately.

If a root word ends in -ge or -ce, keep the -e: change becomes changeable.

If a root word ending in a vowel, double the vowel before adding your suffix: repel becomes repellent.

The split e spelling rule (magic 'e')

This can be a minefield. However, there is an easy way to remember which spelling you need to use.

The 'e' changes the sound of the vowel to the name.

For example:

'hat' has a short 'a' sound, but 'hate' has a long vowel sound, changing it from 'ah' to 'ay'

• a - e      AY     plate
• e-e        EE      complete
• i-e         IY         kite
• o-e       OW    globe
• u-e       OO     tune

'K' or 'ck'

You’ll usually see k after long vowels and ck after short vowels

For example:

• Poke
• Stake
• Like
• Fluke
• Seek

 

• Puck
• Lick
• Flack
• Snuck

If there is a consonant after the vowel sound and before the /k/ sound, then only use k

For example:

• Stink
• Task
• Milk
• Mark

 

Mnemonics 

Mnemonics are a great tool to help spell tricky words. You probably know the one about elephants.

Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants helps us spell because.

People often muddle up the words desert and dessert.

You can use the mnemonic, 'The sweet one has two sugars.' This helps you remember to add 'ss' for a pudding

Children can make up their own as well. It can be a fun game. One of my students is able to come up with some amazing ones and he plays games making them up with his younger brother.

Why not have ago at coming up with mnemonics with your child when they are practicing their spellings at home.

Have a wonderful weekend 

Emma

19th August 2022

Another week done - only 2 weeks until the children are back at school. 

What a Summer it has been so far. The weather has been hot! hot! hot! The air has been stifling but there are still plenty of opportunities for learning.

A recent study says that 57% of children and adolescences are distressed over the climate crisis - this is called 'eco-anxiety'.  Climate change is a topic that all children should be learning about and this spate of weather gives us plenty of opportunities to discuss the impact on global warming. However, we need to be aware of their mental health and think about the positive changes we can make to make the world a better place.

There are many activities that you can complete at home with your children to teach them the importance of recycling, saving water, turning of electricals when they are not using them, to name a few.

Ideas for you to try:

1. Precycle. Precycling is having the understanding that you can reduce waste BEFORE you make it! When you are at the shop, discuss packaging. If you are buying vegetables, do you need the variety that is covered in plastic or can you select your produce using reusable bags? Think about using everything to the last drop and only buying what you need.

2. Recycle. Every council provides recycling containers for us to get rid of our waste responsibly. We must remember that not all plastics are recyclable and reading the labels with help them to understand the way to get rid of this waste. Remember, coloured plastic (like white Yop bottles) can not be recycled, always try to buy products in clear plastic containers.  

3. Conservation. Saving water is key at the moment and will become even more prevalent in the future. Challenge your child to have a 2 minute shower. Remind them to close the fridge when they take food out and not to stand in front of it for hours when it's open. Remind them to turn off their devices when they are not using them.

4. Cycle or walk instead of using the car. With petrol and diesel are record highs, discuss the impact of emissions on the environment. It is so lovely to go for a walk in our beautiful countryside or even around the town, or take a bike to the shop.

5. Practice doing more with less. We always have lots of things lying about. Why not use the recycling to make a dolls house, race track, castle. You could use bottle tops to create necklaces, bracelets etc. Be creative - you do not need to spend a penny to create amazing designs.

 6. Get out in the garden. Whether you have a garden or not, you can use the outside to teach the value of trees, plants, bees. If you can, plant a tree, grow vegetables and fruit, create an area where bees want to visit. You can go on a nature hunt, litter pick or flower spotting walk in your local area. 

12th August 2022

It's Friday again - how did that happen!

Confidence in ability stems from practice. When faced with a challenge, a child can automatically switch into the 'I can't do that' mode.

Breaking down new concepts into small steps and focusing on what they already know (I can do that!), allows the child to build their confidence in their ability.

We must remember that children have different learning processes, for different subject concepts, and utilise this.

If a child is skilled in art, how can you use this to improve their English?

Think! comics, captions, speech bubbles, drawing words in bubble writing, painting, creating spellings using different resources: clay, playdough, lollypop sticks.

If a child is skilled in science, how can you use this to improve their Maths?

Think! Using the environment, count the flower varieties/ colours and collect the data in a graph, measure their height in leaves, think about where our food comes from and calculate the miles taken to get to our country.

Build on the strengths and provide learning in new and creative ways. And remember to have FUN!

 

Maths activities to do over the summer:

1. Go to the local park, count how many times they can go down the slide, how many steps does it take to get from the slide to the swings - what about if you jump?

2. Create a number grid, in chalk on the patio. Can your child fill in any missing numbers. Use this to add and subtract by asking your child to stand on a number square and add on/ take away 2 (for example). you can also create grids to help with times tables.

3. Using rope/ skipping ropes/ string/ sticks/ leaves, create 2d shapes on the grass.

4. Go on a minibeast hunt. Create a table to document what you have found (KS1). You can convert the information in the table into a graph for KS2 children.

5. Children can explore and investigate the sun and moon, including changes that take place over time. They can try to figure out some of the following questions, and ask some of their own questions as well.

• What time does the sun set and rise? Does this ever change? How do you know?
• Where on the horizon do you first/last see the sun or the moon? Does this change? How do you know?
• Can you observe the phases of the moon- how does it change? Are there any patterns that you notice?

5th August 2022

Happy Friday Everyone!

The weekend is upon us again and it feels like it is getting harder and harder to think of things to do with the children over the summer. Check out this website for things to do in the Cotswold area:

Days Out Cotswolds & things to do around Cirencester - Kids Days Out

However, if you are a bit strapped for cash, there are plenty of free activities that you can try at home (which are also educational).

1. Fill a pot with water and provide your child with a paintbrush. Children can draw pictures, write their names etc. anywhere outside. This helps support their fine motor skills, strengthening their hands which can lead to improving their handwriting.

2. Take a walk down the old railway line from Siddington to South Cerney. There is wildlife galore and you just may see alpacas, sheep and a few bird of prey along the way.

3. Cirencester park is a lovely walk, just around the corner from the town centre. Plenty of space to run around and a Beano van to buy cakes and drinks, if you are feeling peckish.

4. Create your own patterns using natural dyes (just like the Romans used to do). You will need red cabbage for pink, turmeric for yellow, spinach for green. Adding vinegar will change the colours one way and adding bicarbonate of soda will change it in another way - see what you find out!

5. Pebble painting. Brighten up the garden with hand painted pebbles - remember to varnish if you want to put them outside.