Tag: English tutor Cambridge

My child has an NQT this year.

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My child has an NQT this year.


Parents who contact Tutor My Kids for a maths tutor in Ely or an English tutor in Cambridge are sometimes concerned that their child’s class teacher is an NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher).


They can worry that their class teacher doesn’t have the experience to teach well.


NQTs vary enormously, but the majority that I meet when teaching in schools in Cambridgeshire, are tremendously well planned and organised. They’re usually well supported by the school and make a difference straight away. 

I’ve had the great pleasure, recently, to work with an amazing NQT who is already a great teacher and will be really interesting to watch over the years as his teaching develops.


His planning is thorough and innovative; his organisation exemplary, which of course means his classroom is stimulating for his kids but also really calm because the children very clearly understand what is expected of them and when.  The routines are clearly clearly set, understood and stuck to. It’s been a real pleasure to see this and work with this class.


Tutor My Kids is always on the look out for great qualified teachers to work as English and maths tutors in Cambridge, Ely, Newmarket and Huntingdon. We work with children from 5 to 18.


Please contact us via www.tutormykids/for-tutors for more information and details of how to get in touch to discuss how this might fit in with your existing teaching commitments.




New GCSEs in English and maths

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New GCSEs
in English and Maths.

If your child is in year 9 now, they’ll be starting their
new GCSEs in maths, English language and English in Sept 15. It will be
assessed by external exams at the end of the 2 year course in the summer of 2017,
featuring the new 9 to 1 (high to low) grading system.
The other exams will be added in Sept 16, for examination
in Summer 2018, so the current year 8s will be the first to experience the new
exams for the majority of the subjects.

What’s happening to maths?


The new maths GCSE will be more ‘challenging’ with more emphasis
on problem solving. There will be new topics, such as ratio and proportion and
students will be expected to learn mathematical formulas by heart.


The
syllabus will feature around a third more content and will require pupils to
answer “real world problems”, including financial mathematics, to ensure the
area is covered in greater depth.

And English?


Twenty per cent of marks for written exams will be allocated to
accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar in the new English language GCSE
and, while there will be no set texts, students will be expected to read
widely.


English
literature, which will no longer be compulsory, will see students having to
tackle an unseen text and will require pupils to study at least one Shakespeare
play, a Victorian novel and modern British fiction or drama since 1914.
Poetry is also set to become a bigger
part of the GCSE syllabus from 2015, with pupils required to study at
least 15 poems by at least five different poets.
The link below
shows comparison of new to old grades.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/377768/2014-09-12-grading-the-new-gcses-in.pdf

Gove is like Mamite

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Gove
is like marmite.

People either love or hate him.

I can’t agree that knocking our teachers constantly has
helped the education system any, but I do support the need for our children to
be able to spell, write grammatically correct sentences and be numerate.

This term, I’ve seen some great teaching of grammar and
spelling in our local primary schools. Previously, it tends to have been taught
as an add-on, but increasingly, it’s been taught as a main focus. It’s stuff
like correct use of apostrophes – the teachers’ staff room, I’d, won’t. I’ve
lost track the number of times I’ve seen was’ent or similar. It’s about how
it’s taught – if children understand that the apostrophe is showing missing
letters and what it’s a shortening of – it’s so much easier for children to get
it right.

Punctuation can catch children out too – commas often
confuse children and sorting out ways to help them is really useful. Getting
children to work out in a sentence which is the main clause and which is added
information helps to ensure that commas are in the right place. e.g. The boy
walked along the road, towards the swimming pool.  The boy walked along the road is the main
clause; towards the swimming pool the additional information.

Many children find spelling difficult. Learning spellings
by heart is hugely useful, but more so is spelling patterns and looking at
where the difficulties lie. Are there letters we don’t sound – like
environment?

It’s great to see our children being more prepared for
the world of work.

New UK Primary Curriculum from September – Why year F and year 4 children will be most affected.

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From September this year, there will be a new curriculum in
our schools. In a nutshell, they aim to take children to a more advanced
stage earlier in their school career than in recent years. 

e.g. telling the time in 5 minute increments moves from year 3 to 2, knowing times tables to 12 x 12 (previously 10 x 10) and the associated division facts by the end of year 4, not the end of year 6. In addition there are new areas introduced such as cube numbers (33) and dividing fractions. The same pattern is repeated with literacy.

The new literacy curriculum calls for a much stronger
phonics and spelling base – with specified spelling lists, again at an earlier
age than before. There is more focus on homophones (words that sound alike but
are spelt differently) e.g., wear and where. The use of dictionaries to look up
words that children have read and not understood is strongly recommended. A more
detailed knowledge of grammar is expected too, with children being taught to
understand other forms of verbs and their effect in writing– such as the perfect
and modal forms of verbs. These are not the only changes.


Those children who
are entering year 2 and year 6 is September will continue to be taught the old
curriculum and tested on it. The other year groups will be taught the new
curriculum. The biggest impact will be on the current year F and year 4 – year 1
and year 5 from September who will face the new tests with the least time to
prepare for these changes.


For more information please contact Rachel Law at Tutor My Kids
www,tutormykids.co.uk
hello@tutormykids.co.uk
01223 858123