Tag: Primary Times Cambridgeshire

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Summer Boosters

There’s
much talk about reorganising the school year to make the summer holidays
shorter. It would make childcare easier for many parents and it was also reduce
the tendency for children to forget what they’ve learnt over the long summer
holidays.

Tutor My
Kids recognise that children tend to forget what they’ve learnt after the holidays
and this year are introducing summer boosters – twice weekly 1 to 1 home
tuition by qualified primary school teachers for 8/10 weeks over the summer to
keep work tickling along.

This has
great benefits for all school years as it enables your child to feel confident
when they return to school in September, but it can have particularly good effect
at the end of year 2, to aid the transition to key stage 2 work in year 3, and
in year 5 to ensure a sound set of foundations for their SATs year.

For more
information please call Rachel Law on 01223 858421 or visit www.tutormykids.co.uk and http://www.tutormykids.blogspot.co.uk/

New Spelling and Grammar Test for Year 6s

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Year
6 to be Tested on Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.


For the first time, year 6 pupils will be sitting
the new SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation And Grammar) test in May 2013.

The new test is a significant departure from current
practice, whereby ‘phonetically plausible’ spellings have been acceptable for
SATs; those that sound right, e.g. thort for thought.

Children will be expected to demonstrate the correct
usage of a wide variety of punctuation, sentence structure and grammatical
features, as well as accurate spelling.

This will impact year 5 and 6 the most, as the test
is new this year and they will have less time to incorporate this new approach.
Other year groups will naturally have more time to ensure this knowledge and
understanding is in place before year 6.

The following links provide more information. The second link shows exemplar  questions.

Many parents contact Tutor My Kids when their children are in year 5 or 6 looking for a home tutor in Cambridgeshire to help their children in the lead-up to SATS. 

Primary Ideas: The Angles Roller Coaster

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Take a look at this.  It’s a great example of how to help your children at home.

Primary Ideas: The Angles Roller Coaster: We believe that to give learning purpose and ignite interest it’s important to link learning to real life situations. We have demonstrated …

Primary Ideas: The Angles Roller Coaster

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Take a look at this.  It’s a great example of how to help your children at home.

Primary Ideas: The Angles Roller Coaster: We believe that to give learning purpose and ignite interest it’s important to link learning to real life situations. We have demonstrated …

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Worried
about SATS?

Many parents contact Tutor My Kids when their children are
in year 5 or 6 looking for a home tutor in Cambridgeshire to help their children
in the lead-up to SATS.



Often children do not do as well in their SATS as they could
because of simple misunderstandings in what they’ve learnt or through not understanding
what they need to do to get the best results. Level 4 correlates with a good chance of GCSEs, level 5 with As.

Knowing how to check through work systematically to
ensure all the features of good writing are included can boost levels
significantly. Children can be taught to check their work through for a number of key features which teachers and external examiners are looking for to ensure they get the best possible levels for their writing. e.g. In order to get a level 5, your child will need to demonstrate that they are able to use accurately a number of ‘advanced’ punctuation marks, such as semi-colons and ellipses (…). Using metaphors, similes and personification in writing will show level 5 writing. Regularly forgetting full-stops and capital letters may put a ‘ceiling’ on their writing at level 3. 

Having good strategies to solve word problems in maths reduces anxiety
and increases marks. Children often panic when faced with applying their maths knowledge when it’s wrapped up in a word problem. Teaching children how to approach the problem – in the best way for them, makes the world of difference. Suddenly knowing how to work out whether you need to multiply, divide, add or take-away – or a combination of these for multi-step problems shows an improvement not only in marks, but vitally, in confidence too.

Home tuition in Cambridgeshire by a Tutor My Kids tutor works
wonders; it fills in the gaps in basic knowledge, builds confidence and ensures
your child knows what they need to do to get the best possible results. Because
the tuition is 1-2-1, it often takes much less time than parents expect.

See our other blogs and also our regular column in Primary Times in Cambridgeshire.


For a free consultation or for further information, get in touch with
Rachel Law for a friendly, informal discussion on 01223 858421, contact her
by email – hello@tutormykids.co.uk, or via the website www.tutormykids.co.uk

How can I help my kids with maths?

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How can I help my kids with their maths?

At Tutor My Kids we regularly get asked by parents looking for home tuition in Cambridge, Ely and Newmarket how they can help their children with their maths.
 

Times Tables are key…

Generally if children know their multiplication tables, this helps enormously because they are at the root of much of the numeracy that children do. 
 
Often kids can count in 2s, 5s etc. 2, 4, 6, 8…but are unable to say that 2×7=14. It’s therefore essential that children can recall their multiplication facts spontaneously. At home you can help by helping your children to practice them by simple tests, games and regular recall.

Work them into word problems for your kids…

Helping your children to use their maths facts in real life situations is invaluable in helping to develop their mathematical reasoning and mental maths skills.
 
Linking problems to the related division facts (If we how 7×6=42, then we know that 42/7 =6) is also essential to developing the core skills of maths. e.g. I’ve got 55g of spaghetti left in the packet. I need 20g per person. Have I enough for 4 people?

Best of all get your kids to solve real problems…

This is what I call ‘kitchen table maths’
 
Please see our other blogs and follow our Facebook page for further tips and advice.  If you feel your child needs some additional assistance, please get in touch with Rachel to discuss private tuition with Tutor My Kids.  Tel: 01223 858421 or Email: hello@tutormykids.co.uk.     
 
 
 
 

 

How do the National Curriculum levels work?

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How do the national curriculum levels work?

This is a question that is often asked by parents who are seeking help for their children when they approach Tutor My Kids for home tuition in Cambridge, Ely or Newmarket areas.


At primary (junior and infant) schools in England and Wales,
the levels go from level 1 to level 5 or 6.

I’m confused with the letters after the numbers

Each level is divided into 3 sub-levels. The lowest sub-level being c,
then b then a. e.g. 2a is higher than 2b, which in turn is higher than 2c.


I’ve listed the levels below. Your child will progress through these from the bottom upwards:

6c

5a

5b

5c
4a
4b
4c
3a
3b
3c
2a
2b
2c
1a
1b
1c

What level should my child be at?

There is no ‘should’ as there are many reasons why your child is where
there are, but there’s value in discussing national expectations.

The government measures schools on a number of factors:

The percentage of children who leave key stage 2 (year 6 at primary or
final year of junior) at a level 4. This is known as attainment.

The percentage of children who make 2 levels of progress from Key Stage
1 (end of year2 or infant school). This is known as progress.

Why is level 4 important?

Level 4 is the level that it is hoped that all children will reach at
the end of year 6. This is a key level because it correlates very strongly with
GCSE success at secondary school; children who do not attain level 4 at primary
school tend not to achieve their maths and English GCSE.

Why is level 5 important?

Level 5 and 6 is important for higher achieving pupils because most
secondary schools ‘set’ or stream for ability. This means that the better the
levels your child achieves the higher sets they will be in at secondary. This
is important because generally speaking the higher sets suffer less with
disruptive behaviour and more productive learning occurs.

What are the expectations for Key Stage 1 (infant school)?

Schools aim to get all children to level 2 at the end of key stage 1
(year 2) because children who get level 2 at this age tend to get at least
level 4 at the end of primary school.

Children who get level 3 at key stage 1 tend to get at least level 5 at
the end of year 6.

How much progress should my child be making each year?

From year 3 to year 6, it’s expected that a child should progress 2
whole levels. If your chid leaves year 2 at 2c, they’ll be expected to reach 4c
by the end of year 6.

In addition, because children don’t tend progress in regular intervals
– very much like children tend to grow in spurts – schools plan for your child
to make 2 sub-levels (2/3 of a level) of progress a year. E.g. if they start
year 3 at 2c, at the end of year 3, they should be at 2a.

Those of you who paid attention in maths will have noticed that 2/3 of
a level each year for 4 years (year 3 to year 6) makes 2 and 2/3 of a level
progress over 4 years. This allows for accelerated progress and/or for periods
when children consolidate their learning.

Will my school tell me the levels at which my child is working?

Talking to parents who approach Tutor My Kids for home tutors in
Cambridgeshire, school are happy to discuss levels with them; the problem tends
to be that parents don’t know what to ask or know how to interpret the
information given.

Good questions to ask are:

Is my child working at, above or below national expectations?
How has my child progressed since the start of the year?
What level is my child working on for writing, reading and maths?
How can I help them at home?

What should I be concerned about?

If your child is working significantly behind national expectations and
the school’s interventions are not improving that situation, it might be time
to talk to school again and maybe look at additional tuition.

If your child is not making the progress the school would expect, it’s
probably worth some additional investigation. Some schools do not stretch their
gifted and talented children – those children who are ahead of expectations,
which means that they do not maintain that lead; they slip t being ‘at
expectations’.

Sometimes your child can be ahead of expectations in some areas –
reading and maths tend to be typical, and maybe a bit behind in writing.
Many parents contact Tutor My Kids looking for a home tutor in
Cambridgeshire when their child is in year 4 or 5 and they want to ensure that
their child will be on track for a good result in SATs at the end of year 6.

For more information on ‘Quick Wins to raise attainment and SATs
levels’ please see our other blogs and 
also our regular column in ‘Primary Times’ in Cambridgeshire.



















Why do children find maths so hard?

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Why do kids find learning maths so hard?

This is a question that is often asked by parents who are seeking help for their children when they approach Tutor My Kids for home tuition in Cambridge, Ely or Newmarket areas.

Learning maths is like building a wall.

Strong foundations are essential to ensure learning has a secure base to build upon. Children often struggle with maths because the foundations are not in place. This might be because key topics were covered when they were ill or because they simply didn’t ‘get it’ first time around. 

e.g Your child needs to understand that 2 x 7 really means repeatedly add 2, seven times 2+2+2+2+2+2+2. Without this basic knowledge they can struggle with times tables, working out areas and other more complex maths.

1-2-1 home tutoring is perfect for situations like this because it can very quickly address specific gaps in knowledge which can then put your child back on track for learning maths well and enjoying it again. 12 sessions with a Tutor My Kids home tutor in Cambridge, Ely or Newmarket can often be all that’s needed for your child to regain their maths confidence.

How can I help at home?

I’m a great fan of ‘kitchen table maths’. Simple maths games and puzzles to stretch your children when they’re least expecting it. 

e.g. We were planning a trip to the cinema recently whilst visiting my sister. I set my 13 year old the task of working out the cheapest option between two cinemas for 3 adults and 2 children. He researched the prices online – taking into account that one cinema charged a ‘teen’ rate, the other a child rate. Then he had to take into account that one cinema had a 10% discount if booked online. 

We got an answer to our problem and he practised  his applying maths and problem solving skills. Win win!

Please see our other blogs and  also our regular column in ‘Primary Times’ in Cambridgeshire.




Primary aged boys who are ‘reluctant’ writers

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At Tutor My Kids, we provide home tutors in Cambridge, Ely and Newmarket. 

We’ve noticed a particular need for primary aged boys needing a home tutor in Cambridgeshire who are ‘reluctant writers’. They tend to be academically ahead in reading and numeracy (maths) but below expectations in writing. There are several causes.

In some cases it’s down to lack of confidence; maybe their work has been harshly criticised in the past. Sometimes it’s a lack of understanding of how to construct a sentence in order to make writing more advanced. Connectives or conjunctions are one way to make writing more sophisticated by joining 2 short sentences into 1 longer one. e.g. The book was interesting. It had lots of description in it.  becomes… The book was interesting as it had lots of description in it. Why do children, especially boys, find this hard?

Schools have such a lot to fit in and many boys struggle to manage to take on board multiple sets of instructions. Teaching boys techniques to remember this and other tips can make a huge difference to their writing and their levels in school.

Parents often start to worry about their son’s writing as year 4 or 5 advances and the prospect of SATs or common entrance exams approaching start to bring the discrepancy of their levels to their attention. It’s often at this time that Tutor My Kids are called and asked to provide a home tutor in Cambridge, Ely or Newmarket to help to raise the levels of their son’s writing to match that of their reading and numeracy.

If you have concerns over your child’s learning and would like a free consultation to discuss their needs and the prospect of home tuition, please get in touch with Rachel at Tutor My Kids.  

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