Apparently, it’s soon to be the school summer holiday, although I think the weather may need a reminder as to which season it is!
As the term ends and the holiday begins, my recommendation is for you to start work from my ‘Kent Test Summer Holiday Pack’, which gives suggested activities for each day of the school holiday. I've devised the pack to offer a little practice each day and to give balanced practise in all of the areas that will be assessed in the Kent Test. If you haven't yet purchased this, you'll fin it in the shop on my website.
The tasks are in a password protected area of my website and you will need to use the password that appears on screen at the point of purchase in order to access the pack. You won’t be able to navigate to the tasks from my website’s homepage so please make a note of the link and the password for your reference.
Alongside working through the activities from my holiday pack, I strongly suggest 30 minutes of reading every day. You should aim to include a range of fiction books, non-fiction texts, newspaper articles, magazines and poetry during the holiday. Audio books are a good additional option for long journeys and for children who are less than enthusiastic readers. My library books remain available for my pupils to borrow, and I'll be very happy to make suggestions to any of the children who don’t know what to read next.
Tasks from your practice books can be completed alongside the tasks in my pack, but for anyone attending sessions with me during the school holiday, this is optional. It’s important that we strive for the right balance between giving the children the opportunity to relax and enjoy their holiday and asking them to do a little work to keep their minds active.
The amount of work that I am suggesting is sufficient to keep things ‘ticking-over’ during the holiday but is significantly less work than a child would be expected to do during a school day so should not impact unduly on the children’s holiday time. (Many years ago, when my daughter grumbled about having to do her Kent Test work during the summer holiday, I asked her to calculate the percentage of the day for which she was usually at school and then the percentage of the day that was equivalent to the approximately 30 minutes a day I was asking her to work for. She liked the idea of those calculations even less than the work she was grumbling about, but it did serve to prove to her that half an hour a day really isn’t all that bad!)
My suggestion is always to do the work for the day as early in the day as possible so that it’s done and can be forgotten about until the next day. If the work is left until late afternoon or evening then it can feel as though the work is looming all day rather than being over and done with. Having a set time each day can also be helpful so the work becomes part of the daily routine rather than something that you are constantly trying to find the time to tackle.
I cannot emphasise strongly enough how important it is to keep up with the hard work that has been done so far this year. The end is now in sight, but please do not allow the practice work at home to slip at this stage of the year. It is incredible how quickly children can forget when they do not use their skills regularly and a little work each day really is the best way to ensure that your child’s hard-earned knowledge doesn’t go to waste. Also, please bear in mind that any child who arrives back at school in September with their minds active and ‘raring to go’ will be at a significant advantage as compared to any child who hasn’t done any school work for the six weeks of the school holiday - insisting on a little work each day is a really easy way to ensure that your child gains that extra advantage.
I'll be posting one final Year 5 post, next Monday, as a reminder of the summer sessions available. I won't then be posting through the summer holiday but, as always, please email me with any queries that you have regarding your child’s practice work during the holiday. I do have an exceptionally busy schedule during the holiday, but I will endeavour to reply as soon as possible to any enquiries that I receive.
I'll look forward to seeing everyone during the summer break. We then have one final group session at the start of Year 6. The date and time for this session were noted on your most recent invoice so please refer back to that if you need a reminder. Our final session will be on your child's regular term-time session day during the week preceding the Kent Test, at the same time as their sessions have been during Year 5, BUT from 2nd September, I will be based at 5 Jubilee Way, Faversham, ME13 8GD. Your child's final group session with me will be here and NOT at my house. The image below shows the location of my new premises (from the start of September). My sign isn't in place yet, but the image below shows where my sign will be (hopefully very soon!). Entry to the tuition centre will be through the door marked 'Entrance', which is to the left of my sign on the image below. When you arrive, please ring the doorbell marked 'Sunnydene Tutoring'. There are 3 parking spaces immediately outside the building and additional parking at the entrance to the Jubilee Way estate.
I'll also be hosting an open day at my new location on Sunday 11th August. This isn't a grand opening (so don't come expecting balloons and champagne!) but an opportunity for parents to come and see my new location, so do come and see me (anytime between 10am and 4pm) on that day, if you'd like to.
Happy holidays!
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