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Summer learning loss or the ‘summer slide’ is something researchers have been looking into for more than a century. First documented in 1906, what starts as a mild hiccup in a four-year-old’s school career can be a crisis by the time that child reaches secondary school.[i]
Maths and English Skills Decline
You might have fond memories of languishing away the time during summer and childhood. Yet, research shows that children's maths skills decline over the summer break, leading to struggles when back at school.
Already facing the pressure of a new academic year, stress is compounded by losses of around one month’s maths learning and three months of English literacy skills. Although reading achievement is maintained and often improved over summer (when children read four or more books), writing, and the rules of spelling, punctuation and grammar are not as regularly practised.
We tend to idealise the summer months, yet if we stopped to reflect for a moment, just how stimulated are our children during this long break?
How Long Should a Summer Holiday Break be?
For many, summer is a season of boredom and isolation away from friends, spent in front of the television or X-Box. For others, it is filled with high-quality paid activities and sleep-away camps. However, most of these are sports and adventure orientated, with adults controlling the difficult bits of the activity while the children focus on having fun.
Prior to summer, the last few weeks of school tend to be filled with fun trips out, leaver’s assemblies and sports days. Adding this time to the length of the summer break and there’s really quite a gap in quality learning time. Ask yourself how long is enough?
MagiKats Summer Sessions and Sharpen Up weeks
In the spirit of addressing summer learning loss, and keeping our students on-track and prepped for the new academic year, we run as usual during the summer holidays. Year after year we see results when students return to school having moved forward their Maths and English skills.
Our summer programmes concentrate on mathematics investigations and puzzle tasks that build skills in mathematical reasoning. English classes see students writing for the media, interpreting events and writing text to accompany pictures in books. Both programmes are designed to provide a sense of achievement and lots of fun.
All session work, completed to the best standard a student can do, will be eligible for entry into our annual summer workshop competitions.
Fun Prizes, Puzzles and Activities
As a parent, it can be hard organising stimulating summer activities matched to what kids need to retain what they have learnt at school. Doubly hard, is persuading them to engage with what you have decided needs some study.
May I suggest you let MagiKats take this load off? After all, everyone in the family deserves to enjoy the summer, so let us do the lifting.
If your child cannot attend their sessions, they are still welcome to participate from their poolside lilo! Everyone who submits their subject work during summer will be eligible for a series of prizes.
We offer a fun, academic, 6-8 week summer programme in Maths and English which keeps the brains working and avoids the summer fall back. It’s a light commitment - only once a week, with a huge impact if you consider those three months of missing education. Give your child the edge at school and enjoy peace of mind knowing we’ve got them covered for Autumn term.
By the team at MagiKats HQ
[i] “The Case Against Summer Vacation” by David Von Drehle, Thursday July 22, 2010 and published here at Time Magazine.
