How can children avoid the dreaded “summer dip” over the school holidays" Jill Walkinton, Head of Individual Needs at Burgess Hill Girls School, shares her tips
Summer comes but once a year, and brings with it weeks of freedom from school-runs, schoolwork and (usually) homework. And while this break much-deserved, time away from day-to-day learning can have a detrimental impact, too, often setting children off on the back-foot when they start school again in September.
“We read a lot about the summer ‘dip’ among children from disadvantages home over the summer,” says Burgess Hill Girls School Head, Liz Laybourn. “But children in the independent sector, too, are just as vulnerable to it.
Indeed, parents need to remember that children who drop behind lose confidence, which can take time to rebuild. And September is a time when children are facing new challenges ? new teachers and a new year group, or perhaps even a new school. From reading and writing, to remembering their table manners, all can take a hit over the long summer break. So what can you do to ensure that your child keeps learning throughout the holidays"
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Read regularly with your child, or if they are fully-independent readers, set aside time for them to read to themselves. Visit the library, revisit old favourite books, read taking turns or taking the roles of characters or the narrator. Read anything: comics, magazines, even instructions for maki...