Long Summer Holidays Can Have A Detrimental Effect On Children`s Performance

Many schools report that the six week summer holiday is too long for some children, who forget some of what they have learned during the previous year.

It is quite common to find that pupils, who are given the same tests in Maths and English in September as they sat in June, perform up to 20% worse than they did earlier in the year.

Teachers report that a large number of pupils do not open a book for weeks and seem to have forgotten basic number skills by the time the new school year begins.

How can parents prevent this?

Well, they could try to encourage their child to join the local library and find a little time each week to take them down to choose a new book. Librarians are only too pleased to offer advice as to popular books with a suitable reading age.

Simple things like board games (snakes and ladders, or games with two numbered dice) or card games can be fun - and help to maintain simple number skills. Parents could try adapting the game of memory to a pack if cards, having removed all the picture cards and number 10, finding number bonds to 10 - for example a 6 and a 4.

Shopping is a great way to use tables, division, adding and subtracting - as well as a chance to practise weighing and capacity.

Using school holiday clubs is also a great idea. Many offer activities which may have an educational element to them.

Alternatively, parents could find a tutor who may offer short term booster classes, often on a one-to-one basis. Such tutors should be able to plan interesting learning activities which will improve each child`s confidence and help to extend their skills. They will focus on each child`s individual needs, adapting to every specific requirement - something which is far beyond the ability of even the best, busy classroom teacher.