Yes, believe it or not, the summer holidays begin on Friday, despite somewhat autumnal (ok: downright dismal) weather.
During the holidays, research shows that many children’s key skills can regress – this makes rapid progress in the autumn back at school hard. It’s important to make sure your child spends time reading, and try to include daily opportunities to do some writing and number work – things like sending a postcard to someone (look out for our postcard competition – more details soon) and working out some ticket prices and journey times.
As many teachers at Moortown Primary noted in children’s annual reports, your child may need a bit more than this if they need to keep up-to-speed with times tables and spellings – spend just five minutes on each every day to really help your child.
Of course, holidays should be as happy and as healthy as possible, whatever the weather. A useful starting point to planning a few days out or activities in Leeds is Breeze.
Another interesting and familiar idea crossed my mind recently as I read a Sunday paper: the writer and child psychologist Sue Palmer comments: “Every child will make a den given a chance; their evolutionary roots are still very strong. Sitting down watching someone else do it on television is no substitute.” You can buy some exciting kit to support this (I like the Ultimate Dangerous Den Kit, but less so the price), but there’s something even more exciting (and cheaper) by getting creative with cardboard boxes and blankets!
Whatever you and your child get up to, enjoy the break, and see you on Tuesday 04 September (or sometime in the week beginning 17 September if your child is starting in Reception).