Why should you enrol your secondary school child in summer school?
For many families, the summer holidays are a chance to relax and recharge after a busy school year, and we’re all for that! However, it can also provide a valuable opportunity for students to continue learning in a more relaxed and supportive environment without the daily pressures of school.
Summer school isn’t just for students who are struggling academically; it can benefit all children. Whether your child needs support building confidence, preparing for exams, strengthening key skills, or simply staying mentally engaged over the holidays, maintaining learning during the summer can have a really positive impact during the important secondary school years.
Lost learning
One of the biggest concerns for parents and teachers is the “summer slide”, the learning loss that can happen during long school holidays.
Without regular practice, students can forget key concepts in subjects like maths and English. A small amount of weekly study helps keep learning fresh in their minds, making the return to school less overwhelming.
Summer term
The summer term is pretty full on. Your child may have tests that they are revising for, or there may be school trips, sports days and all sorts of other activities. The impact of those lost learning hours, especially in the upper years of secondary school, needs to be taken into context with lost learning over the summer holidays.
What impact does this have?
There is a body of evidence that shows that children lose learning over the summer holidays and this loss can take weeks and sometimes months to make up once back at school in the autumn. And the autumn is such an important one, whether they’re just starting secondary or getting ready for GCSEs or National 5s. Above all else, they need to feel confident at the beginning of term, whether that’s socially or academically.
Building Confidence
Some students lose confidence during the school year if they find certain subjects challenging. MagiKats provides a smaller, more relaxed learning environment where students can ask questions, revisit difficult topics, and improve at their own pace. This extra support can make a huge difference to confidence levels before the new term begins.
It can also help students develop socially by meeting new people, collaborating on tasks, and participating in small-group activities geared towards improving communication skills and boosting confidence.
How does the MagiKats summer programme help?
Our workshop style summer programmes help in three ways: they ensure your child has no gaps in their learning, consolidating what they know and making sure they are where they should be. But better than that, they also help your child to actually progress over the summer rather than stagnate or fall behind. And finally, because of the workshop style way we run our programmes, they help build confidence and social skills, the importance of which cannot be understated.
Just a single session in each subject each week can make all the difference come the new school year.
What do we teach?
Our programmes are tailored to your child’s needs, but we place particular emphasis on mathematical reasoning (the ability to follow instructions carefully and correctly), verbal reasoning and writing skills. These are skills that are now needed in every school year and are fundamental to successfully working through the curriculum and passing tests and exams.
At home, we continue to work on core skills, but with worksheets that look different to what they would normally see, either in MagiKats or at school. This helps them feel that they are ‘doing something different’ whilst still using their brains and maintaining learning momentum, ready for the new school year.
Above all else, we make sure our workshops are fun, so your child won’t begrudge coming along during the holidays and this in turn helps take some of the burden off you.
If you’d like to know more, get in touch or enrol your child now. The summer holidays will be here before you know it.