For us, that challenge has been our son’s cancer treatment and subsequent bone marrow transplant. For over a year, his immune system has been compromised, meaning months in hospital or at home isolation and a slow, careful recovery at home.

When a traditional classroom setting is suddenly off-limits, the pressure to maintain normalcy and prevent huge educational gaps feels immense. I remember looking at his untouched book bag and feeling a knot of panic: How is he going to keep up?

That’s when we discovered the true, life-changing benefits of online learning with the right tutor.

This isn’t just about homework or academic success; it’s about providing a safe, consistent lifeline to quality education when everything else is chaotic. It’s about giving children back a sense of purpose and confidence when their world has shrunk to a hospital room.

We found our educational superhero in Karen Lander, The Top Cat Tutor, and her one-to-one online sessions have been the consistent highlight of Toby’s recovery journey. If your child’s learning has been disrupted by long-term illness, medical needs, or anxiety, here is why online tutoring services, especially with someone as supportive as Karen, are the practical solution your family deserves.

This is a guest post written by Nikki Knight, the parent of a Top Cat Tutor tutee. Her son was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2022 when he was 4 years old. He then relapsed 5 months after completing treatment and needed to have a bone marrow transplant. Nikki blogs about her family’s experiences at www.unicornsdinosaursandme.com.

Learning from the Hospital Bed: The Ultimate Flexibility

The first and most critical advantage for families like ours is location independence and flexibility. When your child’s health dictates their schedule, education has to follow suit. We’ve logged into sessions with Karen at three different hospitals in three different counties, at home, at a grandparents’ house, and at a Young Lives V Cancer home from home. All you need is a laptop or tablet, along with a stable internet connection.

This flexibility meant that there was more consistency, and it was easy to fit in with busy schedules. In our case, our son was not able to attend school, but wasn’t in the hospital all the time. At first, he was in the hospital and was having teachers see him there, but then he was discharged to a home from home. Here, he did have a few lessons when we went back to the hospital for appointments or for visits to the schoolroom. After that, he was at home for a couple of months, where there was no hospital education. After that, he went back to the hospital, but this time it was a completely different hospital that he’d never been to before. After 6 weeks there, he was discharged back to the original for an additional 8 weeks. At both hospitals, he was having some hospital schooling. After discharge, we finally went back home, where hospital teachers came out to see him. Throughout all of this, he has seen a conveyor belt of different teachers with different styles who all needed time to get to know him. The one constant has been Karen.

Why Online Tuition is Crucial for Immune-Compromised Kids

Let’s talk about germs. When a child, especially one post-transplant like my son, has a severely compromised immune system, the traditional classroom setting is simply too dangerous. Online tuition immediately solves this safety risk.

It allows him to learn from the safest environment possible—his hospital room or his quiet, sterilised space at home. We didn’t have to worry about the winter colds or the hundred new germs he’d meet at school.

This removes a massive layer of parental stress. It means he can continue his education with a personalised learning experience but without the physical or emotional risk, ensuring continuity and consistency.

The Ability to Go at Your Child’s Own Pace (Even After a Rough Night)

Hospital life is dictated by machines, check-ups, and energy levels that swing wildly day to day. A scheduled school day is impossible. This is where Top Cat Tutor shines.

Karen designs her lessons to be incredibly bespoke. If he had a bad night or if the doctors just finished a check-up and he’s tired, we simply tell Karen. She immediately adapts the lesson plan to the student’s specific needs, perhaps focusing on a short, engaging game instead of a long writing task.

The power to set his own pace and reschedule appointments with minimal fuss means learning is never another source of exhaustion or stress. It is a genuine, therapeutic distraction.

The Top 5 Reasons Top Cat Tutor is a Lifeline for Medically Homebound Kids

When searching for one-on-one tutoring, you need someone who understands that missed school days are about more than missed lessons—they’re about emotional fallout, anxiety, and learning gaps. Here’s why Karen’s approach works brilliantly for children with medical or other special needs:

1. Bespoke, Personalised Learning

Karen’s approach is Bespoke 1:2:1 Online Tuition. She doesn’t use a one-size-fits-all programme. She actively works to fill the specific knowledge gaps left by long absences, ensuring the curriculum directly addresses the child’s educational needs, whether it’s reinforcing phonics or catching up on multiplication methods. As she is such a good tutor and she is not bound by the traditional education framework, she can tailor her online lessons to suit the learning style and interests of each individual child.

2. Building Confidence, Not Pressure

For a child who feels “behind,” the thought of returning to a competitive classroom can be terrifying. Karen creates a safe, low-pressure environment where children feel secure enough to ask questions. This focus on building confidence is just as important as academic progress.

3. The Teacher-Parent-Tutor Connection

Karen is an experienced and qualified primary teacher. This expertise means she understands the National Curriculum (although she is not bound by it) and can communicate effectively with the school to keep them in the loop. But more importantly, she communicates brilliantly with us, the parents, providing clear monthly reports that keep us up to date with his progress without adding to our burden.

4. A Sense of Normalcy and Routine

In the midst of medical chaos—endless tests, scans, and treatments—the structured, familiar face of Karen on the screen provides a comforting routine. For 30 minutes, he is just a student working on a topic he loves while practising his key English and Maths skills (without even realising it), not a patient. This small dose of normalcy is invaluable for his emotional well-being and our family’s morale.

5. Support for Additional Needs

We know that long-term illness, medication, and the sheer trauma of treatment can lead to concentration difficulties or anxiety. Karen is especially experienced at supporting the child’s needs with unique learning styles, including those with anxiety or neurodivergence. This compassionate, informed approach ensures that the tuition works with the challenges children are facing, not against them.

Practical Tips for Maximising the Benefits of Online Tuition

If you’re ready to start the online education journey, whether it’s with The Top Cat Tutor or online teachers, here are my top, practical tips for making the logistics work during a health crisis:

1. Prioritise Comfort Over Classroom: Don’t stress about a perfect desk setup. If your child is comfortable on the sofa, propped up in bed, or nestled in their favourite hospital chair, that is the perfect learning environment.
2. Communicate Everything (Seriously): Be honest with your tutor about your child’s energy levels that day. If he is exhausted from a procedure, we let Karen know, and she turns the session into a lighter, review-based check-in. This flexibility is one of the core benefits of online tuition.
3. Use it as a Parent Break: Hospital life is relentless. While he is safely engaged with Karen for half an hour, I can use that time to grab a coffee, make a private phone call, or just take a much-needed breath. It’s a structured, guilt-free break you desperately need (and deserve).
4. Embrace the Technology: Ensure the Zoom link is ready five minutes early. If your child struggles with fine motor skills or tiredness, having the tutor use interactive tools like virtual whiteboards, screen sharing or different types of virtual visual aids to allow them to drag-and-drop answers or annotate on screen makes a huge difference.

A Supportive Bridge Back to Learning

When we first faced our son’s long school absence, I felt entirely alone, worried that his academic future was slipping away. But online teaching and the patient, expert support from Karen at Top Cat Tutorhas provided a sturdy bridge.

It’s more than education; it’s a therapeutic and supportive environment. It’s a constant reminder to your child that they are capable, they are seen, and that their learning journey continues, no matter where they are or how they feel that day.

If your family is navigating long-term illness or school absence, I wholeheartedly recommend exploring online classes to find that crucial support that respects your unique situation.

Your Turn!

Has your family used online tutoring platforms during a difficult time? What was the biggest benefit you noticed in your child’s learning or confidence? Share your experience in the comments below—it helps all of us know we’re not alone!

The post The Benefits of Online Tuition: Our Lifeboat for Hospital Stays appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

If you look at your child’s maths homework or pop into their classroom, you may notice that the way maths is taught today looks nothing like it did when you were at school.

This can be unsettling for many parents because they don’t understand the new methods and don’t feel confident helping their child.  They may also question if their child is being appropriately challenged or if the new ways of doing things are any good.

Maths is taught so differently today because our knowledge and understanding of how children learn and understand maths has developed.  This is a good thing.  Just as you would want your doctor to be prescribing the most up-to-date treatments based on cutting-edge research (which might not be medication, but perhaps talking therapy or exercise), schools should be keeping up to date with the latest, cutting-edge research on how children learn and understand mathematics, and teaching in-line with this.

How is maths taught in primary schools today?

Let’s start with the word maths.  Maths is reasoning and problem-solving about problems in the world around us using logic.  What we were mostly taught at school under the name “maths” was actually closer to “arithmetic” in the form of memorising and solving number facts and calculation methods to be recalled at speed.  

Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics – it is not mathematics in and of itself.  And the speed thing is just something schools seem to have decided was important decades ago. 

Professional mathematicians are not always quick at solving arithmetic questions, and if they are, it is because they have excellent number sense – they can play around with and manipulate numbers.  They understand how numbers work.  When Rachel Riley works out the number round on Countdown in under 5 seconds, it’s because she has excellent number sense – she knows how to play around with the numbers to find the solution.  She isn’t just recalling facts, she’s applying her knowledge and understanding of number.  She is using logic to solve a problem.

What is “Mastery Maths”?

Most primary schools (and increasingly secondary schools) are now teaching a subject that fits the definition of “maths” much better – with arithmetic skills alongside –  and they are doing this using a method of teaching maths called “mastery maths”.

This teaching method originated in Singapore (one of the highest-ranking areas in the world for maths teaching) and began to be adopted in the UK about 8 years ago.  The school I was working in at the time was one of the first in Gloucestershire to implement this method of teaching.

The principles of mastery teaching are very different to how you would have been taught maths (and how I was taught to teach maths), and align with what maths actually is, and how children learn and develop an understanding of maths concepts. 

When my school introduced Mastery Maths, it really blew my mind and I didn’t think it would work after over ten years of teaching in ways that are perhaps more recognisable to parents. 

After just a few months teaching this way, I was totally converted and wished I’d been taught maths this way at school.  It is a much better way of developing maths skills that align with child development and ensures children understand what they are doing.  It teaches skills that are relatable to everyday life, and also the reasoning and problem-solving skills employers are, and most probably will be, looking for in the future.

Principles of Mastery Maths

Mastery Maths teaching is based on the principles that everyone can learn and enjoy maths.  It is about reasoning and making connections between concepts.  It is about developing a deep and secure understanding of key ideas that are needed to understand future learning.

It is about understanding how and why numbers work and connect, having mathematical dexterity, and being able to link concepts together.  For example understanding that multiplication and division are linked, and in turn, understanding that division is linked to fractions, and in turn, understanding that fractions, decimals and percentages are different ways of representing numbers less than 1. 

These skills set children up for success in any future mathematical study, and the use of maths in everyday life, far better than how maths used to be taught.  Most people disliked maths and find it hard to engage with because we were taught how to do something with no understanding of why it worked or why it was necessary or how it relates to other things, or that speed was a really important aspect (pressure of having to give an answer in a set time triggers our stress response and shuts the brain down into survival mode – not helpful!)

Mastery Maths teaching methods

In Mastery Maths – children are taught the same concept all together, broken down into small steps so that children build on previous learning and make connections.

This whole class approach makes people think that brighter children are not being challenged and children who are struggling are not supported.  This is not the case. Differentiation is still happening, but in much more subtle and effective ways.  Children who grasp the concept quickly are challenged by solving problems and reasoning about the concept, in more and more depth – they keep digging deeper and deeper into it so they have a solid understanding. Children requiring more help are supported with apparatus, different ways of presenting the concept to find a way that clicks for them, and repetition to practise and consolidate learning, alongside immediate, targeted teaching in small groups.

Research is very clear that putting children into ability groups and giving them tasks that create a ceiling on their ability holds children back and sends the message “this is all I think you will be capable of doing – don’t even try what that other table are doing”.  It impedes their learning, not develops it.  Expecting all children to be able to learn something (some will get there quicker than others) shows children they are capable and able to achieve.  And they do! You can read more about this research on my blog here.

The way concepts are presented is where most parents will come into contact with mastery maths.  You may see bar models, whole-part models, images of apparatus such as Numicon, place value counters or dienes apparatus.  These are all ways of representing a problem.  They are not methods like column addition or long division.  They help children visualise number problems and see them in different ways and how different connections can be made.  This helps learning not hinders it.  They will be taught the “traditional” methods, but, taking division as great example, diving straight into short or long division when children don’t understand that division is “sharing equally”, and firstly building a deep understanding of what this means through various representations, and then understanding we can divide through “repeated subtraction”, before moving onto the “traditional” methods– means that most children will struggle to understand what they are doing and therefore won’t remember the method.

By deeply understanding what dividing is and having done it in different (often less efficient, but more conceptually obvious ways) helps children take the step up to formal (“traditional”) methods because they understand why that method works.  The “ah ha” moments happen and they remember the formal method better, and if not, they have other methods to fall back on instead. They are able to access maths because they have a number toolkit.

Why not just teach them one method?

My Year 6 teacher always said “there is no right or wrong way to do maths” and she was spot on.  It doesn’t matter how a child gets to an answer if they have a method that works for them and they understand it.  There are a multitude of ways of reaching a solution – none is “better” than the other, although some are more efficient. It is important to develop an understanding of “efficient methods” but that is all part of the mastery process.

Why not keep things as they have always been? I’m OK at maths.

To return to my doctor’s analogy.  A few decades ago, if you had a bad back, doctors would have told you to lie down still.  Now, due to research and professional development of doctors, they will now tell you to move around as much as possible.  When this was a new idea it would have felt counter-intuitive and weird and “that can’t possibly work?!”

The way maths is taught is just the same.  The old ways are not necessarily the most helpful ways.  Just because something has been done a certain way for a long time, doesn’t mean it’s the right way going forward, in light of new research. 

Teaching methods are constantly being refined due to new research about how children learn. Teaching things the way they always have been is as unhelpful, and even as damaging as, prescribing treatments for medical issues which the research now shows impedes rather than helps.

How to help your child with maths:

If you feel unsure about helping your child using these methods you can:

• Ask your school for help in understanding the methods – many schools run parent information sessions to explain them.
• Ask your child to explain it to you.  If they can, it shows they have a really good understanding of the concept.
• Don’t beat yourself up.  You are not a qualified teacher and aren’t expected to understand these methods inside out.  Encourage your child to think back to their lessons and have a go.  Developing independence in learning this way actually helps learning, not hinders it, especially if they make mistakes (remember, mistakes are wonderful things and are needed for connections in the brain to be made).
• Read my other blog about how to help children with their learning here.

I use mastery maths methods in my tuition to develop a deep and secure understanding of maths concepts and to tie in with methods being used in schools so that children make links instead of being confused.

Contact me if I can help your child develop a love of maths.

The post Why is maths taught differently today? appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

Screen time is a big concern about children’s health and behaviour in the early 21^st century.  The pandemic has heightened worries that children spend too long using technology.  It is a problem that can be traced back further than ipads and phones.  When I was a kid, it was playing computer games on consoles was bad for a child.  Before that, it was watching TV, and even before that it was – books!  Yes, parents used to worry that their child was reading too much!  It’s the same problem, projected onto the latest technology.

Some parents are wary of online tuition because they think their child won’t concentrate and they spend too long on screens already.  I debunk the concentration myth in my blog here, but I’d like to debunk some more screen time misconceptions.

I’ve dug about the internet and done some research into the research around children using screens.  I’ll be honest, I haven’t gone into the same depth I did when writing my MA thesis, but I found credible sources of information: 

https://www.nct.org.uk/baby-toddler/games-and-play/screen-time-for-babies-and-toddlers-evidence#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20American%20Academy%20of%20Pediatrics,children%2C%20one%20hour%20a%20day.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200925-how-screen-time-affects-childrens-brains

https://www.techadvisor.com/article/726637/how-much-screen-time-for-kids.html#:~:text=Ofcom%20in%20the%20UK%20estimates,and%206.5%20hours%20for%20teenagers.

What the research says:

The first thing to note is that screen use is still very new and there has not been a huge amount of research into the effects on children.  However, what the research that has been done shows is fascinating, when compared to the beliefs we hold around children using screens.

The key takeaway from my research (and what I knew instinctively from working with children), is that it is not screen use in itself that is the problem, it is the nature of the screen use. 

*Screens are neither good nor bad.

*Screens are purely a tool.

*Not all screen time is equal – some screen time can be hugely beneficial, and some less so.

Beneficial screen time

Screen time is beneficial when the child is engaged in well-designed, interactive, educational activities.  Such screen time could include watching high-quality educational programmes or videos, listening to story readings or joining live online storytelling sessions and interactive video calls – such as Facetiming a friend or relative, or 1:2:1 tuition.

In these instances, children are interacting and learning, and research shows their understanding is the same as if it were face-to-face.  This didn’t surprise me because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.  Learning via online tuition does not lead to a reduction in understanding – children learn just the same as if I were sat next to them.

Problem screen time

Screen time becomes a problem when children are engaged in passive, inappropriate or badly designed activities, such as endlessly scrolling through uneducational videos on YouTube, and playing games with no or poor educational content. 

Research has found that technology can lead to increases in lack of physical activity, reduced BMI, families eating fewer meals together and poor sleep.  But again, it is not as simple as a child looking at a screen and these negative traits occurring.  It is when screen use is passive and poor quality, and when something called “technoference” happens. 

Technoference is when parent-child interactions are interrupted by technology, and seems to correlate with more whining, sulking, restlessness, frustration and temper tantrums.  If adults are glued to their screens, and they prioritise what is happening on their screen over their child’s needs, then negative behaviours can occur. (A good example would be if your child is talking to you, or you are playing a game together, and your phone buzzes and you pick it up, look at the notification and reply to the message instead of ignoring it and continuing to interact with your child).  For children to use screens appropriately, parents need to set good screen use examples. 

Recommended screen time

Ofcom estimates that children aged 3-4 spend 3 hours a day using screens, 5-7 year olds 4 hours and 8-11 year olds 4.5 hours. 

NICE (National Instutute for Health and Care Excellence) recommends that daily screen time for children should be no more than 2 hours a day, but this screen time does not need to include educational, interactive use. 

So, Facetiming a friend or relative is a good use of a screen because it is encouraging communication and connection.  Using the internet for homework research is a good use of screen time because it encourages learning, thinking and problem-solving skills.  These types of screen time can be added onto the recommended time if you choose, rather than being part of the child’s screen time ration.

Online tuition and screen time

So, where does this leave online tuition?  If the tutor is qualified and skilled in helping children learn, then online tuition is definitely a beneficial use of screen time.  It is interactive and provides a high-quality educational experience.

To ensure the screen time I spend with children is as good quality as possible I also do (or don’t do) the following:

Timings:

Younger children have earlier slots so that they are not using a screen too close to their bedtime.

Homework:

I don’t set homework.  Research shows it has little to no impact on learning in the primary years anyway.  I’d rather children were off doing other things – use the time to go play, run around, climb a tree, do a puzzle, read a book, play a game…

Interactive:

Zoom calls are interactive.  We are communicating and the children are directly engaging with the activities.

Educational:

Should go without saying, but your child is receiving a very high-quality educational experience every time they log into their tuition session with me.

No multi-tasking:

Multitasking is bad for us.  Flicking between tabs on a computer and watching a video while also messaging a friend is not good for us.  With online tuition, it is just me and your child and we can focus on one task at a time at a pace that suits your child.

Instead of assuming all screen time is bad, instead, let’s think about the nature of the screen time.  Some screen time can be hugely beneficial to your child if it is interactive and of well-designed, high-quality educational nature.  The children I work with and their parents can testify for that! 

If your child could do with some support with their learning, do contact me to discuss how I can help. If you would like to join my free Facebook group supporting parents with their child’s learning in the primary years, click here.

The post Is screen time bad for my child? appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

Parents’ evening!  Does it make you feel nervous?  Does it bring up old memories of your own school days?  Are you worried about what the teacher may say or what you should ask?

Fear not!  I’ll fill you in on what you need to know to reduce the parents’ evening anxiety.

Things to know about parents’ evening:

Schools must provide at least one opportunity a year for parents to discuss their child’s progress with a teacher.  Most schools hold two parents’ evenings a year – one in the autumn term and one in the spring or summer term.

For primary school children, and children in Year 7, the autumn meeting should focus on how they are settling into their new year group and class and if they are happy and content at school.  If they are, then they should be learning well, if not, then that will impact their progress, and discussing strategies that will help them both at home and school should take place. 

Remember that your child’s teacher is on your side.  They want your child to do well and be happy at school as much as you do.  They will give you positive feedback and if there are any areas of concern, these will be raised in a professional manner with a view on how to help resolve them in the best way for your child.

It is fine to bring your children (and any siblings) into the meeting with you, but you don’t have to (sometimes the children prefer for you to go in without them – so do check).

Dos and Don’ts of parents’ evening:

DO ask how they have settled in and if they seem happy at school. Hopefully, the teacher will tell you this anyway and you won’t need to ask.

DO ask about any routines or procedures (eg homework systems) that you are unsure of, or are causing difficulties at home.  If the teacher is aware, then they can help solve any problems.

DO let the teacher know if anything is happening that may affect your child’s learning – this could be friendship issues or things happening at home.  Personal issues will be treated confidentially and sensitively, but it is important for the school to be aware so they can best support your child.

DO ask how you can help your child with their learning at home. 

DO be aware of the time – your appointment will be around 10 minutes long.

DO look at any work your child has done if books are laid out.

DO raise any concerns you have politely and with a view to working together to solve them.  Going in angry and all-guns-blazing will not get you the results you want.

DON’T ask how your child compares to others in the class.  The teacher can’t give you this information and it’s not helpful to you anyway.  Focus on your child – no one else’s.

DON’T compare your child to their siblings.  They are a person in their own right.  Just because their older brother did something well, or struggled with something, it doesn’t mean their sibling will too.  Treat each child individually.

DON’T tell the teacher how to do their job.  Paying your taxes which pays their salary does not make you their boss. (Yes, I have had parents say this!) You are there to get their professional input on your child’s learning. Listen to them and take on board their advice and suggestions.

DO go!  It may be scary, it may take up time, and it may interfere with your daily routine, but it is once or twice a year and it honestly has a huge impact on your child’s learning.  As a teacher, I have understood the children in my class so much better, and been able to better meet their individual needs due to meeting their parents and discussing how best to help them at parents’ evening.  If you can’t make the scheduled parent’s evening, it is absolutely fine to make an appointment with the teacher for another time.  If you can’t go to both parents’ evenings, attending just one is better than none.

If you are separated from your child’s other parent, then it is fine to make separate appointments for you to see your child’s teacher individually.

It is also OK to bring your child’s step-parent, grandparent or aunt or uncle along to the meeting if you would like to have someone else with you.

DO say thank you at the end of the meeting.  My job-share teacher and I were once presented with a bag of mixed fruit and nuts at the start of a meeting by a mum because she knew we were having a very long day, with little to no time for breaks or refreshments between appointments.  It blew our minds!  It was such a small act of kindness but made a massive difference and kept us going into the evening.  Gifts like this are not necessary or expected, but two little words that show you understand how much that teacher does to help your child goes a long way. It is common courtesy but so many parents don’t bother. 

If you have found this blog helpful, then do come and join my free Facebook group Primary Matters for more help and advice about learning in the vital primary years.

To discuss how I can help support your child’s learning, please see my services or contact me.

The post Parents’ Evening – a guide for parents appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

I’ve spent a large part of the summer watching large multi-event sporting events on TV.  First, there was The World Athletics Championships, followed by The Commonwealth Games, and then hot on its heels, The European Championships.

As well as enjoying the competition, I find the background stuff really fascinating.  How the athletes have got to be competing in a world-class event, at the top of their discipline.  They aren’t just “really good” at running, jumping, throwing, or swimming and magically found themselves at the competition.  There is a lot of hard work, perseverance, disappointment, failure, resilience, and LEARNING happening over a long period of time that got them to that competition.

This is why I think athletes are such great role models for children and why we should encourage children to “think like an athlete”.

From listening to commentators, coaches and athletes talk about how athletes prepare for competition, and cope when things don’t go their way, it is clear that athletes have mastered “growth mindset”.  I’ve talked about this before in other blogs.  Essentially, if you believe you can do something if you have a go, learn from mistakes and persevere, then you will find the learning process much more enjoyable and achieve higher levels as a result.  World-class athletes have growth mindset in spades, and they are world-class athletes because of this growth mindset.  If they had fixed mindsets – “I can’t do this.  This is hard.  I’ll never be able to run that fast,” then they wouldn’t be at the championships, or winning medals, because they would think they’re not good enough and therefore won’t even try. 

As an example, let’s take Eilish McColgan who won gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5000m at The Commonwealth Games and just over a week later won a silver medal in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5000m at The European Championships.  This is an astounding achievement and one she had been waiting to achieve for a long time!

How did she achieve it?  It’s not just about running faster than the other people in the race.  It’s not as simple as that. It took lots and lots and lots of practise.  Lots and lots and lots of learning from mistakes.  Lots and lots and lots of disappointments where she didn’t medal in competitions or didn’t run as well as she wanted to, or had injuries and illnesses which meant she couldn’t compete or run to the best of her abilities. 

Every single training run, every stumble, every defeat and disappointment were all essential to her achievements.  They all added up to help her refine her technique, learn how to manage her energy, when to run slow, when to run fast, where to place herself in the pack, when to make a move, when to hold back, how to get out of being boxed in by other runners, how to run in the most efficient way.  Small changes to make marginal gains which helped her win the race.  It’s as much, if not more so, about mindset and learning than it is actually putting one foot in front of the other as quickly as you can.

Another example is the high jump.  While watching this event the commentator was explaining how after an unsuccessful jump, the athlete will make tiny tiny adjustments to how they approach their next jump.  These alterations are imperceptible to us novices sitting at home. We can’t see them starting their jump a few milliseconds before they did previously, or making a tiny change to the angle of their body going over the bar.  But they are constantly learning and tweaking.  If they do knock the bar down, they might have a moment of frustration, but then they stand up, wave to the crowd and walk off to think through what to change next time with their coach. They are probably still feeling disappointed and frustrated, but they are able to manage this and not just have a hissy fit and give up. They learn from their mistakes to make the next jump better.

So, how does all this help children with their learning?  How can children “think more like an athlete”?  Here are my top takeaways from watching athletes this summer:

 Practise

Top athletes keep practising their key skill a lot.  Runners run every day.  Swimmers swim every day.  Round and round the track, up and down the pool.  Once they’ve learned how to run/swim/cycle they don’t stop doing it – they keep doing it, over and over again.  It’s not always fun.  It’s often very boring.  Especially in the cold and dark of winter.  But they get up, get out and get practising – keeping the end goal in mind – to enter a certain competition, to run a personal best, to win a gold medal.  If they are injured or ill and can’t train, they notice that their technique is not as good as it was when they go back to it, because they haven’t been practising. 

Children need to keep practising key skills.  Practise makes the connections in your brain stronger.  The more we practise the stronger the connections get and the easier it is to recall the fact, or do the skill or whatever it is.  If we stop practising, the connections become weaker and it is harder to do.

If you don’t keep practising your times tables, your recall will not be so fast and it will hold you back in other areas of maths.  Just because you know your 3 times table it doesn’t mean you stop practising it.  Eilish McColgan knows how to run. But she keeps practising her running so she can get better and better at it.  Keeping practising the things you can already do are essential to help keep you moving forwards. 

They are resilient

Resilience is the ability to cope when things go wrong.  Athletes want to win every race, but they also know how to cope when they don’t.  That’s not to say they don’t feel disappointed or frustrated.  They absolutely do!  But they use that to help them get better, rather than giving up at the first hurdle (excuse the pun!)  In so many post-race interviews where the athlete has not done as well as they wanted to, they say things along the lines of “I’ll look at what went wrong and what I can improve and I will do better next time”.  This is growth mindset.  This is learning. 

Children need to learn that we all make mistakes and this is normal.  Things don’t always go our way.  This is good!  This is how we get better at things.  Instead of giving up, think about how you can change what you did, so you don’t do it again (this might take practise!)

They persevere

Athletes are this good at what they do because they have kept practising, they haven’t given up, they kept trying.  Athletes don’t turn up to the Olympics having done no preparation in the 4 years beforehand. Those 4 years are full of perseverance.  Perseverance to keep training in the cold and dark, early in the morning and late at night.  Perseverance to keep practising key skills.  Perseverance to keep trying even when you didn’t win the race.  Perseverance to try and beat your best time, or best distance.  Perseverance to move up one place in the rankings.  Perseverance to get through the tough times because without those, no learning will take place and the successes won’t come your way.

Children need to understand that we don’t get good at things overnight or by magic.  People who are good at things work hard to be that good at it.  We often don’t see that hard work going on – we only see them being good at stuff.  If they want to be good at something they need to keep trying and accept it will be hard sometimes.

PMA

They have a positive mental attitude.  They don’t say things like “I can’t do this” “I’m not good at this”.  They believe they can win.  They believe they can be the fastest. They believe fully in their abilities because they have put the work in.  If they don’t win races they say things like “I haven’t won a race yet, but I will!” or “I didn’t beat my top competitor today, but I will one day!”

Changing the way we talk about our abilities is powerful.  Using the word “yet” is helpful for children – “I can’t tie my shoelaces yet, but one day I will!”  or, “I’m finding this difficult at the moment, but if I keep practising it will become easier.” 

 What’s the goal?

Depending on where athletes are in their career, they might not be aiming to win the race.  Their goal might have been to get into the competition itself, or to make it through the heats into the final, or to get a personal best, or top finish in the top 5.  Many athletes don’t go to major competitions to win a medal – that isn’t the goal.  Some do go on to win a medal, and that’s a bonus, but it wasn’t the goal.  Every athlete has their own individual goals and they focus on those. Your child can focus on their own goals.  What do they want to achieve?  Take small steps, keep practising, think like an athlete and you will get there.  Many athletes say things like “I ran my own race and it paid off”.  This means they focused on the skills they had practised, kept their goal in mind and didn’t worry about what their competitiors were doing. 

Don’t worry what others are doing.  You focus on you.  Practise, persevere, welcome mistakes and use them to help you get better.  That’s how you can think like an athlete whether you’re running, jumping, swimming, writing or doing long division!

If you have found this blog helpful, then do come and join my free Facebook group Primary Matters for more help and advice about learning in the vital primary years.

To discuss how I can help support your child’s learning, please see my services or contact me.

The post What can we learn about learning from World Class Athletes? appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

The post Imparting Limiting Beliefs onto Children appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

Choosing which school to send your child to can be a bit of a minefield.  Asking other parents is OK to a point, but, their opinion is biased by their own child’s experience of the school, and for every parent who dislikes a school, there will be another who loves it. 

Here, I’m going to talk you through some things to look for, from the point of view of a teacher.  Many of these are things teachers look for when applying for jobs.  “Do I want to teach here?” often translates across to “Do I want my child to learn here?” 

Whether to choose state or private is a whole other blog post.  All I’ll say is, state does not automatically mean lower quality and a worse education for your child and private does not automatically mean superior quality and a better education.  They each have pros and cons.  (Did you know private schools don’t have to employ qualified teachers or follow the national curriculum?) 

If you are considering private, do visit local state schools too and compare them.  You might be surprised that there is sometimes very little difference between them and you can get just as good, if not better, schooling for “free” (you’ve already paid for it via your taxes) at the local state primary.

1. Ignore Ofsted reports (or at least take them with a pinch of salt).

Ofsted is the body that inspects schools.  It is 30 years old and has always been controversial.  Ofsted has proven itself to be not fit for purpose within the teaching profession.  In a recent survey of 4,888 state school teachers, 79% rated Ofsted as “inadequate” or “requires improvement” (TeacherTapp), less than 1 in 10 teachers think Ofsted has improved standards in their school (The Times) and it is one of the top reasons why teachers leave the profession.  There are increasingly loud calls for Ofsted to be scrapped and replaced with a more supportive and positive accountability system.

A book could be written about why Ofsted does more to damage schools and learning than it does to support and help them improve, so all I’ll say is, don’t base your opinion of a school on a one or two word phrase given to the school by someone who has come in for a day or two (with little to no understanding of the area and the demographic of the children in the school), caused stress and disruption to learning in the process, and made a judgement on this snapshot of time that stays with the school for years to come.

Imagine a stranger coming into your home for a day, with no understanding of who you all are, and saying you are a “good” family or a family that “requires improvement” based on that one experience.  That’s Ofsted inspecting schools.

Schools in more deprived areas get a disproportionate amount of “requires improvement” and “inadequate” grades and schools in more affluent areas get a disproportionate amount of “outstanding” and “good” grades, but the schools in deprived areas are having to work harder for their children, often with less money and resources.  In my experience, it is these schools that are often providing a better education.

Schools rated “outstanding” between May 2012 and November 2020 (yes, Ofsted were going into schools during the pandemic and lockdowns!) were exempt from routine inspections.  This means there are “outstanding” schools that have not been inspected for 10 years. That’s a long time.  Things will definitely have changed.  Is it really still “outstanding”?  What is an “outstanding” school anyway?  My opinion, and that of most teachers on that, is vastly different to Ofsted’s.  (These schools will now be inspected by August 2025.)

Just because a school has been labelled “outstanding”, it doesn’t mean it is. Just because a school has been labelled “inadequate”, it doesn’t mean it is.

2. How close to home is it?  Can you walk there?

Gone are the days when children went to their local school and that was that. Parents now have more choice.  However, anyone who works in a school, or lives near a school will tell you the nightmare that is caused twice a day by children being driven to school and the problems of parents parking dangerously.  I think every school newsletter these days has a monthly reminder not to park like an idiot. Police have to be brought in.  Honestly. It gets that bad.

Children who walk (or scoot or cycle) to their local school are fitter, happier and safer.  They have better road sense because they learn how to deal with roads and traffic, whilst the children being driven are more at risk because they don’t develop these skills so quickly.  There is less pollution – that’s good for everyone.  The children who walk learn better due to the exercise and the mental health benefits of this. 

If there is a school within walking distance check this one out first.

3. How diverse is the school?

Teaching, primary teaching in particular, is a dominantly female profession, so most staff will be women.  However, I would be a little concerned if the whole staff, including support staff, office staff, dinner staff and cleaning staff were female.  All children, not just boys, need positive male role models, so look for diversity of gender.

Also look for diversity of age/experience.  There is a retention crisis in teaching and most teachers leave within the first 5 years of their career.  Experienced teachers are expensive and find it incredibly difficult to get jobs. 

If the whole teaching staff is made up of teachers all within the first 5 years of their career (clues – they are likely to be in their early to mid 20s and called “Miss something”) I would be cautious.  Where is the experience in the staff coming from?  Without experienced staff, teachers in the early stages of their career do not grow and develop from learning from those who have been doing it for longer.  Schools need a mix of fresh new enthusiasm and experience for the best outcomes.

How diverse is the school in terms of race or disability of both staff and children.  If you live in an area with little diversity in the population then this is obviously harder, but in some ways even more important.  The more diverse a school is, the more vibrant it is and the learning wider and the children more tolerant of others.  We need more tolerant people in society.  Diversity is good.  If everyone looks and sounds like you and your child, that might be a concern.

4. Look at the displays

If displays are of a range of children’s work then my heart sings.  Some of the work might look a bit messy or there might be mistakes, but for that child it is worthy of celebration by being proudly exhibited on the wall.

If all the work is looking beautiful and perfect, are the children who find things harder not being celebrated?  Are expectations unrealistic for some children?  Is the culture about getting things right, rather than effort and mistake making?

If displays are predominantly print outs of educational resources (eg alphabets or numbers, or prompt charts) with little to no input from the children themselves, I would be concerned.

5. Do they genuinely focus on the whole child, or is it a bit of an exam factory?

This can be really tricky to spot.  ALL schools claim to focus on the individual child, work in a child-centred way and put their wellbeing to the forefront, and 99% of schools do do this, but, some are better at it than others.  If you can, find out if children in Year 6 (and possibly Year 2) are doing practise SATs tests from the autumn term, or if they are expected to attend after school or holiday revision sessions.  If so, the school is putting more emphasis on exam results than child-wellbeing. 

Is there a nurture group or wellbeing sessions or strategies that are integrated into the school day, and not just fluffy add ons or one offs? 

Is there a pupil mentor or pastoral member of staff who helps children and families deal with difficulties. 

Is there a breakfast club?

Is there a wide variety of after school clubs that appeal to all sorts of different interests? 

Do the children seem happy, settled, and engaged in a variety of activities, or a bit “meh” and flat or robotic? 

What resources are around and do they look used, or is there just a lot of desks, paper, books and shiny resources that look nice but the kids clearly aren’t getting their hands on them. 

How much focus do the school put on foundation subjects (everything apart from maths, English and science)?  There should be a balance and evidence of other subjects being learned about.

Do visitors come in and do the children go out on educational experiences? 

Do they do Forest Schools or similar?

6. How do the staff come across?

Do the staff (not just the teachers, but office staff, Teaching Assistants, dinner ladies etc) seem happy and enjoying their work on the whole (there’s always one who doesn’t want to be there or is having a bad day!), or do most of them look tired, fed up, or exhausted (if it’s near the end of term, expect a bit of tiredness/exhaustion!)?  A school full of unhappy, stressed staff means they are not able to give your child the best learning experience they can.

If you can, find out about staff turnover.  Now, this might be hard, but if the Ofsted report is recent, it is one good piece of information you may find in it.  If staff have worked at the school for years, then that is a very good sign.  It indicates they enjoy working there, feel valued and there is likely to be a good mix of experience among the staff.  If there is a high turnover of staff, with lots of newly or recently qualified teachers taking up the vacancies, then that should ring some alarm bells that maybe not all is good up the ladder in management.

Talking of management – what do you make of the headteacher?  How much classroom teaching experience do they have (some are promoted very early in their career and have very little experience at the chalkface. In some academies or private schools, the headteacher will not even be a teacher!)  Do they keep their finger on the pulse and still take classes (even if occasionally) and muck into the wider school life? Are they respected by the staff, or are they sitting in their ivory tower and have lost touch with what teaching is all about?  This may be difficult to tell, as they will be putting on their best show to encourage you to join their school.  How do teachers/staff react around them?  Does the relationship seem natural and mutually respectful or fake? 

7. Teaching methods

The way children are being taught should look a bit different to how you were taught at school.  What we know about how children learn has moved on leaps and bounds in recent years, and some schools are very good at keeping up with modern pedagogy (the method and practise of teaching) and some are stuck in the early 2000s. 

If children are seated in ability groups I would be wary.  Research clearly shows that grouping children in this way hinders their progress rather than helps it.  Yet, so many schools still cling onto this outdated way of working.  Working in mixed ability ways doesn’t mean children aren’t being challenged or supported, but more sophisticated and developmentally appropriate ways of doing this are being used instead.  If the school follows a “mastery” approach then this is a good indication that they are keeping up to date with the research, so long as they are applying it correctly.

If there is a behaviour chart or smiley and sad faces on the board as a behaviour management tool, again I would be wary.  These approaches have been shown to be ineffective in helping children improve their behaviour and can in some cases make it worse.  Restorative justice systems and systems where children are rewarded for effort rather than achievement are much better and more effective. 

If children have points or rewards that they have already achieved taken off them, that is a big red flag to me.  If you have achieved something, that achievement still stands, regardless of how you behave afterwards.  Past successes should not be used to punish current wrong-doings.

Keeping children in to finish work in playtime is also a warning sign.  The children who need to get out and play the most are often the ones kept in more often.  It’s also a sign that either the teacher is struggling to pace their lessons appropriately, or deeper reasons why children are not finishing (eg processing delays or hearing loss) are not being picked up on.

8. Friends

You can send your child to the fanciest, most excellent school in your area, but if they don’t have friends there and are unhappy, it is pointless because they won’t be learning.  To learn we need to feel settled and happy.  If one school is amazing but your child has no friends there (and therefore is not happy about going) and another is not quite so good but they have friends there, the best option is usually option 2.  Unless your child finds making friends easy, or they are open to moving to a school where they don’t know anyone, they will find it much easier to settle and learn with friends around them.  The school day is long and hard without them.

9. Ignore strangers on the internet

I see so many posts on local Facebook pages asking about what schools are like. Just because little Tommy had a bad experience because Mrs Smith took a disliking to him (highly unlikely btw!) or little Jemima had the most wonderful time with Mr Jones, that doesn’t tell you anything useful about how your child will find the school. 

When I read comments about a school I used to work at online, we had to laugh (otherwise we’d cry) at some of the grossly inaccurate things parents were saying.  It’s school gate gossip gone online.  It’s mostly nonsense.  Don’t listen to strangers on the internet (or at the school gate).

10. Visit

Instead – visit the school for yourself.  Look out for the things I’ve mentioned.  Take your child with you if possible, but don’t base your decision purely on what they want – you are their parent and you need to make the ultimate decision taking into account all the elements and what fits best for them.  Get a feel.  If your gut is saying yes, or no, trust it.

No school will tick all of the above boxes (if you do find it – let me know!)  Focus on the most important elements for your child and family and go with a best-fit approach.  You will have to make compromises, but your child will receive a good education whatever school you choose.

If you have found this blog helpful, then do come and join my free Facebook group Primary Matters for more help and advice about learning in the vital primary years.

To discuss how I can help support your child’s learning, please contact me.

The post How to Choose a Primary School appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

With Covid restrictions lifted, people are keen to get back to doing things face to face.  This is understandable.  As a result, I’ve noticed more people feeling unsure about online tuition.  When asked why, the answer is usually that the child found online schooling during lockdown difficult.

Online tuition is not the same as the online schooling experienced during lockdown. 

Here’s why:

Hybrid teaching:

During the lockdown of winter 2021, schools had to deliver lessons online and to children face to face in school, at the same time.  The teacher was having to educate a whole class of 30ish children, some of them physically in the room, the rest on screens.  This is hard.  Very hard!

Lack of devices:

The children at home might not have had enough devices to go around all the children needing to log into lessons, and parents needing to work from home; the devices the children may have been using might only have had a small screen making it hard to see what the teacher was doing.

Distractions:

Seeing into other people’s homes is distracting.  There’s Molly’s dad on the phone; there’s Luke’s dog; Mo’s battery has run out and he’s got disconnected; Beth’s internet connection isn’t very good and she keeps freezing or going glitchy and her video keeps going on and off.

Mute:

The children online need to be on mute otherwise all the noise from everyone’s homes will be deafening and distracting.  This can make the children feel cut off and disengaged from what’s happening in the lesson.  It’s not so easy to ask a question or join in a discussion like it is face to face.

Schools lacking support and resources:

The teacher has to manage the learning and behaviour of the children in school, as well as the learning and behaviour of the children on screen.  The skills and techniques required to do this are a bit different, so they’re having to blend two techniques together. Teachers were given about 12 hours notice they had to teach this way (most of those hours were night time and early morning!)

Teachers had no training in teaching online.  They had to learn on the job, hitting the ground running.  They may not have used the technology before and had to learn how to use that, as well as how to teach online – and in person – all at the same time.  Schools have been chronically underfunded for over 10 years and many schools did not have the technological infrastructure to cope with the demands now suddenly put on it.   

Unequal access for those at home:

Meanwhile, Molly’s dad is now answering the questions for Molly, whilst Luke would love some extra help but everyone is busy.  Mo’s had to go and find his charger.  Beth can’t keep up due to the poor connection and gives up. At school everyone experiences the lesson in essentially the same way. Children that require further support will receive it.

I’m painting a pretty negative picture of online schooling, but having spoken to children and teachers, this is an amalgam of things they experienced.  Teachers did their very best in very difficult circumstances.  It wasn’t easy for them, and it wasn’t easy for the children or their families.  Everyone muddled through as best they could.

1:2:1 online tuition is nothing like this.  Here’s why:

It’s 1:2:1

There are only 2 people on the call – me and your child.

Your child has my undivided attention.  I’m not trying to teach 29 other children – some online and some face to face.  It’s just me and them.

Minimal distractions:

Distractions are minimal because there is just me and your child in our homes.  My cat sometimes walks across the screen (always causes amusement!), or your dog might start barking, but these interruptions are minimal, and not damaging, and we can quickly get back on track. They are nothing different to the type of distraction that might happen face to face.

Regular time:

Your tuition slot is at the same time every week, mutually agreed in advance.  You know your child will need a device at that time and a quiet place to work so your family can plan around this accordingly.  It’s not like lockdown when everyone needed a device at the same time.

Technical issues can be dealt with:

If your child has technical difficulties, I can usually tell because they’ve frozen or gone glitchy, and I can pause and we can make it better before carrying on.  They can tell me if things aren’t working and we can solve them.  They don’t have to struggle through.  9 times out of 10 there are no technical problems at all.

I can adapt what we are doing if something doesn’t work.  There’s always another way of doing things.  This would be hard with a full class of hybrid teaching, where 1 or 2 children online can’t access the activity, but no problem at all when 1:2:1.

Slower pace:

I work at your child’s pace.  At school, the teacher has targets and objectives to get through each week.  The pace is fast.  With 1:2:1 tuition we focus on what your child needs at that time.  There is no rush to tick the box to say they’ve achieved it.  We chat and build up a good working relationship alongside learning in fun and engaging ways.

Varied activities:

I break up screen activities with paper-based or movement.  Just because we’re working online, it doesn’t mean all the activities we do are screen-based.  Often, children will be writing a story for 20 minutes in a notebook, working out maths questions on paper, or practising their spellings using arty methods.   Some children need more variety of activities than others.  I use my years of experience to gauge how activities are going and if we need to change it up a bit. 

Fantastic online activities:

There are fantastic online resources that really help engage the children, from games, to writing prompts, to online whiteboards where they can get really interactive with a learning activity, such as moving things around, writing and drawing on the screen.  Children love being given control of the screen (the power!) to play games or complete interactive activities. 

It is special time dedicated to your child:

Parents tell me that their child loves their tuition time because it is time dedicated to them.  Someone is giving them their undivided attention for up to an hour a week, when often they have to compete for attention from other siblings, and the rest of the children in their class.  They look forward to our weekly games of hangman (some children prepare their words in advance to make sure they are really hard and get me hung!) or continuing their story or reading the book we’re studying…  The fact that it’s online is irrelevant.  What’s important is that the child is engaged and enjoying learning.

I’m keeping my tuition online because:

It works:

There is no loss of engagement or achievement from working online.  All the children I’ve worked with online have made fantastic progress with their learning, just the same as if it was face-to-face. 

It is more eco-friendly. 

I keep a close eye on my carbon footprint and aim to work in as sustainable a way as possible.  Driving around for tuition sessions is not something I want to encourage. 

It is more time-efficient. 

With no travelling time, your child’s tuition literally only takes up to an hour week.  No factoring in the travel time and waiting time whilst they are in the session if you take them somewhere for it.  No person taking up room on your kitchen table whilst you’re trying to prepare dinner if I came to your house.  Just log in – you can be getting on with other things at home whilst the child is learning – log out and go play, have tea, whatever! 

I can help more people. 

With no travelling on my part, I have more time to offer.  It also means I can help people who live too far to travel to.  I’ve worked with many children in the last 2 years who live too far away from where I live for face-to-face to have been an option.  With online, your child can work with an excellent, experienced tutor regardless of where you or they live.

It’s the future:

I think working online is going to become much more normal.  Many people in all sorts of sectors are now working online rather than (or as well as) face to face because it just works – for the time and ecological reasons above – and the ability to help people outside of the immediate local area.  Online working like this will be part of your children’s lives.  It will be a life skill.  It will only get more efficient and easier.  Online learning is here to stay.  Let’s embrace it!

If your child could do with some support with their learning, do contact me to discuss how I can help. If you would like to join my free Facebook group supporting parents with their child’s learning in the primary years, click here.

The post Online tuition isn’t like online schooling during lockdown appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

SATs are the end of Key Stage assessments that children take in Year 2 and Year 6 in England.  They are what are known as “high-stakes tests” because the children’s results are used to judge schools and individual teachers.  And this judgement can be harsh and cruel – believe me – I’ve been on the receiving end of it!

SATs have been with us since the 1990s and have got more demanding over that time.  In 2016 the government really upped the stakes and made the tests even more challenging for the children (and therefore also for schools and teachers). 

In 2020 and 2021 there were no SATs for obvious reasons.  They returned in 2022, with almost no concession for the previous two years of distupted learning. This year we are back to business as usual.

Why they are so contentious:

I want to make two things really clear:

1.  Teachers and educators who speak out against SATs are not saying children should not be assessed.  What they are saying is that SATs tests are not the way to do this and there are much better ways to assess children’s learning that does not cause the amount of stress and narrowing of learning that the SATs tests do.
2. The curriculum and SATs tests are not the invention of qualified educators who understand child development and learning.  They are imposed on schools by the government who have little to no understanding of how children learn.  The government wants to be able to rank highly in international league tables and to rank individual schools.  To do this they have to reduce exam results, and therefore children, to statistics. 

There is so much pressure on schools to do well in SATs because poor results can lead to damaging Ofsted inspections and teachers having their pay and career progression assessed on the basis of the results of a cohort of young, complex human beings. 

This pressure comes down to schools from the government, Ofsted and local authorities.  This inevitably gets passed on from the Senior Leadership team to individual class teachers, who, no matter how hard they try not to, will pass some pressure onto the children to do well, because their pay, progression, and the reputation of the school depends on it.  The children who sit the tests are actually the people who have the least come back from the results. It is frankly, messed up!

I was a Year 6 teacher between 2014 and 2019.  That’s 6 sets of SATs.  I’ve experienced firsthand the damage these tests do to schools, teachers, children, and parents and I am so sad to see them back this year.  A little bit of me hoped when it was announced in March 2020 that they were not happening that year, that they were finally on their deathbed.  How naïve of me!

When are SATs and what papers do the children take?

So, we have to put up with them again this year.  What do you need to know as a parent so you can best support your child through them?

Year 2 SATs

Year 2 SATs are very different to Year 6 SATs.

Year 2 SATs can be taken any time within a 2 week period in May.  Those 2 weeks will be decided by each individual school – your school should inform you of the dates. 

They will sit 2 reading papers, 2 maths papers, a punctuation and grammar paper, and a spelling paper.

The papers are not usually timed and the tests are marked internally by the teachers.

This is the last year Year 2 SATS will be statutory. From September 2023, schools will decide if they administer them or not.

Year 6 SATs

Year 6 SATs will be during the week of May 9^th this year.

Tuesday 9^th – Punctation and Grammar test – 45 minutes

               – Spelling test – 20 minutes

Wednesday 10^th – Reading test – 1 hour.

Thursday 11^th – Maths 1 arithmetic – 30 minutes

– Maths 2 reasoning – 40 minutes

Friday 12^th – Maths 3 reasoning – 40 minutes

These tests have to be administered under strict exam conditions.  Children have a time limit and must not talk during the test.  The tests are sent away to be marked externally.

The tests are usually sat in the morning and the children often do more fun and creative activities in the afternoon. 

The results come back in July and the scores are standardised.  A score of 100 is the “average”. 

Tips for SATs success:

So, although I don’t agree with SATs and wish we had a more child-friendly and supportive assessment system, having got six cohorts of Year 6 children through SATs, and in 2019 achieving the best results in my area, 4^th within my county and within the top 1% nationally, whilst ensuring minimal pressure was put on the children, I picked up some key tricks and techniques to help them do their best.

1. Read the question 3 times before answering it.
2. Ask an adult to read the question to you.
3. Make sure you write your answer in the answer box.
4. Make sure your answer is legible, including numbers.
5. Check how many marks it’s worth.
6. Don’t waste time on a difficult question – move on and get some marks under your belt with questions you can answer.
7. Do your best – that’s all that matters.
8. Sleep!
9. Play and have fun.
10. You are not your SATs results.  They don’t define you or your future.

I will be discussing these 10 tips in more detail in my free Facebook group in the weeks leading up to Year 6 SATs, starting on April ^17th.  You can join the group here.

There is growing pressure to change how we assess children in primary school.  The campaign group More than a Score is well worth checking out to find out more about SATS, the problem with SATs and the alternative ways forward.

The post How to help your child with SATs appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

When was the Last Time you Handwrote Something? 

It’s something we seem to do less and less these days.  Here’s a list of the things I handwrite:

• Session plans and notes during a session
• To do list
• Events in my diary/calendar
• Nightly journal
• Notes from professional and personal development
• Development ideas
• Shopping list
• Greetings cards

Nearly every one of these is just for my reference and not necessarily for others to read.  I could do most of them on a computer or my phone instead.  Why handwrite anything anymore?!

Handwriting is a really important skill, and is part of the National Curriculum – but is something that is really difficult to fit into the school day.  I know.  I tried and failed to implement handwriting practise into my classrooms more times than I care to admit!  In our over-crowded curriculum, there always seems to be something more important to be teaching, and handwriting lessons always felt a bit “Victorian”.

Why is Handwriting Important?

Handwriting is a complex skill.  It requires both fine and gross motor skills.  It’s not just about holding a pen, but our posture, hand and arm strength and hand-eye co-ordination. 

Handwriting engages our brains in a different way from when we type on a screen.  Studies have shown that handwriting improves our memory – we are more likely to retain what we have written if we handwrite it instead of typing it.  This is especially useful for learning spellings.  Handwriting them out (you can do this in creative ways) helps us remember them better – our brain is creating neural pathways for how that word is formed each time we physically write it down.  The more we write it, the better we will be able to remember it. 

I personally think that learning to join letters early on helps with this.  We learn how the word “flows” together – the pattern it makes on the paper and how it feels to write it down.  However, whether it is better to join early on or not is still one of the great unanswered questions in education and each school will have its own stance on this issue.

We Still Need to Handwrite

Right through school, children still need to predominantly handwrite.  It does amaze me that in 2022 formal exams are still handwritten – but they are, so the examiner needs to be able to read the writing.  You might have written an amazing answer – but if the examiner (or computer) can’t read it, then you will not get any marks.  Harsh but true.  When I taught Year 6 I spent so much of my time working with them on their handwriting and formation of numbers so that their SATs papers would be legible.  Not my favourite reason for why handwriting is important, but it is a valid reason.

Why do Children Struggle with Handwriting?

There could be a range of reasons why, and it will be different for each child.  Problems with handwriting boil down to motor skill difficulties, which most of these issues fit into.  I have come across all of the below and many of the reasons cross-over:

• Children often say their hand hurts if they handwrite.  This is because they are holding the pen too tightly and/or in an inappropriate grip. 

• They may also have poor posture or using a table and chair that is the wrong size for them, making writing uncomfortable.

• They may have coordination issues (we need to be able to know how to place the pen on the paper and move it to form the shapes of letters and words, and follow this with our eyes along the page). 

• They may never have been taught how to form the letters correctly, or didn’t master this before it stopped being taught.  Schools really struggle to fit in dedicated handwriting practise due to everything else they are asked to fit into 30 hours a week.  The focus definitely gets lost once children move into Key Stage 2.

• They may not have been encouraged to make marks and experiment with different mark making implements in the Early Years.

• They may not see others handwriting and therefore do not see its relevance or importance.

• They can’t read their own writing so become demotivated.

• They are slow to write because it is difficult and become demotivated.

How to Help Children with their Handwriting

Allow children, especially in the early years (0-5,) to make marks.  Use crayons, pens, paint, chalk or whatever you like.  Make marks on different surfaces, such as chalk on the pavement, or on big rolls of paper.  Use their finger or implements to make marks in a sand tray or shaving foam.  It doesn’t matter what marks they make – they are learning that we can make shapes and use this to communicate ideas and information whilst also developing those motor skills of holding an implement and coordinating their body to make shapes.  The more they do this, the more stamina they will have to continue making marks for longer.

Practise motor skills – throwing and catching a ball, rubbing your tummy and patting your head, rolling a pencil between your fingers, drawing an 8 on its side in the air and following your finger with your eyes. 

Children will be taught how to form letters and words, certainly in Year R, but possibly also in nursery.  Some schools will implement joining early on, others will use print.  What’s important is that children learn that letters have a specific shape and size and are formed in a particular way.  The formation of letters helps us to join them together, making writing quicker and easier.  Check how your child’s school teaches handwriting and practise at home.  You can make it fun and creative using different writing implements and surfaces as above.  Praise effort and attitude.  They will make mistakes and that’s OK – just show them again how to form the letter and try again.  The more they practise the stronger their neural pathways will become and the easier it will get over time.

Give them opportunities to write.  My mum used to tell me her shopping list and I’d write down the items – not only helping my handwriting but also my (pretty atrocious) spelling!  Handwrite thank you letters for birthday and Christmas presents.  Handwrite party invitations and greetings cards.  Handwrite a letter to a grandparent.  Look for opportunities for your child to handwrite something and if it’s for someone else then there is more incentive to work hard on it.

It’s OK to make a draft with mistakes in it and then write it out “in best”, but again, praise effort not perfect writing.

Use spelling practise time to include creative ways to practise handwriting.  Use rainbow writing, wiggle writing, putting the words into sentences or a story to make it a fun and creative activity and not a chore.  And by handwriting the words, the brain is going to be able to remember them better in future.

Things to Remember About Handwriting

Writing doesn’t have to be perfect all the time, but it does have to be legible.  Not all letters have to be joined together and once children have mastered letter formation and have practised handwriting they will begin to have more stamina, the process will become easier because our brain is now practised at it, and we will eventually form our own handwriting style.

I have successfully improved children’s handwriting via online tuition.  Not only has the child’s writing improved, but so has their confidence and enjoyment of writing as a result.  If I can help your child with their handwriting do get in touch.

The post Why Bother with Handwriting? appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.