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Helping Your Child to Learn

You can really help your child by:

  • Talking to them about their day and what they have learned;

  • Encouraging a growth mindset towards their learning in all subjects – the belief that we can all improve at anything if we are willing to be challenged, put in the effort, take on board feedback, use helpful strategies and practise;

  • Asking them to show you their Google Classrooms and online programmes so you can check what homework has been set 

  • Helping your child to organise their work and checking that deadlines are met;

  • Developing their independence through encouraging her responsibility for private study;

  • Encouraging your child to ask for help from the teacher when it is needed;

  • Encouraging your child to use the library and attend additional classes and activities.

  • You can also support your child by signing up to be a Google Classroom Guardian which will allow you to receive summaries of the home learning that they have been set across the week to complete

 

Equipment

You can help your child learn by making sure they are properly organised for the school day.  Your child must have a sensible bag and the following equipment:

  • EGA School Chromebook

  • Pencil case;

  • Black or dark blue pens;

  • Pencils;

  • Eraser;

  • Sharpener;

  • Ruler;

  • Diary;

  • Scientific Calculator;

  • Protractor;

  • Compass;

  • Highlighter;

  • PE/dance kit  (on required days);

It is helpful to have:

  • A glue stick;

  • Coloured pens/pencils.

 

Reading

Learning vocabulary

Your child will often be asked to learn the meaning and spelling of words. This is best done by:

  • Repeating the word several times;

  • Checking the meaning, using a dictionary if needed;

  • Copying out the words at least three times;

  • Spelling the words out aloud;

  • Being tested by you;

  • Testing herself, e.g. using flashcards;

  • Using the word within a sentence;

  • Regularly returning to vocabulary to check whether they have actually transferred it into their long term memory.

 

Learning from feedback

Teachers use many forms of feedback that to support learning, additional to written marking.  When you are looking in your child's books, corrections, green / red pen, marking codes, feedback notes, redrafted work, etc. are all evidence of feedback that has been given by teachers.

The most helpful thing you can do is to support your child in forming good habits with regards to feedback.  This means:

  1. Improving their willingness to give important feedback to their teachers.  This means always answering questions and sharing their thoughts (whether they are sure of their answer or not) and being open about sharing their work (not hiding it);

  2. Improving their willingness / ability to listen to, remember and promptly act on feedback from their teachers, rather than ignoring it or becoming defensive.

 

Here are some relevant questions you could ask your child to improve the way they seek out and uses feedback to improve their learning and progress:

  • What has your teacher told you that you need to do?

  • What have you done with this information so far?  What else could you do?

  • Why haven’t you acted on this feedback that your teacher gave you? Why have you not answered this question or corrected this answer?  

  • What do you need to ask your teacher to understand how to use this feedback?

  • How do you feel when your teacher gives you constructive feedback on your work?  What do you understand about why they might be doing this?

News

Year 9 British Library Trip: Malorie Blackman Posted on: 23/02/2024

Year 9 British Library Trip: Malorie Blackman

    This week a group of Year 9 students visited the British Library to see Malorie Blackman in conversation with illustrator Dapo Adeola. She answered questions submitted from schools around the country, on topics such as her inspirations, advice for writers, and weighty subjects such as institutional racism. The audience gained fascinating insight into the writing process, authors’ earnings, and how to deal with rejection when approaching publishers: Malorie received 82 rejection letters before her first book was accepted for publication! Every school attending received a beautiful edition of “Noughts and Crosses” specially produced by the Folio Society.
Book of the Month - December Posted on: 8/12/2023

Book of the Month - December

  For December’s Book of the Month we are going back to 1813, and what I call ‘the OG rom com’, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1775-1817). Mr and Mrs Bennet belong to a social group known as ‘the genteel poor’, they have social standing but not a great deal of wealth, and no son to inherit what they do have, instead they have 5 daughters. It is imperative that they marry off their daughters to ensure their financial security and set about immersing their offspring in social gatherings to introduce them to eligible bachelors. 2 of these men are Mr Darcy and Mr Wickham. In this social satire featuring a big cast of characters, Austen weaves her way through upper class English society, featuring among it an unattractive suitor who will keep the Bennet estate within the family (Mr Collins), a melodramatic mother (Mrs Bennet), 2 cynical and intelligent sisters (Jane, and our heroine Elizabeth), a flighty teenager (Lydia Bennet), and a group of mean girls (Mr Darcy’s sisters). These characters could just as easily exist in a modern romantic comedy. This book may be more than 200 years old but it still offers a giggle, and a look into a time when writers were evasive about the provenance of an individual’s wealth (most likely slavery, see Said’s Orientalism), and women were essentially commodities.
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