General
FREE COURSE – Help Your Child to Read and Write
August 6, 2017I have often written blog posts before about reading, teaching reading and helping children to become effective readers. That is simply because, like others I think reading is a fundamental skill that children need to learn and they deserve to be taught in ways that will help them achieve that, by people who have the […]
7 School Holiday Survival Tips (For Parents!)
July 23, 2017Help Its School Holidays! They have arrived for almost all of the UK now and for many parents it means six weeks of somehow juggling even more than usual. In the UK, according to the Modern Families Index (https://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Modern-Families-Index_Full-Report.pdf) 48% of couple families said they worked full time and 57% of single parents reported working […]
8 ways to helpchildren and young people learn about emotions
May 29, 2017As this week has shown in a shocking and tragic way we live in a world where awful things happen. Yes, it is also a wonderful world but there are times when either at a personal and individual level, through illness bereavement or numerous other traumas or at a wider societal level (within which there […]
Last Minute Revision
May 21, 2017Top Revision Tips
Risking a few risks
May 21, 2017We hear a lot about safeguarding, health and safety, risk assessments, and duty of care. These are all very important, especially for anyone involved in the care of children or young people. But as a society it seems we could be in danger of becoming very ‘risk averse’. In terms of academic learning we encourage […]
How to Handle Homework
May 16, 2017Many parents can see homework as a bit of a battle, at any time of the year but especially when the sun starts to shine. As parents it can be tough we are told abut the benefits of exercise and being outdoors for children so it often goes against the grain to be restricting […]
How to build positive self-esteem
April 30, 2017In my work roles I have often worked with children and young people who struggle with self-esteem. This can happen for all sorts of reasons and is always a concern for the adults who are around them, whether that be parents, or other relatives, carers or staff in schools. Of course it is easiest […]
Managing Exam Stress
April 22, 2017We have now reached that time of year when children and young people in both primary and secondary schools are facing assessments and exams. The hope is that in primary schools these remain fairly low key, though from what some teachers and parents report that is not always the case – with some being relentlessly […]
The ‘numbers’ of Reading
April 3, 2017This image was kindly provided by ‘mom loves best’ you can check out their website here Recent estimates suggest that while there may be less than 1% of the adult population who are completely illiterate there are approximately 5.1 million people – about 16% who are what would be described as functionally illiterate with a […]
Learning to Love a Good Laugh
March 17, 2017My article on laughter was first published in Affinity magazine last May – but we could all do with a reminder of how good it is for us to laugh!! http://www.affinitymag.co.uk/learning-to-love-a-good-laugh/ so here it is again. I must confess that in my opinion one of the best sounds on earth is that of children laughing. It […]