FEATURE FOCUS: THE SUMMER LEARNING GAP


illustrators. The Pop-Up Festival provided schools with the reading material, replacing outdated books with new ones and replenishing school libraries. During the festival, authors then worked with each of the schools to deliver workshops, appearing as writer-role models, giving pupils the opportunity ask questions and gain real world insight. This year alone, 92 authors and illustrators


including Abi Elphinstone, Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Patrice Lawrence hosted workshops in the schools. One of our teachers was surprised at the effect the authors had on engagement levels, noting that “when children are motivated by an author, they can achieve more when they write and read.” The festival not only allows children to explore


a breadth of titles but aims to kick-start pupils’ creative writing and illustration skills to ignite their creativity ahead of the summer holidays and encourage them to explore the world of literature. As a Trust we want to empower pupils and


build their literacy skills – it’s something all schools and trusts aspire to. This festival can also help teachers though. The fresh new content and support means that lesson plans can be created throughout the summer term and the presence of the authors really gives the whole festival a buzz of excitement. The success of last year’s festival is outlined in


the 2017 Pop-Up Festival report, conducted in Peterborough. 81 per cent of pupils thought the book they selected was ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ and 87 per cent ‘liked’ or ‘loved’ their workshop. In addition, 100 per cent of teachers noted that reluctant readers had been engaged in the project more than usual. That statistic alone had us deciding to do the festival this year!


Encouraging independent learning Although motivation can start to wane over the summer, if an activity is viewed as fun then children are more likely to get involved and learn more – often without even realising it. But in order to encourage learning throughout the summer holidays, as schools we need to think about how to support parents effectively. By being proactive, schools can better prepare parents with suggested activities that pupils can try out in order to keep their minds engaged and active. This doesn’t have to be a time-consuming task for schools either; if tasks for the holiday are based on an extension of what pupils were


learning during the summer term, then parents can weave them into their plans. This way they know it’s building upon existing knowledge and skills learnt in the classroom. One example is that if a class is reading and


learning about Tudor history during the summer term, an ideal follow on task during the holidays would be to ask pupils to write a short creative story. This may be in the view of King Henry VIII himself, or as one of his advisors. These sorts of activities allow children to explore a topic independently and in further detail, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Helping pupils develop ‘soft’ skills including communication, delegation and problem-solving is important too, so smaller tasks such as allowing children to take responsibility for writing the shopping lists weekly, working out the cost savings for supermarket deals or even writing postcards after their summer adventures all help contribute towards avoiding the ‘summer slide’. It’s also worth remembering that libraries are full


of useful information, events and activities beyond simply borrowing books so providing parents with information on local community events – like the Pop-Up Festival – would be useful. Keeping pupils’ minds active throughout the


summer holidays doesn’t just help to make sure that their work during term time isn’t undone over the space of six weeks, it also helps them back into a learning frame of mind for the new school year. Putting the preparation in now will mean the rewards can be reaped in the longer- term so we believe that being proactive about this is key. The Pop-Up Festival has been great for academies in the Trust to encourage hands-on learning. We’ve been able to use it to bring literacy to life and develop those all-important reading and writing skills. The fact that it sparks curiosity and creativity just before the summer holidays is an added bonus and we’re looking forward to seeing the results of it come September.


July/August 2018


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