FEATURE FOCUS: SUMMER LEARNING GAP or school environment.


These sessions don’t have to feel like ‘school’. The right tutor can make learning feel relaxed and enjoyable, with content that’s targeted precisely at the student’s level, interests and goals. Some schools organise or recommend summer school programmes with varying levels of structure, but even informal, lightly structured tuition can change how a student approaches September.


within the first few weeks of term. In literacy, students may come back with reduced reading fluency, weaker comprehension, or rusty grammar and punctuation skills. In maths, they might stumble over methods they had previously mastered: forgetting multiplication tables, losing confidence with mental arithmetic, or taking much longer to solve familiar problems. Beyond academic skills, there can be behavioural and emotional indicators too. Some students show reluctance to re-engage, lack the confidence to speak up in class, or start the year expressing frustration rather than curiosity. They may struggle to return to structured learning habits - things like using planners or staying focused for a full hour. For teachers, this makes the first few weeks back less about building on where last year left off, and more about backtracking: revisiting previously taught material just to get the whole class back to the same level. And if a school serves a community with many disadvantaged students, the effect can be even more significant.


How to interrupt the forgetting The good news is that addressing the summer learning gap doesn’t mean rigid study plans or daily homework drills. In fact, some of the most effective interventions are simple, low-pressure, and easily embedded into everyday life.


First, let’s start with learning at home. For parents, the most helpful thing schools can do before the summer begins is to address the issue head on: what the summer learning gap is, why it matters, and how to get to grips with it (in a way that’s manageable).


Here are a few activities we’ve recommended that can go a long way:


• Encourage children to write a letter to a relative, keep a summer diary, or create a comic strip.


• Set up a mini financial task, like planning a weekly grocery shop on a set budget using receipts or online shopping calculators.


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• Use learning-based apps such as Duolingo (for languages), Prodigy (for maths), or Kahoot quizzes to keep engagement high and screentime productive.


• Watch film versions of key English texts (there are some amazing Macbeths out there), or documentaries about relevant historical periods.


Just an hour per week of targeted, creative learning activity is often enough to stop the slide and keep children feeling school ready. Second, let’s talk about the role tuition can


play.


For students making key transitions (such as Year 6 into Year 7, or Year 9 into Year 10) a small investment in tailored tutoring can make a huge difference. A one-hour weekly online session with a qualified tutor helps to reinforce core skills, ease worries, and build self-confidence ahead of changes in curriculum


And thirdly (and maybe most importantly), don’t forget balance and wellbeing. After all, we have holidays for a reason. Children (like the rest of us!) aren’t robots, and everyone needs time and space to rest. With intense exam pressures, as well as constant exposure to social media, I think it’s really vital that kids have the chance to be kids. So yes, young people should have the time to socialise, get outside, focus on hobbies or even just be bored – with no academic agenda. For families, there’s no need to turn your home into a classroom. Just showing an interest in what your children are up to and thinking about how to naturally link that to school skills and subjects, can work wonders.


A stronger start in September


If we want our students to return in September with the tools and confidence they need for the rest of the academic year, we must acknowledge and act on the summer learning gap. Not least because its impact, as we’ve seen, can be hard to reverse, and can lead to long-term disengagement with education. But I really believe that as soon as parents and teachers are on board, it doesn’t take a superhuman effort to make a real difference. So, when students walk back into our classrooms, ready to answer that old familiar question, “What did you do on your summer holiday?”, it would be brilliant if more of them could say, “I had a great time…and kept up with my learning too.”


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