FEATURE FOCUS: SUMMER LEARNING LOSS


benefits of this two-way process and it is a long- term plan that needs to be put in place – it will not happen overnight. School leaders need to be working with their teams to offer support to parents before, during and after the summer holidays. Parents will be feeling anxious at the prospect of the long summer holidays for a whole host of reasons, and it is important that they feel that schools are supporting them as opposed to applying pressure on them to ‘continue the job of schools’ at home. Adult emotions can often be passed on to children so it is worth considering what support families might need if they are concerned that their child may have fallen behind over the summer or they’re worried about how they will cope in a new academic year group. This could be a targeted approach or a whole school approach if a school has a particularly high number of children with SEND or high numbers of children in receipt of pupil premium funding. Prior to the end of the summer term, some schools offer a transitional week as opposed to the usual ‘meet the teacher’ day in order to help bridge this gap. Parents are provided with a ‘toolkit’ packed with advice for parents to boost their confidence in supporting their child from home into and beyond the new term. All too often schools set lovely creative, family-oriented activities for children in the EYFS, then it quickly becomes more formal (learning 10 spellings, learn this set of times tables). It needn’t be this way – children can be set tasks to complete over the holidays which keep their minds turning but are actually ‘invisible learning’ tasks. Reading,


particularly with children of primary school age is crucial over the summer holidays. Research carried out by the National Literacy Trust found that “reading for just 10 minutes a day is enough to have an impact on a child’s learning”. Finding a new recipe in English will help to develop vocabulary, measuring ingredients is great for mathematics and understanding how long to bake your cake for can help with science studies. Children could be asked to do some cooking, find things on a nature walk, build something out of Lego etc. For older students, they could be encouraged to volunteer their time in the community, learn a new language, join a new sports team and discuss what they learnt or did when they come back to school. This can also be a good way of breaking the ice, particularly if the forms have changed since the previous academic year and students do not know each other well yet.


For families who can afford it, there is the option of additional tuition during the holidays. This 1:1 attention can be a really special time for a student who may need specific gaps in their knowledge to be plugged where they can have an entirely bespoke provision designed uniquely for them. For some children, particularly those who are aiming towards entrance exams, the summer holiday is an ideal time to boost their study time through 1:1 or small group tuition as they do not have the additional stresses of school on a daily basis alongside the tuition. For others, this would not be the best way to achieve their potential as they need the structure of ‘school


being school and ‘home being home’. It is important to find the right solution for each child and each family’s situation. The only way to find this is by having a positive and constructive relationship between schools and families.


Is summer learning loss actually a problem? What if we take a moment to consider the merits of ‘summer learning loss’ and the flip side - engagement in learning other skills, not just academic, which are so sorely missed and lamented in normal schooling provision. Perhaps we can think about the summer holiday as an opportunity for a different type of learning – one that supports a child to develop outside the structure of the classroom.


There are numerous opportunities for children to visit museums and cultural centres, which are often free or discounted entry in the holidays, which can offer an opportunity for children to learn about other things. There have been studies which have found that taking children to a museum not only improves their knowledge but also their ability to solve problems and enhances their creativity. Museums are a great place to go during the summer holiday too (and are often free therefore removing one barrier for lower income families). Lots of museums have hands-on exhibits for kids, especially during summer. Many virtual tours of museums and cultural centres are now readily available on the internet, which reduces the financial burden and helps working parents to offer experiences and knowledge to their children even if they are unable to travel


July/August 2023


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