During the long summer holidays primary school children will lose ground – but parents can help. This is exacerbated by the fact children have already suffered lengthy periods away from school during the Covid pandemic are trying to catch up. A six week lay-off is not ideal from a teaching or learning point of view,…
An alarming poll of almost 1,000 primary school teachers and senior staff revealed that half of new pupils aren’t ‘school ready’. There has for some time been a percentage of four-year-olds who turn up at school barely able to eat properly and still wearing nappies. Some parents, who perhaps began school in this manner themselves,…
For decades, universities and businesses have complained that many coming through the school system have sub-standard literacy and numeracy skills. While the 2014 National Curriculum changes were a move in the right direction, the problem remains. The boss of John Lewis, Dame Sharon White, has recently disclosed that the business is giving basic English and…
It infuriates children and often irritates parents. Many teachers can do without it and progressive educationalists want it abolished. But homework for primary school children is important – and the pandemic has shown just why. Before Covid came it was the case that most state primary children were not being taught to be independent learners.…
Scotland’s education system was once envied across the world and countries scrambled to copy it. But now, under the SNP’s rule, it has become a scandal which the rulers north of the border are attempting to cover up. The progressive approach taken by the 2010 ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ is to blame. Trendy methods excited university…