Dear lovely parents and guardians,
We wish you a happy new term from HSC Tutoring.
I know it does not sound as exciting at the moment when you have your children at home and doing your very best to keep them entertained and developed academically.
During these extraordinary times many tutors, learners, and parents have been feeling uncertain and anxious about the new home education system. If you are already overwhelmed from today, you are not alone.
Please take a deep breath and relax! You must always keep in mind; the most important thing is the health of you and your families in this unprecedented situation.
I would like to highlight some areas to give you a better understanding about the current home education system.
1- What do schools expect from your child?
DfE advices schools that pupils must receive a ‘suitable full-time education’ but that home learning does not have to follow the exact patterns of the school day. Students are not required to
· have a timetable
· have set hours during which education will take place
· observe school hours, days or terms
2- How much work will there be?
According to DfE, schools will provide advice for the support of education of school-aged children.
Following their advice, you may have already received an informative email from your school on how they are going to carry on with the home education of the children. There is a significant variance in the work set for students, however the main focus is to keep students engaged in learning to have consistency in education. Many tutors and teachers focus on revisiting and revising the basic contents and filling the knowledge gaps.
Yesterday (April 19), Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary on the Government said that “some of our leading state schools have collaborated to open The Oak National Academy”, and it has been launched today to provide support to online learning of students during his press conference.
“This is a totally new initiative, led by 40 brilliant teachers who have assembled video lessons and resources for any teacher in the country to make use of if they wish to do so. 180 video lessons will be provided each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10.” Mr Williamson added.
Here is the link to access this great resource: https://www.thenational.academy/
3- How can you cope with the current system?
The amount and content of the work will depend on your child’s school set. Pupils may find some of the content challenging so it is possible for them to feel some struggle. In this case, some parents try to teach every single topic to their students that may be the reason for the frustration. Please bare in mind, you are not expected to deliver ‘professional’ lessons, or expect your child to be as focused as they are at school.
It is only logical as your child may well produce the work set with you on a 1-hour-setting of 1:1 session, which is worth the entire school day of six hours with distractions in a crowded classroom.
I personally can not be more agree with the statement from DfE “There are many simple ways to help your children learn and it does not have to feel like ‘learning’. Having everyday conversations, make-believe play, and reading together, all make a big difference to your child’s development.”
My advice as a tutor is that if there is any knowledge that you are not comfortable with, you should not panic to teach it to your child but you should seek for help.
Use online resources (see below) to help you and listen to your school’s advice. f you feel your child is getting too much work, I strongly advice you to contact with teachers and ask kindly. You may also comment here or simply contact with us via phone if you need any advice or guidance.
We’d be happy to help!
Please stay calm, look after yourselves most importantly keep safe and well!
Sumeyye
*The previous announcement about online resources from DfE is as follows:
- a list of online educational resources which have been identified by some of the country’s leading educational experts to help pupils to learn at home
- the BBC enhancing its education provision to include daily lessons, starting from 20 April 2020
For parents with children under 5 years old, who have not yet started school, the Department for Education (DfE)’s Hungry Little Minds campaign features tips and practical activities that you can do at home with children to support their early learning.