Brighter Futures – November 2021

Improved Results at School

This month I thought I might answer a question I am asked sometimes: “My child is improving at tutoring but they are not getting improved results at school. Why is that?”

At school, your child is tested on the topics they are covering throughout the year. If your child is behind, they may not understand these topics and hence perform poorly. We have to close any knowledge gaps before your child can keep up with the rest of the class.

At Kip McGrath, your child is taught at their level of ability and understanding so that they score consistently 70-75% or higher. This ensures they feel successful and motivated to keep trying. We work at the pace of your child’s learning, closing their knowledge gaps as we go. When the gap becomes small enough school results will improve.

Christine Hawkins
Owner KMEC Hunter

I know it can be disheartening when children do a test at school and don’t score the 70-75% or higher they are use to scoring at tutoring. Explain to them that the schoolwork is at a higher level at the moment, but if they continue working at their level, they will reach this higher level.

Your Tutor will update you every week on how your child is going, and we will formally test them at the end of each level they reach. This will give you an accurate picture of how your child is progressing and how long before they catch back up at school.

Study Tips for Kids

Children need to be raised to have good learning habits in the same manner as they need to be raised to have healthy eating habits. It is important to keep in mind that ways of studying that are not fun and more difficult can nonetheless be more effective than the easier and more enjoyable methods.

One good tip is to test your child’s memory. Rather than simply having them constantly re-reading the same notes, get your kids to close the book every now and then and test out their knowledge and memory.

Even good grades do not necessarily translate to good learning. Cramming can result in good test scores, and yet the knowledge will only be retained for the short term. A better strategy is to study a little bit each and every day, reviewing things a couple of times, with the result being that the knowledge is retained for much longer.