Parents are being urged not to miss the closing date for primary school applications. Children who were born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009 can start at a primary or infant school from September 2013. The closing date for the submission of applications is 11.59pm on Tuesday, 15 January. Late applicants have less Read more
Education
According to Kate Freeman of children’s communication charity, I CAN, there’s a ‘golden age’ for learning to talk – before 5½. Evidence has shown the early years to be a vital time for supporting all children’s communication, as well as a time to identify any difficulties and put support in place to improve a child’s overall life chances. In this article we look at some tools and techniques which could help develop our children’s communication skills and an excuse for some one to one time with our little ones!
My son had ‘writer’s block’ caused by poor handwriting. Read on to see how technology and the school blogging project is making him WANT to write!
I have been reading with interest the continuing phonics debate on Mumsnet this week in response to Guest Posts from Michael Rosen and Nick Gibb.
This year the UK government introduced phonics screening tests at the end of Year 1 and there is a firm commitment to the teaching of synthetic phonics as the primary method of teaching reading.
For me there are 2 key questions in this discussion:-
1. How important is phonics instruction for producing fluent readers?
2. Is it appropriate to test young children’s phonic knowledge?
