How Enfield parents can tackle learning loss caused by lockdown
The first nine months of 2020 have caused a whole host of potential long-term issues for families around the nation; financial challenges, a lack of contact with loved ones and cancelled trips abroad. But one of the most common problems normally seen over the summer holidays, now exacerbated after close to six months of school closures, is how to tackle children's learning loss.
As Enfield children tackle the start of term, local business owner, Neil Applewhaite, is here to offer some words of advice if your child is already beginning to feel left behind.
1. ‘Book’ some quiet time
There’s a lot to be said for the value a little light reading can contribute to a child’s development. If they’re usually an avid reader, challenge them to push themselves by tackling something suggested for a slightly older age-group (with pre-approval from you, of course!). For children that are a little less inclined to pick up a book during their down time, suggest half an hour of light reading before bed.
It doesn’t necessarily need to be a volume of action-adventure books or a classic novel. There are a whole host of fun and engaging magazines and short stories available, based around a huge variety of subjects. Allow your child to choose something that really appeals to them and challenge them to finish reading it within an agreed amount of time.
2. Find small challenges in the every day
What can be seen as ordinary tasks, like baking a cake or doing the weekly food shopping, can be made into a cognitive competition for children. Encourage your child to take ownership of weighing out the ingredients when preparing food for the family or enlist their support when ensuring everything on your shopping list is added to the shopping basket, either virtually or in person. This will increase your child’s confidence in their own independence and will transfer into leadership skills when in a formal, educational environment.
3. Start the conversation
As often as possible, try and bring the family together for mealtimes. Talk with your children about their day - what they’ve enjoyed, what wasn’t quite so much fun and what they’re looking forward to the following day. Your child will feel valued and respected, which will allow them to communicate freely and proactively with their friends and teachers when back in a classroom environment.
4. Enrol them in an after-school club
Now that schools are opening back up again, many clubs and extra-curricular activities are following suit. Because these activities often encourage learning and exercise through fun and, in the current situation socially distanced interaction, children hardly even realise they’re learning at all!
Studies have shown that hands-on activities, like sports, arts and crafts, and engineering, increases a child’s ability to engage well in a more formal learning environment. In Enfield alone, there are hundreds of activities that your child can take part in, many of which run on evenings and weekends. And providing you, the busy parent, with a little down time too!
Neil owns and runs kids coding centre, Code Ninjas, in Enfield, with wife Renee and business partner, Symeon. For more information about Code Ninjas programmes for children aged 5-14, visit www.codeninjas.co.uk/enfield-london-uk
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For more information, or to speak with Neil Applewhaite, contact Kelly Ayres at Rev PR on 07895 876745 or email kelly@revpr.co.uk
Image attached – Neil and Renee in the Code Ninjas Enfield centre.