New Milton Advertiser 2nd Oct 2020

Friday 2nd October 2020 · 29

news@adt.press · advertising@adt.press · 01425 613384

Priestlands School

Highcli e School

“Our aim is to develop well rounded young people who have the skills and attributes to be successful in life and to make a positive impact in our community.”

A t Highcliffe School we value the power of education to change lives. We are well known as a highly academic and successful school and Sixth Form attracting students from across Christchurch, the New Forest and Bournemouth. We have an excellent track record of entry to Oxbridge and Russell Group universities, in addition to students secur- ing the most sought-after local apprenticeships and training places at age 16 or 18. As well

as academic success we believe young people learning mutual respect, being purposeful and responsible, and showing gen- erosity towards others to be as important in their life as learning inquisitiveness, determination, and initiative. We encourage an- yone considering Highcliffe for their education to join our Vir- tual Open Evening online where you will learn more about us from both staff and students.

We are proud of our academic record and believe all children are capable of making exceptional pro- gress. We encourage them to em- brace challenge, pursue excellence and to be resilient in overcoming obstacles. Above all we want to ignite in our students a love of learning which will serve them well throughout their lives. However, Priestlands is about far more than exam results as our motto, Learn more… Do more… Be more…, implies. Our aim is to de- velop well rounded young people who have the skills and attributes to be successful in life and to make a positive impact in our communi- ty. We do hope you will be able to take advantage of this virtual op- portunity to see Priestlands and we very much look forward to meeting you next year when regu- lations permit. Peter Main Headteacher

I n the current extraordinary cir- cumstances caused by the coro- navirus pandemic, we are disap- pointed not to be able to welcome you to our superb school at our annual Open Evening & Morning. We know how important it is for you to be able to see the school and all the different subject areas, as well as having the opportunity to meet staff and talk to students. Therefore, we are excited to tell you that we are producing a Virtu- al Open Event instead which, once published online, will be available for you to view at your leisure. We look forward to sharing with you information about our rich and varied curriculum and the oppor- tunities open to your child as they move up to secondary education. Details will be published on our website at www.priestlands.hants. sch.uk

Priestlands is committed to be- ing a leading comprehensive school that serves the entire community, provides high quality education across the curriculum and has am- bitious plans for its continued suc- cess and development. In 2015, we were recognised by the Minister for Schools as one of England’s top 100 schools for sustained performance at GCSE. Since then we have con- tinued to build on this success with our headline GCSE Progress 8 score consistently placing us among the top schools in Hampshire and the New Forest. This is the measure that indicates how much value a school adds to each student and shows that Priestlands is consist- ently delivering positive outcomes for all groups of students, year on year.

Everyday maths

M aths is hugely important in many aspects of every- day life and building an early comprehension of math- ematical concepts and problem solving can help pave the way for academic success in later ed- ucation. So even if your children are not destined to become the next Alan Turing or Archimedes intro- ducing mathematical language and ideas early on can help cre- ate the building blocks for future success. But for many parents teaching maths can be a daunting pros- pect, and without confidence and direction, it can sometimes seem easy to leave the tuition to the qualified teachers. How- ever, there are many of simple methods to help youngers and older children boost their maths skills and confidence outside the classrooms. First and foremost, make maths fun, and introduce it to everyday life with toddlers and young children. Try counting games in the bath, at story time or whilst you are out for a walk to help make maths part of every- day life from a young age. Early maths for toddlers and young children Young children enjoy counting everything from pebbles at the beach to flowers, teddy bears or toy cars. As they grown in con- fidence with counting you can begin to introduce the idea or adding one or taking one away, enabling them to begin making basic calculations. Young children also enjoy learning through games and ac- tivities – so board games which involve counting can be a great way of building maths skills. There are many fun counting games like snakes and ladders and Ludo, and for slightly old- er children games like Yaht- zee, Rummikub and Monopoly are full of problem solving and maths concepts. Cooking and preparing food together can also provide many opportunities for exploring mathematical ideas, from cut- ting an apple into half and quar- ter pieces, to measuring out the right amount of milk to make a bowl of porridge, try to introduce mathematical ideas into every- day life and conversation. For slightly older children you could try testing their maths skills by ‘doubling up’ a recipe for chocolate brownies or cupcakes

and helping to calculate what the new quantities of ingredients would be needed ( e.g. two eggs instead of one, and a whole cup of flour instead of half) At mealtimes you can also en- courage children to build their counting skills by setting out the right number or glasses, plates or cutlery. You can also introduce maths concepts into play and every- day conversations for example by making comparisons (which teddy is biggest, how many arms does the octopus have etc), talking about shapes such a triangles, squares and circles, and talking about maths in sto- ry books such as the Three Little Pigs or Snow White and the Sev- en Dwarfs. Building bricks, Lego blocks and shape sorting puzzles are examples of other toys which can be used to help develop counting skills and ideas about maths. Supporting older children with maths As children get older the maths, they are doing at home is likely to be linked to work and concepts they are doing at school. But often the teaching meth- ods used in schools will have changed since parents were pu- pil’s so take the opportunity to attend maths training sessions and classes for parents which will offer up to the minute advice on the latest methodology. Schools will often publish links to websites or PDF sheets which can help parents to understand how various concepts and ideas are now taught in schools. Practice, practice, practice multiplication and times table as much as you can – a excellent re- call of times tables is one of the most important tools of more advanced maths – and it is very likely that your child will contin- ue using multiplication calcula- tions into adult life. There are lots of online games that can support times table practice so if you child responds better to game type challenges than textbooks, consider this an option instead. Regular spending five minutes when you are out in the car to practice multiplication can help your children stay up to speed. They should learn to recite times tables in order and give quick fire answers to questions like ‘what are eight sixes?’ or ‘how

many sevens equal 49?’ By year five and six your child should be confident to answer times tables questions up to 12 x 12. Encourage your child to spot and identify shapes you encoun- ter out and about in everyday life. As well as recognising 2D and 3D shapes, they can also look for lines of symmetry, par- allel lines and different angles such as right angles. An important part of learning maths is applying classroom concepts and skills to everyday problems and situations. En- couraging you children to build up their estimation skills and try to link concepts like rounding up or down to everyday problems. Receiving small amount of money for doing various jobs or saving up pocket money for a special treat can help children use their maths skills in everyday life. Ask your child to help calcu- late the sum of two or three shopping items and encourage them to work out which coins or notes they would use to pay and how much if any change they could expect to get back. As children get older introduce the ideas of saes and discount codes (e.g. 30% off everything) to develop their understanding of percentages. Many children struggle with telling the time so providing lots of opportunities to study clocks and work out the time can be very helpful. It is important for children to learn to tell the time on both digital and analogue clocks and learn how to tell the time on a 24-hour clock. Once your child has learnt the basic of telling the time intro- duce challenges and questions like – dinner will be cooked in 20 minutes - can you tell me what time that will be? Or we need to leave the house at 9.30am – how long have we got to get ready? Cooking and baking are a great way to develop maths skills in younger and older chil- dren by ticking many boxes such as weighing and measuring, calculating, setting a timer and comparing imperial and metric measurements etc. Finally create a quiet area where your child can work on their maths and make sure they have all the tools they need such as pens and pencils, a rubber, rulers and a calculator. This will help them to remain focused.

Made with FlippingBook Publishing Software