This summer the majority of primary school students in the UK could lose nearly half a year’s worth of knowledge.
The concept of summer learning loss has been studied for over a hundred years and invariably the results suggest that students returning to study after the summer holidays are at a lower academic level than when they finished the previous year.
Through assessment students have been found to typically score lower at the beginning of the school year than they do on the same tests taken only six or seven weeks earlier. When not engaged in educational activities students can regress at a rate equivalent to as much as two to four national curriculum points(equivalent to half a year to a year’s study).
Aside from this issue affecting the students themselves, summer learning loss is a burden for educators. To redress the losses following an extended break teachers are required to re-cap, and in many cases re-teach, material from the previous year.
In a bid to arrest these alarming figures many educational institutions are exploring the option of summer schools, offering students the chance to continue engaging with education over the summer months. Summer schools provide parents and teachers with a way of ensuring that students are given the opportunity to maintain and improve their academic levels. Alongside this, projects recently piloted in the UK have shown an increase in pupil confidence, school readiness and socialisation across all students in attendance.
The majority of students studying through the summer months perform well above their grade levels upon returning to education in September. The change in approach, environment and atmosphere offered by a summer school has been shown to reignite student inquisitiveness and engagement across subject areas and promotes education as an enjoyable and entertaining activity.
At NCC Education we are offering the chance for a limited number of schools to deliver innovative and new Computing qualifications to children this summer, all for free. We will provide the full teacher guide and resources necessary to deliver a qualification in Computing in complete confidence. This innovative new range of computing qualifications aimed at Key Stages 1 to 3 (as well as older learners), has been developed to meet the new National Curriculum in Computing to be introduced in September.