Learning curves

A lot of us will be going trough steep learning curves this week. New classes, new teachers, new classrooms, new subjects. No wonder there are so many yawns going round! We are no different here at EKT. Teachers never stop learning. Some of the best lessons come from our students. They are on the coal […]

Test Day

Apologies to those who read this from outside the Kent Test area but this week many of us in this corner of our green and pleasant land are preoccupied with just one thing. The Test. Now, I know I have only just posted about the first day back at school – if this was handwriting […]

Back to school

 Well today’s the day for most of our munchkins. Back to school, back to routine, back to homework. The first week is usually exhausting as we (yes teachers too) get used to new expectations, workload, classmates and topics. It’s pretty exhausting for us parents prising our nearest and dearest out of bed for the early […]

To tute, or not to tute, that is the question

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23973213 Parents naturally want to do their best for their children”, said Sir Peter. But he added:”Providing private tuition for them puts those children whose parents can’t afford it at a disadvantage. There’s no doubt that tutoring isn’t cheap. It’s costlier in the South East than some areas, but cheaper on the whole than London? […]

47%

……….……….……….……….………. ………….……….……….……….……. Ok, that’s 100 dots. 100%. 47& are blue, 53% are orange. Those 47 dots represent the 47% of our 11 year-olds who, according to the BBC news website( Link ) have failed to meet a new tough standard in reading, writing and mathematics. That’s a lot of dots that have not attained the […]

Education Secretary’s comments on SATS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36703784Read the article if you fancy but essentially Nicky Morgan has said ‘Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring!’The tests have been made tougher and Mrs Morgan says lower results should not be interpreted as a decline in performance by pupils. “They simply cannot be compared directly,” says Mrs Morgan. She’s right, the results can’t be compared with […]

Tests and all that.

Well done to all the year 6’s who have made it through SATs week (and to all the parents, teachers, TAs and assorted support staff who played a vital role in making it as stress-free as possible for the children. Good luck to all those starting GCSE or A level exams;we tutor more primary children […]

Viva maniplulatives

Posh word, simple meaning. Things you can handle…play with.They go in and out of fashion but I am a huge fan. The look on a child’s face when an abstract concept is transformed into a practical task is magic. Ideas become realities. This week I have been sorting through the new stock and it occurred […]

Changes

It’s been a while since I posted last. There have been a number of reasons but the main one is the I’ve been too busy doing to spend time writing. There has been a lot going on. Firstly we have increased our  staff and the area we cover.  We’d like to extend a very big welcome […]