Maths tutor and life coach, William Comet, shares some top tips

William Comet

April is a tricky month for parents and kids. On 12th May, 6,000 school children from 106 primary schools in Barnet will begin taking key stage two tests. From 15th May, a similar number of children from 51 secondary schools will take GCSEs.

Barnet school results are higher than the national average with Queen Elizabeth’s School, Henrietta Barnett and Dame Alice Owen ranking 1^st, 20^th and 35^th in the league table of secondary schools in England, according to School Guide (www.schoolguide.co.uk), for example. But there is always room for improvement, especially in Barnet’s lower ranked schools. So how can students best prepare for their exams in the time remaining? Schools have revision clubs and a big range of free resources online, too.

It’s crucial that children have a positive and consistent learning and revision environment at home. This means planned times for homework and revision, with an adult around properly to supervise. It’s especially valuable for parents to be fully engaged in identifying what their little darlings are up to both at school and with their homework on a daily basis.

This means observing what they are doing well and what they understand well and offering praise for good, hard work, and using evidence, e.g. good marks at school or teachers’ comments, to justify this praise. A lot of students use online homework and assessment platforms run by the schools that parents access to see how their kids are doing: both the good and the not so good.

Parents should listen patiently, sympathetically and constructively to what kids are struggling with and what they may need extra help with. It’s valuable to reinforce good learning and revision habits and explain how this can enhance a child’s life chances as they grow into adults.

Let children know that it’s really important that they share with their parents what’s going well but also what’s not going well and where they may need help, in any aspect of their studies or experiences in or around the school environment and at home. Be prepared to really listen and avoid making unnecessarily negative, demotivating comments.

One thing I have noticed is a tendency for siblings to tease one another at home after one of them has done badly in a school test or when completing homework. This can damage a child’s confidence and motivation and such behaviour needs to be avoided.

Borrowing metaphors from their pastimes helps kids to relate and stay engaged in their study and revision. For children who like football, for example, I cite Cristiano Ronaldo, who became the world’s greatest footballer. His coaches credited his unbelievable work ethic and determination to be the best.

Regularly practising past papers or parts of them at home under exam conditions is, of course, valuable. One parent recently sent me a photo that he took of his daughter doing a practice GCSE paper, while he supervised. He captioned the photo: “Practising my invigilator skills.”

There is controversy about learning styles when revising. A popular learning technique is: “Look, say, cover, write and check”. The student reads the study material, covers it over, says it out loud, writes it down and then checks it. Thus the student is engaging with that piece of learning in four different ways in a relatively short pace of time.

Some educational consultants believe that students with a visual learning preference prefer to use diagrams and colour coding to learn and to revise. Auditory learners may prefer verbal explanations and discussions. Kinaesthetic learners may retain information better when

incorporating movement into their study sessions. My advice is to go with an approach that engages the child the most, as long as frequent assessments show that learning is taking place

Some top tips for parents from www.MathsTutorWilliam.Com

Create a positive, consistent learning environment

Discourage teasing if one child gets poor test results

Parents who supervise, warmly engage and listen are invaluable

Regularly praise and reinforce positive engagement and effort

Encourage children to share if they are struggling

Remind children that doing their best boosts their life chances

William Comet, www.mathstutorwilliam.com, is a private maths tutor and certified life coach.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.