The Learning Exchange
Summer holidays: learning loss Find out what experts know about ‘summer learning loss’ in these three reports from the Wallace Foundation. Effective and Promising Summer Learning Programs and Approaches for Economically-Disadvantaged Children and Youth covers a range of helpful programmes; It’s Time for Summer: An Analysis of Recent Policy and Funding Opportunities surveys the public policy landscape – a useful document if you are undertaking research, as it’s relevant to the United States; and Building Quality in Summer Learning Programs: Approaches and Recommendations looks at summer activity programmes that work.
The big summer slide No, it’s not a water shute in a fun park. It’s the backward learning slide that students in deprived areas experience, particularly during long summer breaks. Read Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children’s Learning, a report from the Wallace Foundation on how summer programmes can help stop it.
Zone in on Summer The Really Big Summer Adventure will inspire children and families to keep active and eat healthily over the summer holidays with lots of tools, advice, hints and tips. Children can download an adventure map and access over 100 ideas for games and play from the activity generator. And, there are money-off deals for a range of food, drink and activities for parents.
Holiday childcare and activities: Key learning for sustainability Just in time for summer 2011, this useful publication summarises the good practice, learning and insights gleaned from the Holiday Activities Pilot run during 2010. It has gathered what works best in offering sustainable childcare and holiday activities, and presents case studies and tips on various aspects of organising and running them; for example, it offers a section on what works best when commissioning childcare and holiday activities. (Produced by 4Children and ContinYou.)
Join a discussion on the Holiday Activities forum The Holiday Activities pilot has now ended, but you are still welcome to post questions to either ContinYou or 4Children through this forum. The moderator will ensure that your question is answered by flagging it up in the regular e-newsletter from the Learning Exchange. So, if you have any tips or experiences you want to share, blog about them on the Learning Exchange. People are always looking for fresh ideas and insights.
Wish you were here! Practical guide to setting up holiday childcare A user-friendly PDF full of step-by-step advice and information on developing childcare and activities for children during school holidays.
Supporting children to play safely: Neighbourhood policing and the Play Strategy A briefing outlining why play and informal recreation is important, including practical advice, guidance and case studies.
Sutton Trust summer schools Week-long summer schools with almost 700 free places available.
Thinking About Summer Learning: Three Perspectives What sets one summer learning campaign apart from another? ‘Summer learning loss’ can be particularly severe among low-income youth and is cited as a leading cause of the achievement gap between them and more affluent students. Here's a useful new publication from the Wallace Foundation, which includes reports by two people involved in a recent webinar on the subject. There’s also a shorter fact sheet: Effective and promising summer learning programs and approaches for economically-disadvantaged children and youth by Mary Terzian, Ph.D., M.S.W. Kristin Anderson Moore, Ph.D., Kathleen Hamilton, M.A. June 2009.
Download this document at the Wallace Foundation website. All documents are free.
How inclusive are we: an audit tool Here is a useful tool from Warrington Council that helps you check how inclusive your planned holiday activities or programmes are.
Excellent example of a summer activities programme Torbay's 2010 Summer Activities programme is co-ordinated and organised by Learning Exchange member Claire Bagnall and offers a huge number of activities to young people between 4 and 17 years old.
The Challenge Three week summer programme for 15 and 16 year olds consisting of activities designed to show them and others what they're capable of.
Summer Schools 2010 Flyer and booking form for three special week-long events during July and August from Theale Partnership Schools.
Holiday childcare is a struggle to find A survey by The Daycare Trust has found many parents can't get affordable care for their children for the summer holidays.
Books over summer can be as effective as summer school A US study found that giving low-income pupils a selection of free books to read over summer prevented them from sliding behind their more affluent peers.
Teenagers need better holiday activities Young people use what holiday activities less as they grow older. It is imperative that what is provided reflects the aspirations and preferences of all young people as they grow older. Comment from Barbara Hearn, Deputy Chief Executive, NCB in Children and Young People Now 11-17 May 2010.
Do it 4 Real (Youth Hostel Association) If you're organising holiday activities for children aged 10 – 19, and haven't been on a Youth Hostel Association 'Do it 4 Real' Summer Camp yet, there could be some good reasons to check out this option. Read the latest Do It 4 Real impact report.
Fizz and Flash present summer science sizzlers at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum. From 15 June to 16 July Eureka! is offering school visitors two sizzling science Learning Journeys to supplement their exploration of the Eureka! galleries. Children can explore the importance of water in ‘Splash!’ or follow the journey of a peanut butter and banana sandwich through the digestive track in ‘From the Chew to the Poo’.
Vinspired volunteering directory Database of volunteering opportunitues for 16 to 25 year olds in England.
Space Hop Summer Reading Challenge The official website includes a network for sharing comments and book recommendations, blogs from famous writers and online games.
The Issue: Extended schools This 23 July TES article was published with the following leader: ‘With hundreds of schools staying open this summer to boost pupil performance, are teachers being unfairly pressured into giving up their hard-earned holidays?' Surely, at the heart of the ethos of any school offering a wide range of extended services is the idea that a school shares the responsibility with its community for raising school standards, improving achievement and attainment and improving life outcomes for children, young people and their families. School remodelling should have helped schools to free their teachers to teach and find other members of staff and members of the community to run extended services. Please do add your comments to this article on the TES website. Add your comment.
The Tinkering School Gever Tulley shows, with photos and footage, what children learn at his Tinkering school when they are given the tools, materials and guidance. Problem-solving on a rollercoaster... !
Learning Exchange Library: Play resources...
4Children The national charity all about children, young people and families.
Family Information Services Find your local FIS on their official website.
Ofsted For all registration and inspection enquiries.
Working Tax Credit Calculator This can be used by parents to calculate how much support they would be eligible for.
Next Steps: Developing extended services, a guide for childcare providers Topics covered include choices in childcare, delivering services, making the most of expansion, building your workforce and setting up a breakfast club and holiday playscheme.
21st Century Schools: a world-class education for every child 21st Century Schools is the DCSF’s flagship consultation on how make schooling fit for the 21st century a reality for every child.
Impact evaluation model A tool from the TDA to help local authorities identify links from a project's activities and resources to what it wants to achieve.
The ins and outs of running a holiday activity programme These presentations contain useful information about the practicalities of running a holiday activities programme and describe some of the outcomes which resulted (please note the size of files before downloading):
- Calderdale (4.37Mb)
- Cornwall (0.16Mb)
- Ealing (3.26Mb)
- Lambeth (0.11Mb)
- Northamptonshire (1.39Mb)
- Nottinghamshire (1.93Mb)
- Portsmouth (10.38Mb)
- Rotherham (4.60Mb)
- Stockport (3.42Mb)
- Sutton (1.18Mb)
- Telford (0.17Mb)
- Walsall (1.60Mb
- Warrington (10.11Mb)
The Holiday Activities Pilot: Useful development plans from all the centres that piloted Holiday Activities.
Bristol
Calderdale
Cornwall
Darlington
Ealing
Lambeth
Northamptonshire
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Portsmouth
Redcar & Cleveland
Rotherham
Shropshire
Stockport
Sutton
Telford
Walsall
Warrington