From the Master | helping children to plan their summer holiday

From the Master

Dear parents

The long summer holiday can evoke mixed emotions in families. Children almost invariably see it as a chance to get away from school for an extended period, and a chance to enjoy spending time with their families. Parents, equally understandably, often worry about the potential that such a long break has for inducing stagnation in their child’s learning. Both points of view have merit. There is plenty of research available on the importance of sustained holiday time as a positive force for learning and wellbeing, as well as evidence to suggest that learning can ‘plateau’ if neglected for too long.

The summer holiday affords a great chance for parents and children to experiment, to explore new interests and, with time less of a scarce commodity than it is during term time, it can be a wonderful opportunity to discover new hobbies. Reading, so vital in developing language fluency and vocabulary, can really flourish in the long hours of July and August. Family visits to museums, theatres and concerts can help to spark lifelong passions; travel itself, of course, can be a great spur to the imagination and understanding the world. An active summer of sport and exercise can help children (and their parents, of course) to become fitter, sleep better and lead healthier lives.

I recognise that, for many families, such holiday time is largely reserved for children, and parents rarely enjoy such substantial breaks. For them, there is a real concern that the long holiday can mean hours of unsupervised leisure time for their child and, consequently, have an adverse impact on the progress of their learning. One way to help address this is to look at the option of summer camps for children. These are increasingly popular with parents, as they offer structured programmes of study, experienced educators and, importantly, a blend of classroom and activity-based courses. Our own summer camp (8th-19th July and 22nd-2nd August) is being run by the school for the first time. Teachers have been recruited from among our own staff, but significantly, we now have a number of very experienced teachers joining us from Wellington College in England. As ever, we are committed to offering high-quality teaching and coaching, in small group classes and with children allocated by age group to maximise their learning. The camp will offer tuition in English, science, public speaking and debating, creative writing, as well as activities and sports such as swimming, golf, art and dance. In this way, parents and children can be assured of the quality of the programmes on offer, as well as be confident that they are being kept safe and busy in the school. With unprecedented levels of sign ups, we are already approaching capacity for the summer camp, but we have a few spaces for Wellingtonians aged between 6 and 12 years. 

The summer holidays are an important time for children to regather their energies for the coming year at school, but without structure and planning, there is the potential for weeks of drift. Children need to be ready to hit the ground running once the new term begins, and as a result, helping them to plan their time and maintain their language levels are particular priorities.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey

MASTER