Jane's Maths Blog

Last Minute Revision Tips for Students

Getting organised for the new school year

The Benefits of Starting Tutoring Before There's a Problem

Understanding Autism

Planning Ahead

Easy Ways to Tackle Maths Anxiety and Build Up Confidence With maths anxiety affecting many primary and secondary students throughout the UK, it’s no wonder so many pupils dread the subject. In fact, studies have even suggested that up to 55% of the population have a negative attitude towards maths, with many admitting to being ‘useless’ at the subject. With the maths UK curriculum being very full, there’s often not enough time for students to consolidate new skills before teachers have to move onto the next topic. This means that when topics are tested or visited again, kids can sometimes feel that they can’t ‘do’ maths, which can lead to them avoiding the subject and developing a negative association. Here’s some easy ways to help kids tackle maths anxiety and build up confidence! Signs of Maths Anxiety • A negative attitude towards maths. • Low confidence when dealing with maths problems. • Avoiding maths homework or the subject in general. • Excessively worrying about maths tests. • Feeling overwhelmed about new concepts. Making Mistakes Is Normal It’s important to help your child understand that making mistakes is normal and a very important part of learning- even in maths! Even though it may cause worry and anxiety for your child when they do get something wrong, encourage them to try and learn from their mistakes rather than feel disheartened. In fact, research even shows that our brains are more active when we get something wrong, than when we get something right. Make Maths Fun Making maths fun is the key to gradually replacing anxiety by building up enjoyment instead. We recommend using websites, games or apps to engage and inspire your kids and remind them that maths isn’t so scary after all. Not only does this keep learning light-hearted and fun, it also provides lots of opportunities for practice, building up a deeper understanding of concepts and using problem solving skills. Fill in Learning Gaps Taking extra time at home or with the help of a private tutor, filling in any gaps your child has in their maths knowledge will do wonders for their anxiety. It can be very difficult to make progress if kids don’t have a firm grasp on specific maths concepts, so building these back up will be sure to increase their confidence levels too. Display A Positive Attitude It’s important for parents to avoid passing on their own maths anxiety, so it’s probably best not to tell your kids if you were bad at maths. Instead, having an encouraging attitude towards the subject will help them try and maintain a positive attitude too. It’s also a good idea to praise your child if they make any progress, even if it’s small, as this can help build up their self-confidence and believe they can do it, even if it’s tricky! Make Maths a Part of Everyday Life Making maths a part of everyday life is an excellent way to help kids realise that it isn’t so bad after all. Whether it’s weighing out ingredients during baking, calculating the cost of the weekly food shop or figuring out how long it will take for them to save ‘X’ amount of pocket money- there are maths opportunities everywhere! Let Your Child Talk About Their Worries It’s important to let your child openly talk through their concerns about maths with you for them to be able to overcome them. This way you can listen to what they’re struggling with and offer support and advice. It can also be very helpful for kids to get their thoughts and feelings out in the open, rather than bottling up their worries. Even the act of saying things aloud can be stress relieving and in some cases, kids may even realise their own answers to their problems! Remind Your Child to Ask Questions If They Don’t Understand Finally, one of the easiest ways to tackle maths anxiety and start building up confidence again, is for your child to simply ask for help. Remind them that it’s okay to tell their teacher they don’t understand something and there’s no shame in asking for some extra help. Usually teachers will have an alternative way of explaining or be able to provide kids with additional learning resources.

Easter Update We have arrived at the Easter Holidays in what has been another very stressful and unusual school year. This is the time when GCSE students would usually be spending time revising and preparing for their exams which should be starting in late May. But this year, as with last year’s students that will now not be the case. However, many students know that they will have exams of some sort after the Easter Holidays which will be used as part of the process teachers will go through to predict the grades students will be awarded in the summer. I am here to help and support any of those students who feel they need some last minute revision or support so don't be afraid to ask for that help. And what about those who are taking GCSE's next year or further into the future? Do you feel you have missed a lot because of the enforced shut downs schools have had in the last year? Are you struggling with the return to school? Do you need extra help to achieve the maths grades you need or want at GCSE? I am here to help you move forward and achieve the grades you want. Contact me to arrange a meeting and we can discuss your needs and requirements and help you achieve the grades you want. In the yearly cycle that is education we are beginning to approach the quiet time for tutoring as students who are studying for GCSE’s begin to move on to other things and next year’s GCSE students haven’t started to worry about achieving their grades yet. I’m therefore starting to look at things to keep me busy over the summer and since I don’t currently offer A level tutoring because I don’t teach it in school have decided that will be a good place to start. I will therefore spend the summer looking at some of the A level topics – so that will be Mechanics, Statistics (though I have been teaching GCSE Statistics this year) and Pure Maths. I hope to then be able to offer A Level maths as an option next year. If anyone is starting to study A level maths next year and would like to explore these topics together and would like to work together to gain experience, please contact me and we can discuss options.

I had a blog all ready to up load about the quiet but fun Christmas and new year and how we’d all survived the first term back in the school in the new Covid world when just as I was about to load it up to the website everything changed overnight and we are back in lock down with schools closed and exams cancelled and at the moment no idea how year 11 will be assessed in 2021. Hopefully things will become clearer over the next few days or weeks and I will update the information on this website as soon as I know more about year 11 assessments in 2021. Watch this space and as soon as I have more information about what is actually happening with year 11 assessments – though based on past history teachers and schools are likely to find out what is planned at the same time as it is announced to you – I will make sure that information is available on here. The day after the lock down AQA (one of the UK exam boards) sent a message out to all schools who use their exams stating “I’m sure you’ll have heard the announcement that it won’t be possible for all exams to go ahead as normal this summer – and that the Government will work with Ofqual and exam boards on alternative arrangements. I know that you’ll want to hear what this means. We don’t ourselves have any more detail to provide you at this stage, but I can promise that we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know” In the meantime, other year groups are back to learning at home with online lessons. I know this is hard for many students and I am busy trying to plan lessons for my pupils at the school I teach at 2 days a week. If you or your child need any extra help or support while trying to study from home, please contact me and we can discuss options.

More tutoring and holidays Half term has been and gone and we are all still in school. It is becoming obvious that many parents and children have concerns about the time they missed earlier in the year and about time they may miss in the future. This means requests for tutoring are coming thick and fast. At the beginning of this year I did very little tutoring because of the initial lockdown and the closure of schools. With the decision to cancel GCSE exams in June and base grades on teacher assessment I was only seeing KS3 pupils who wanted help keeping their maths skills up during lock down. Since September I have carried out nearly as many lessons as I did in the whole of last year. To help with this extra need I have begun tutoring sessions at the weekend as well as every evening. During half term I had a lot of frustrations experiencing the vagaries of the British mobile phone network. I’ve learnt not to believe the internet when it tells you there is 4G reception at the postcode for the campsite you are at – there might be but it might not be strong enough to actually successfully run a tutoring session – thank heavens for campsites with their own Wi-Fi! Then of course the reception actually at the campsite might be non-existent because it’s not actually at the postcode because that is 100 yards further down the road! Then the nearest place to safely park the motorhome is the local Tesco’s car park 2 miles down the road!! Even more frightening the 4G network at the local Tesco’s car park in Downham Market is better and faster than my Wi-Fi at home! But tutoring must go on particularly for those retaking their GCSE in the first week of November. Now back in school after half term and dare I say heading for the next break at Christmas. Still aiming for GCSE exams in July even though both Wales and Scotland have now said their pupils won’t be doing exams and grades will be based on teacher assessments. It will be interesting to see if we actually get to July and pupils sit exams or if England and Northern Ireland end up basing grades on teachers’ assessments as well.