Does the membership group work at the same pace as the school curriculum?

Is this approach aligned with the school curriculum?

November 11, 2024•2 min read

Is this approach aligned with the school curriculum?

Not directly no, as the bundles are often chosen in the order they are requested, or we have had a surge of families that we work with as tutors requesting that we focus on them in the lessons.

However, if there is something that your child is covering at school that they need help on, please do ask and we will be more than happy to either send you some resources directly to help or to upload them as a new bundle into the membership group.

We may also explain things differently to how things are explained at school.

Some parents worry about this, but sometimes an alternative explanation is necessary to help your child to understand the concept behind something.

I apologise if you have heard this story before, and the context is slightly different as I was doing my GCSEs at the time. But I can remember sitting in a maths class and the teacher explained something to us. I had no idea what she was talking about and, unfortunately, she chose me to answer her question.

I sat and looked at her blankly before giving her an answer with only the slightest glimmer of hope that it might be right.

No chance. She explained it again using the exact same words. She asked me again for the answer, but I was none the wiser. She might as well have been talking in a foreign language. I had no clue.

With a roll of her eyes, she explained it for the third time in the exact the same way. I still had no idea what she was on about. But, now with a bright red face and a fear that the tears I could feel welling up inside would escape down my cheeks, she gave up. I felt like a complete fool in front of the whole class.

That night I sat with my dad who used completely different wording, and I got it. It was simple. He wasn’t a teacher; he just had the patience to explain it to me in a way that I understood it.

That has stayed with me for a long, long time.

As a thank you for reading this far, please feel free to download our free Top Trumps times tables game by clicking HERE

And if you’re still interested, you can learn more about the Clara James Approach HERE

Dawn Strachan

For the past 20+ years I have been a firm believer that learning should be an enjoyable experience. I appreciate that traditionally education has revolved around worksheets, textbooks, listening to teachers. But a grounding in early years and working with children who had a variety of learning styles from I learned that it is an individual activity that is personal to all of us. We don’t all learn in the same way. Our influences, our experiences, our capabilities all influence how we retain information. But through it all, I believe that if we can make it enjoyable and engaging, they will want to participate. With participation comes practice which in turn boosts skill and confidence. With an increase in skill and confidence comes a willingness to have a go. This in turn leads to more practice which leads to a positive spiral of success. The moral, we need to make learning fun, engaging, use a range of techniques.

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