Busy Minds

Are Busy Minds losing their minds?
Our massive sale starts tomorrow morning - everything is either £1, £2, £5 or £10!

It's been a very busy week for Busy Minds. It's nice to see parents taking an early action to stay on top of their children's education.

Here we are again, the summer holidays are over and the new academic year is upon us. Summer holidays may feel short to the children but the bitter reality is that disengagement from studies could have long lasting consequences in children's academic performance which no parent would find desirable. The good news is, this is often very easy to fix if detected early enough.
A strong and comfortable start would usually eliminate the risk of gradual downturn in confidence and performance in children's school life, which unfortunately goes unnoticed - due to the schools’ busy schedule - until it's rather late to completely recover from.
Concerned parents can influence their children's confidence and attitude in various ways. It could be a simple as taking them to a bookstore and letting them browse supplementary books in subjects they are less confident about. If either the parents or the children believe that help is needed, it is often reassuring to seek professional opinion.
At Busy Minds we conduct free assessments - and unlike solely profit driven businesses; deliver an honest strictly professional verdict. Sometimes it turns out that the child is exactly where they are supposed to be and other times the outcome indicates that there is a need for help before it is too late.

Thursday 17th August 10:00-11:30
Come along to our last Science Shenanigans of the season ...... copper wire, batteries, magnets - it's going to be electrifying!!

The last session of this summer's Maxi Makers was held this morning and was by far the most relaxing ..... cross stitching book marks whilst listening to some soothing music :-)

Science Shenanigans saw budding structural engineers pitting their bridge making skills against each other today. After a tense strength challenge that tested each bridge to bending point - our winners were able to hold a massive 3kg with just a little buckling but no overall collapse. Awards also went out for the best team work and best looking design.
We had fun and hope that the children did as well.

Introducing Science Club
Through our tuition service we have discovered how some children are eager to express their understanding of various phenomena and itch to learn more about specific scientific topics. Unfortunately, due to the rigid set of objectives that we have to follow during tuition sessions, it is often impossible to indulge their curiosity and enter into a detailed discussion of such ideas.
We have therefore decided to launch a science club where we can have free discussions that will satisfy your children’s curiosities and nurture their enthusiasm in science in a pressure free and friendly discussion group. So if you have detected a hunger for knowledge in your children; if you want your children to have a chance to better perceive the world around them or if they ask you questions about how things work and why things are that you can’t quite explain; sign them up for our science club.
The group is held on Wednesdays 11:45 to 1:15 and the entry fee is £10 (1st session free). This is for the first 4 weeks of the holiday: 26th July, 2nd August, 9th August & 16th August.
The group is aimed at children who are already attending secondary school, however, we realise that younger children are also very curious and so will consider children who are slightly younger.

Summer holiday bonus
50% more tuition at no extra cost*

Whether you're looking to boost learning over the holiday or simply looking to keep the kids going so they don't forget everything, this is a great offer to help alleviate the purse strings.

Limited places remaining so sign up soon to avoid disappointment.

*Subject to availability. Offer includes secondary Maths & Science along with some primary places

Watch this space for our summer holiday activities .... we've got mini monsters, jewellery and maybe even some scientific capers!

Year 6 children all about the country are gearing up for their exams next week. Tension and emotions will be high and some may be panicking but you can try to help your children remain calm in the lead up to their SATs week.
Try not to ply them with exam papers: they have more than likely been doing this at school (a lot!). If there are still areas they are worried about, use interactive sites such as BBC Bitesize - they will have explanations and quizzes to test their knowledge.
In Maths, try to work through problems together, write questions for each other or get them to teach you how to solve a problem.
For English, read for enjoyment. Talk about characters' emotions or reasons for their actions, what parts of the story give you clues as to why they did something. Predict what might happen or see what happens to the atmosphere if you swap some of the key descriptive words for others.
But most of all, help your children to relax, take them for a long walk or to the park to blow off steam. Explain to them that you will be proud of them as long as they simply do their best - something that I'm sure you know they will do.
On the mornings of the exams, make sure they have a hearty breakfast and are well hydrated. Perhaps have breakfast parties with some of their friends: bacon sandwiches, croissants, toast - a little fun around the table can alleviate a heavy stomach and make them more likely to eat.

Good luck to all the children, parents and teachers who are about to enter their SATs week.

Last Day of Sale today!!!! Everything is HALF PRICE! Doors open at 10am, so don't miss out.

We still have some wonderful gifts and activities for keeping the munchkins busy of the Easter holiday.
Take a look below at just some of the bargains still available.
Crochet Kit - Now £9.99
Build Your Own Engine - Now £7.99
Chemistry Lab - Now £12.99
Bug Jar Fill & Spill Now - £7.99
Children's books Now From £2.49

Thank you to everyone who has popped along in support of us during the first two days of our stock clearance sale. For those of you yet to do so, we still have plenty of bargains including Melissa & Doug toys, Orchard Toys games, The Science Museum kits and many, many more. Grab a friend and come along before it's all gone.

Apologies to anyone visiting this morning to find we were closed but we were stuck in the Ridgeway/Lavender roadworks which appear to have started in earnest.

Is your child worrying about their exams? Do they struggle at school? Do you know that they can do better but are hampered by low confidence? Are they lacking challenge?

Busy Minds is a friendly, family run tuition centre. Our tutors are selected for their caring nature and ability to engage children as much as their teaching skills.

Children often respond quickly with just a little extra help, and worries about any supposed lack of ability melt away as we ensure that all children receive the right level of challenge.

Why not book for a free, no-obligation, assessment to see how we can help your child achieve their best.

Limited space available for certain subjects.

Next up in our series of exam preparation links is GCSE Maths.
This year will be the first of the new 9-1 specification exams so anyone preparing will need to ensure they use the correct practise materials. That's not to say that the old exam papers (from the A-G specification) won't be any good; they will contain useful questions, but they may not contain all areas and the levels won't match the new ones.
Those looking for Edexcel 9-1 material can look here:http://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/mathematics/2015/specification-and-sample-assesment/GCSE-Mathematics-2015-SAM.pdf
AQA have a number of resources for both foundation and higher which can be found here: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/gcse/mathematics-8300/assessment-resources
OCR materials can be found here: http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-mathematics-j560-from-2015/
The above cover the most popular exam boards but if you find you are studying a course not listed above, simply search for assessment material along with your course code.
The materials are published by the exam boards themselves and are free to download, however, commercial options are also available.
As always, feel free to comment and share your own invaluable resources.

We're pleased to say that we have been able to increase our capacity for primary tuition and are now able to offer additional times, including on Saturdays.