Secure Roots Tuition

31/05/2025

As children begin their journey as independent readers, they can sometimes suddenly begin to struggle.

🔴 There's a lot of pressure on their working memory to retain all the information in a story as well as deal with the mechanics of the actual reading.

🔴 Some children struggle to focus their attention for longer periods of time. They are used to the instant gratification of the fast-paced digital world.

🔴 Stories become more complex and vocabulary more challenging.

It's for these reasons that it's vitally important that we help children to find the right book for them, but that we also equip them with strategies for helping them to enjoy it.

That's where the hedgehog comes in!

✅ Use post-it notes at the end of each chapter to help your child engage with what they have just read. They can summarise it, make notes about the characters, draw something from the chapter, make a prediction about what might happen next.

✅ By doing this, they are engaging with what they have just read in a much deeper way.

✅ Stick the post-it notes in the book and after a few chapters, your book will resemble a hedgehog! Flick back through them before reading next time and this will really help your child to follow the book and enjoy the story.

22/05/2025

✴️ Is your child struggling with confidence?
✴️ Are they feeling a bit lost in a large class?
✴️ Would they benefit from a slower pace and the chance to re-visit things they find tricky?

Small-group tuition allows us to support children and really start to re-build confidence.
✅ Small groups - no more than 4 children
✅ Wednesdays after school from 4pm
✅ £18 a week
✅ Sessions tailored to meet the needs of each child
✅ Taught by a qualified teacher with over 25 years' experience
✅ Current enhanced DBS and up-to-date safeguarding training

Contact Sarah for a chat to see if what we're offering is right for your child.

14/05/2025

✴️ Is your child struggling with confidence?
✴️ Are they feeling a bit lost in a large class?
✴️ Would they benefit from a slower pace and the chance to re-visit things they find tricky?
Small-group tuition allows us to support children and really start to re-build confidence.
Contact Sarah to find out whether what we're offering might be right for your child.
✅ Small groups - no more than 4 children
✅ Wednesdays after school from 4pm
✅ £18 a week
✅ Sessions tailored to meet the needs of each child
✅ Taught by a qualified teacher with over 25 years' experience
✅ Current enhanced DBS and up-to-date safeguarding training

Contact Sarah for a chat to see if what we're offering is right for your child.

14/05/2025

11/05/2025

Small group tuition has been a deliberate choice for me.

✅ For some children,1:1 with an adult is too intense. They are used to being part of a group and working collaboratively in school.
✅Small groups can help to build confidence, especially for children who are perhaps quite shy in the classroom and sometimes get 'lost' or feel in the shadow of other, more confident children.
✅Small groups can help to develop communication skills in a supportive environment. Speaking and listening form a big part of the English curriculum.
✅Groups encourage collaborative learning and problem solving - both key life skills.
✅For some students, it can be motivating and reassuring to feel that they are not alone in finding things difficult.
✅Being able to verbalise and discuss learning with other children can really help to cement understanding.
✅Learning can be more interactive in groups: we can play games, have competitions, and work together in teams.
✅Groups are still small enough to adapt easily to each child's needs and support them on an individual basis within the session.
✅ And finally, they are more affordable than 1:1 sessions, meaning that the extra support is accessible to more children.

Please make contact if you'd like to find out more about our sessions starting in June.

08/05/2025

Session information:

✅ Each session is 40 minutes long.
✅ Groups will be no bigger than 4.
✅Each half term uses a book as a 'hook'.
✅ The children will be given their own copy of the book to read between sessions.
✅ Weekly Kahoot quizzes will be available as 'homework' to maintain engagement and monitor comprehension.
✅ Individual sessions will feature a mixture of hands-on activities designed to build confidence and close gaps in both reading and writing.
✅ Each half term will build towards a final piece of writing.
✅ Sessions cost £18 and are invoiced monthly in advance,

If you think this might be something which would support your child, please contact Sarah for a chat.

08/05/2025

I know from years in the classroom just how important reading is for children. Research shows that early literacy skills play a significant role in later school performance and I have seen how children who read confidently, widely and for enjoyment leave primary school ready for the demands of the secondary curriculum.

That's why getting those 'roots' securely in place early on is so important.

🔴 It's estimated that 20% of 15 year-olds still have a reading age below 11.
🔴 At age 14, children who enjoy reading tend to have a reading age 3 years above those who don't.
🔴 Most GCSE subjects require reading age over 15+ years to be able to access the lengthy text and complex vocabulary.

There are lots of ways to support your child at home to become a confident reader.
The earlier we start, the better!

✅ Try to form a daily routine where you read to or with your child for pleasure.
✅ Don't stop bedtime stories as soon as they can read, You can introduce them to a whole world of books that they can't read independently - yet!
✅ Chat about the book as you read and recap previous chapters each day before reading.
✅'Tag read' a book if your child is reluctant. You read a section to them then they read a section to you. It could even be the same section to build up their confidence.
✅ Don't forget libraries! They're a great free resource and children are completely free to choose ANY book of their choice without being bound by school reading bands.

All our tutoring sessions are based around a book each half term. If we can get them 'hooked' then we can begin to build their confidence in all other aspects of literacy.

Contact Sarah if you'd like us to help support your child to become a more confident reader.
07508648401

07/05/2025

I'm always asked for recommendations to get children engaged with reading. These are two of my favourites for confident Y5 and Y6 readers.

05/05/2025

✴️ Is your child struggling with confidence?
✴️ Are they feeling a bit lost in a large class?
✴️ Would they benefit from a slower pace and the chance to re-visit things they find tricky?
Small-group tuition allows us to support children and really start to re-build confidence.

Contact Sarah to find out whether what we're offering might be right for your child.
✅ Small groups - no more than 4 children
✅ Wednesdays after school from 4pm
✅ £18 a week
✅ Sessions tailored to meet the needs of each child
✅ Taught by a qualified teacher with over 25 years' experience
✅ Current enhanced DBS and up-to-date safeguarding training

01/05/2025