Capable Child

Whatever your view is on testing children using SATs, most parents will agree that they want their children to achieve the expected standard in Maths, Reading and Writing as they leave Key Stage One and move up into Key Stage Two (or ‘The Juniors’). This means that they are on track for their age and ready for the challenges of Year 3 and beyond. There are definitely ways that parents can support and encourage their children in all subjects. Below, I give my top five ways of helping your child in Maths- no specialist knowledge required! Money, Money, Money My Little Lady invariably sees me paying for things with card. If I need cash, I have to scrabble around for it! Children need to be able to recognise the different values of coins so I have to make an effort to ensure that we firstly have some coins at home and secondly play with them. A favourite activity for us is setting up a shop with jars, tins and packets from the kitchen cupboard. We use real coins, a toy cas

Zog is Julia Donaldson family favourite. Dragons, princesses, knights, humour and a strong female with high aspirations. The book is a winner and so we were very keen to see the play while it was on at the Town Hall in Birmingham. So it seems, were many other families! When we arrived at the venue, there was a queue of pushchairs, parents, grandparents and lots of under-fives. There was a buzz of excitement in the air as we went inside and found our seats in the packed auditorium. Having seen previous Freckle Productions shows, we eagerly awaited their winning combination of music and puppetry. We firstly met Princess Pearl who opened in song. The puppets also soon arrived on set. We were kept amused by a pair of rabbits and a flexible frog. As we watched the opening scenes, I could hear children around beginning to whisper, “Where’s Zog?” Zog was clearly a favourite and the children were waiting for their first glimpse. The dragons arrived on stage and Zog received a chee

Today marked our first theatre trip as a family of four! We headed to Birmingham’s Old Rep Theatre to see Treasure Island. I was a little nervous that our one month old baby might not enjoy the show as much as the rest of family. I need not have been so worried. As we came into the theatre staff were immediately helpful with opening doors and storing our pram securely in the cloakroom. Littlest Lady slept through most of the show only surfacing to top up on milk. I was so pleased that we’d all made it out the house and done something that my older daughter really enjoyed. Within minutes of the show starting, Little Lady, aged 6, was giggling away. The Treasure Island story, first published as a book in 1883, had been cleverly adapted to entertain a  family audience in 2019. The characters introduced themselves and the children watching quickly caught onto the fact that this was a hunt for treasure. Early on in the show, the cast had the audience participating with actions