Celebrate the end of the school year with this amazing printable. Let kids document their memories and all the fun they had this year. Sometimes it is hard to notice but children do change a lot in a year. They make new friends, learn new skills and grow taller.

Also check: Back to school Assessment Year 1 to Year 4 

Free Printable Last day of school interview:

The printable is available in two different styles which children can choose and fill in. Once kids finish writing you can take a photo and stick to their interview page which they can cherish year after year.

Supplies needed:

1. Printer
2. A4 paper
3. Your year group printable
4. Pencil
5. Colouring pens

Instructions:

To print simply click on your year group given below and save the PDF file.

Good-Bye Interview printable 

     A)  Reception

     B)  Year 1

     C)  Year 2

     D)  Year 3

     E)  Year 4

     F)  Year 5

     G)  Year 6

End of School Year:

     A)  Reception

     B)  Year 1

     C)  Year 2

     D)  Year 3

     E)  Year 4

     F)  Year 5

     G)  Year 6

For more wonderful books and resources visit our store.

Recommended books to read over the summer holidays:

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Also read: 50 Exciting summer holiday activities 2018 + (free holiday planner)

10 useful tips and tricks for buying school uniform:

Follow our tips and tricks for the uniform that can cope with sliding and tree climbing, easy to wash, stress-free, and make your child look smart day after day.

1. Buy trousers with reinforced knees. The reinforce inner patch on the knee makes trousers resilience against wear and tear. These trousers are extremely practical for the playground and lifesaver for mothers.

Image: https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk

2. Ironing clothes on daily basis can be a big hassle. Look for crease-resistant pinafore and skirts. It will save loads of time and energy.

3. Buy stain-resistant shirts. Whether it’s playing in the mud, Creativity with paints, or mess with school dinners – children can be extremely messy at times. The stain resistant technology makes washing and taking out tough stain far easier than normal shirts.

4. Go for scuff resistant shoes as they tend to stay neat and tidy for longer. These shoes are perfect for kids who like to be active in the playground.

5. Get one or two sizes bigger in girl’s tights. The tights do shrink after few washes, so do consider getting bigger at first place rather than running to shops back and forth.

6. Go for Dark coloured socks instead of white socks. The white doesn’t stay white for long what so ever we may do.

7. Label all the clothes so you don’t have to run for replacement every now and then. Label your products with style by getting personalised labels. My Name Tags are offering a 10-year guarantee on their products and they are also currently offering free delivery with code SHIPFREE18.

Image: www.mynametags.com

8, Logos uniform for less: Does your school insist on buying uniform with school logo? Not to worry we have a solution. Go to Our School Badge. They create iron-on embroidered school logos of all size and shape. The logos are fully machine washable, ultra-thin and durable.

Image: http://www.ourschoolbadge.co.uk

9. Budget Uniform: Consider supermarket uniform to save you a fortune on school uniform. Supermarkets now a day cover a whole range of school items from shoes to trousers and pinafore to PE kits. Have a look at the uniform shops by clicking on the link. Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Matalan, Morrisons. (Asda and Tesco gives 100 days guarantee)

10. Do you know about School Uniform Grant? Families with low-income are eligible for the grant to help with school uniform, but this does vary from council to council. Check Here to check if your local council provides help with the cost of school uniform and PE. Enter your postcode and find out.

Also, check: Fun Summer Holidays Spelling Activities for KS1 Kids

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Use our wonderful 21 story prompts to spark their imagination and inspires their next story. We have created our story prompts with a lovely picture and the start of the sentence. This will help them get past with “where do I start” feeling and into the flow of their story.

Creative writing story starters:

What are some of your favourite creative writing prompts? Let us know by commenting below. Thanks

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Top 15 questions to ask your child’s teacher

Here are the 15 top questions you could ask your child’s teacher to get a clear picture of his/her school progress. Always start by appreciating the teacher’s hard work and attention. Let the teacher speak first, listen to her/him carefully.

Don’t ask all questions at once, maybe pick up a few and hope for the best.

1. What is his/her biggest weakness?
2. What is his/her biggest strength?
3. In what areas of Maths he/she needs more attention?
4. In what areas of English he/she needs more attention?
5. What can we emphasize at home to improve and help?
6. Is he/she good at reading? Does he/she comprehend the text?
7. How he/she is doing in handwriting? (For year 3, what she/he should exhibit to earn pen licence?)
8. Is he/she good at making and maintaining friendships?
9. Does he/she demonstrate good behaviour in the class?
10. Which activities, he/she likes to do?
11. Does he/she have difficulty paying attention to the instructions?
12. What is your major concern about his/her performance or behaviour?
13. If your child has learning difficulties clarify what support is available and what actions should be taken to address it?
14. Are you satisfied with his/her homework? Does he/she hand over his/her work on time?
15. What kinds of action/activities do you expect from us in reaching his/her potential level?

Download questions checklist to take with you

I hope it helps at an upcoming meeting. Thanks

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I have made words mat along with flashcards to help teach children in a fun way.Print the flashcards, laminate them and cut them. They are great to practice with children every day. I also recommend asking the children to make sentences of these words. I hope it will benefit you all.

what are common exception words?

As soon as children start to read in school, they start to learn common exception words as well. Common exception words are the tricky words to read. they normal phonics system does not apply to them. The exception words do come very frequently in English so they are taught from very early age. As the child progresses in school they learn tougher words. It is always good to practice these words regularly at home as it helps children to improve their reading speed and spellings.

Common Exception Word Mat:

Download Free Common exception word mat

Common Exception Flash Cards

Download Free Year 3 common exception Flashcard

Make sentences worksheet

Download Free Year 3 common exception words sentences

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A few weeks back when in school my son who is in reception started learning the topic of Telling Time, I head over to Argos to find something that can help him a little more to understand this tricky topic. That’s the day when I found this True Gem. It not only helped my little son but also by a daughter who is currently in year 3.

The clock is well made with a beautiful red apple shape. The clock features a bee button, a quiz button and the moving minute hand and hour hand. The bee button tells you the time that is on the clock with this functionality my son learned o clock and half-past in no time. My son repeat the time as he hears the clock telling him time. The toy is brilliant at stimulating your child’s brain and practising numbers.

The quiz button is just superb as it tests children knowledge. As the child presses the quiz button it asks children to tell the specific number. I turn the clock on quiz mode and give it to my daughter every night as she practices her time telling skills.

My son learning to tell the time.

In the end, I loved this clock and highly recommend you to buy this. It is well worth every penny and your child will surely gain time telling knowledge with it.

Learning goal: MATHS: Telling time

Targeted age:  4 years and over

Retail price: £10.99

OFFER Available:  2 for £15 on selected toys at Argos

Where to buy: ARGOS

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Maths manipulatives are objects that provide children hand on experience of maths concepts. These objects help to make abstract concepts more real by letting children touch math ideas, thus making maths come alive. Manipulatives can be bought from a shop, you can build them yourself or they can be found around the home. The manipulatives range from Unifix cubes, Numicons, bottle caps or even Skittles.

How manipulatives help children?

The use of mathematics manipulatives was often justified on the basis of the ancient proverb:

I hear and I forget … I see and I remember … I do and I understand

Research has proved that manipulatives are a very useful tool to make children understand the concepts of maths. According to Mississippi State University research paper using manipulatives to teach elementary mathematics

Children who use manipulatives in specific mathematical subjects are more likely to achieve success than students who don’t have the opportunity to work with manipulatives

Manipulatives help students at all levels and of all abilities. Research has also shown that manipulatives tend to work better with children who are low achievers, have learning disabilities or have EAL difficulties. Manipulatives can help from counting to place value, fractions to percentages etc.

Top 11 maths manipulatives

Manipulatives that you can buy easily

1. Numicons
2. Unifix cubes
3. Base Ten Blocks
4. Play Money
5. Counters
6. Dice
7. Fraction Strips
8. Geometric Solids
9. Number Line
10. Learning Clock
11. White Board

Manipulatives that are available at home

1. Skittles
2. Pasta
3. Bottle caps
4. Buttons
5. Lego blocks
6. Colourful pompom
7. Rocks
8. Shells
9. Colourful beads
10. Straws
11. Coins

Activities you can do with manipulatives

Activities to do with numicons	11 Activities to do with unifix cubes
8 activities to do with Counters

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Writing is definitely an important skill of life which is hard to learn and master. Here are a few simple techniques, if followed properly children will learn to write more quickly and in a fun way.

1. Provide lots of writing material to your children like paper, pencils, colours and crayons.
2. Let them scribble as much as they want. This helps them get used to of writing and express their thoughts. It will also help build children hand muscles and improve their pencil control.
3. Make a separate place for writing in your home where children can write away from distraction.
4. Ask them lots of questions once a child finishes drawing like what they have made? What is the boy doing? Can you tell me a story about this? etc.
5. Just practice, practice and practice. Writing needs lots and lots of practice. If a child is finding it hard let them trace over the letters. By repeating this activity, your child will begin to understand how to form letters.
6. Encourage your child to write their name. While they write point out each letter so that they recognise it properly. Be very patient as it does take time, but stay consistent and keep trying. This is very important as this is the first skill child needs to know when they start reception.
7. Praise your child as much as you can. Find good things in your child writing. Always remember that simple words of encouragement can do wonders.
8. Reading plays a huge role in writing skills, as they both complement each other. The more your child reads, the more ideas he will have to write down. I highly recommend they get good educational magazines as kids enjoy them more than normal books.
   • Related: 11 best educational magazines for kids
9. Pointing words as you read them in stories or writing words said in a conversation will help them understand the link between spoken words and written text.
10. As your child gets older encourage them to write letters and cards to other family members. This will help them to build their confidence and vocabulary.

The post 10 Tips to help your children learn to write appeared first on The Mum Educates.

5 ways to find a good primary school in your area

1. Which schools are in your catchment area?:

Before we head over to other things the first thing is to make a list of schools that are in your catchment area. The catchment area is normally 1 to 2 miles from your postcode. The distance could be defined by walking route or straight line and varies from council to council. My favourite website to find catchment area is www.findaschool.info

This website offers the most detail search function, like other sites you have to enter the postcode and you can access to plenty of information.

The information includes a search for local schools and detailed catchment areas information, admissions criteria, OFSTED inspection results, census report, results, comparison with other schools and much more.

Click here to search for a school catchment area on Findaschool.info

Related: 3 ways to find schools in your catchment area

2. Check the performance of schools:

Once you know which schools are in your catchment area, I would advise you to make a list of all the schools and head over to www.gov.uk to check the performance of the schools in the past by looking at their Ofsted report. You can also compare different schools there.

To check latest school performance tables click on this link https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables

3. Visit different schools:

Once you’ve narrowed down your list of preferred schools, phone the schools and make an appointment to visit. I strongly suggest visiting the school on a normal afternoon rather than an open day, as on open days schools tend to polish and set the schools rather than showing the real environment.

When you visit a school look for these things in school:

• The school should have high expectations
• Well educated teachers and fully trained staff
• Busy, visible children
• Rigorous curriculum
• Parents are welcomed warmly and questions answered
• Also look for school disciplinary policy
• What extracurricular opportunities are available for students?
• Active parent organization

According to Ralph Lucas, editor of the Good Schools Guide “Focus on those that have strong parent involvement and a good head teacher”.

4. Talk to local parents:

Make sure you talk to the parents you see when you visit the school. The parents or your neighbours whose children are already attending school can give you the best review. Ask them if they are happy with their children progress? How is school pushing their children? Also, inquire if the staff is alert to children specific needs and how much parents are involved with the school’s procedures?

5. Trust your judgement:

Once you have all the information collected and in hand, I would say as a parent you can understand your child needs well, so trust in your instincts. Whichever school you choose will make a huge difference in your child’s life, so don’t hurry, take time before you make the final decision. Also, you must keep in mind that it’s not 100% confirm that one school you chose your child will find a place in it, so stay open and keep at least two options.

The post 5 ways to find a good primary school in your area! appeared first on The Mum Educates.

What is the catchment area?

The catchment area is the distance of your home to school, It’s normally 1 to 2 miles from your postcode. Distance could be defined by walking route or straight line and varies from council to council. Normally a child cannot attend a school that is outside their catchment unless there are special circumstances.

Other than the distance from home to school, there are other factors as well that are considered, which includes:

• • 1. Priority to children who have Sibling in the same school
    2. Special medical and physical needs of a child
    3. Religion (if it’s a faith school)

3 ways to find which school are in your catchment area

   Find a school: Local school search

This website offers the most detail search function, like other sites you have to enter the postcode and you can access to plenty of information.

The information includes the search for local schools and detailed catchment areas information, admissions criteria, OFSTED inspection results, census report, results, comparison with other schools and much more.

Click here to search for a school on Findaschool.info

  Goodschoolguide.co.uk

The Good Schools Guide offers a detail search function with a lot of information than just a school finding service. It lets you specify the distance you are looking from the postcode (I would recommend entering no more than 2 miles.), the type of school you want (state, private, independent, faith etc.). The website also provides a direct link to the Ofsted report of the school which is amazing.

Their website also offers lots of advice on choosing school and School data comparison by results, Comprehensive catchment maps etc, BUT you have to subscribe to their website which is not very cool. So I would say rather stick to the free information you are getting.

Click here to search for a school on GoodSchoolsGuide.co.uk

  Check with your local council

Another way to check your catchment is by contacting your local council directly. Local councils are there to help. Councils provide dedicated teams to help parents get children into local schools.

To find the council details and contact numbers go to https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council

Also, check the school admissions page on Gov.uk

Once you submit your application with your preferred schools, You should know if your application is successful or not by March or April time for September term. Always remember it’s not sure that child will get a place in your top priority school, in such cases you can appeal here appeals page on Gov.uk

I hope you enjoyed today’s article, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions by commenting below. Thanks

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Are you fed up of asking the same question to your child every single day “How was your school today ?” And receiving the same boring answer “It was fine”.We have made a wonderful list of questions that will help you know more about your children and their school activities with fun and interesting questions.

How to question kids about school without asking them about school?

The amazing questions will also help initiate some discussion with your children and get to know more about their school. Some of the questions that your child will definitely try to answer after having a tiring day at school:

1. What was the most interesting part of the day?
2. What makes you feel down and low today?
3. Who is your favourite child in your class and why?
4. Did you make someone laugh today?
5. Did you help someone today and how did you help them?
6. What do you like most about your teacher?
7. Which activity did you like most today?
8. Who is the funniest child in your class?
9. Who is your sitting partner in class and if you find a chance to change it with someone else which child will it be and why?
10. If a monster comes and asks to take any child from your class which child do you want him to take away and why?
11. If you are given a chance to choose your favourite subject and teach other children which subject you will choose and why?
12. Tell me three instances where you were required to use the pencil today in class?
13. Tell me the most interesting thing that you read today?
14. What makes your class so special?
15. Which part of your food did you enjoy the most?
16. If I were your class teacher what would you like me to do for you?
17. What is the scariest thing in your class?
18. Which of the words do your friends use most?
19. If you find a magic wand and you can change three things in your class what it will be?
20. If you are a teacher and you had to put any child in a time-out chair which child it will be?

When I ask these questions to my children it helps me to have an open discussion and know things more deeply about their school activities. As my daughter will grow, I will add more questions to this post. I know it will be harder as they grow elder but it’s always worth a try !!

If you have any questions please feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading.

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