Brooksmart

Children need to develop skills and methods of working that will benefit them in later life. These skills should be anchored in real-world phenomena, which enable them to recognise the relevance and the role that they may play in their own future by creating links between school and the wider world.⁣
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Where possible, starting points for learning should be created from problems and questions posed by the class together. This helps to ensure that the learners are genuinely interested and intrinsically enthused by the topics that they cover and see purpose and an end goal to their work. ⁣
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Not once during my own schooling do I remember making any links between the work that I was undertaking and the role that it might play in my later life. If we hit upon a topic that I enjoyed, it felt coincidental rather than considered. I went to school because I was told to go to school. I did my work because I was told to do my work. I got on with it (most of the time) because I didn’t want to get into trouble. My love of learning and thirst for knowledge kicked in as soon as I had left formal education. Where is the sense in that?⁣

Instagram HQ, London.⁣
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“Advances in technology and subsequent societal pressures mean that we are at risk of engaging with our self-image in an obsessive and unhealthy way. The younger generation are particularly vulnerable to this, taking dozens of selfies each day, before deleting, editing and filtering them in pursuit of approval from others. It is during this process that self-worth and value is becoming distorted, with young people feeling unable to live up to their selfies and compromising who they are in their longing for acceptance.”⁣
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- Simon Brooks⁣
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Visit www.brooksmart.co.uk to learn more about MyTrueSelfie.⁣
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Q. I’m concerned that I might be mispronouncing certain letters and sounds when trying to help my child (Year 1) with her phonics work. Do you have any tips?⁣
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Photo: Andrea Piacquadio

“Liz is absolutely fantastic! She has built such a great relationship with Matthew (Year 1) and he really opens up to her as a result. I think that he sees her more as his friend than his teacher! He gets so much from the sessions and has made noticeable progress. We feel very fortunate to have been paired with Liz.” ⁣

🤷🏼‍♂️ Enough said.