After months of home schooling and social restrictions, children in the UK have spent more time than ever on electronic devices. This has been the safest way to access education and socialise with others amid the pandemic. However research shows that children who spend a lot of time on screens are more likely to develop eye problems, weight problems and trouble with reading and writing. They are also more likely to show a range of other physical, social and mental issues. 

 

However it is important to note that the use of screen time can't simply be categorised as 'bad'. Not all screen time is equal of course. Spending time on an educational site, watching a family film together or using using Face Time to connect with loved ones will have more benefits to a child than that child sitting alone passively watching a film for instance. 

 

In 2019 Dr Taren Sanders did a study on children and screen time, categorising screen time in to five categories; passive, interactive, social, educational and other. While educational screen time was linked to better results in school and brought no bad health effects compared to more passive screen time, the impact as reported by Dr Sanders was "quite small". The real problems showed up in children who spent more than eight hours a day on screens. 

 

At Marvellous Minds we appreciate that screen time can bring certain benefits and we appreciate that particularly during this challenging time of the current pandemic children will inevitably spend more time than usual on screens and parents have needed to rely on screens more to juggle the challenging demands of work, homeschooling and other chores. However, we also believe that we can help and do our bit to reduce the use of screen time in children and we know that when it comes to education and children's learning, screens will never be able to replace the human element of a really inspiring teacher. 

 

That is why at Marvellous Minds we have decided to offer a truly screen free learning environment for the students we work with. Students at our centre are taught by tutors-not computers. In each class our students will work with one or several tutors (depending on the size of the class), using our own written learning materials. Students will be encouraged to ask questions, contribute with their answers and discuss topics with peers within the class. Our tutors are always on hand to help with whatever a student finds challenging and by keeping our classes small we allow for a individually tailored approach to our teaching. We appreciate that students learn in different ways and our tutors are committed to finding fun and engaging ways for children to learn.  

Some of the learning prompts we use in our classes include alphabetic puzzles, pictures, clocks, counters, number lines, story cubes and flash cards. There are also a number of mini black and whiteboards in each of our classrooms which students are encouraged to work on. Interactive learning methods and structured teaching takes place instead of computer time. 

 

We would love to hear your thoughts on screen time. Do you think they have their place in the classroom? And how, if at all, do you think they should be used by teachers? 

It’s safe to say the last year has been tumultuous at best and education of all levels has been greatly affected. With the disaster of this year’s exam results it's no surprise that both teachers and students are sceptical of the government's recent decision for GCSE and A level exams to still go ahead in the summer term. Given the amount of schooling students have lost and the disruption to their learning, many teachers, students and parents believe that exams should be scrapped altogether with some arguing that teacher assessed grades would be a more fair way of grading students. 

 

As it stands today schools and colleges will remain open during the current second national 4-week lockdown period and most likely afterwards too, even if the tight restrictions continue, and the government have stated that GCSE and a-level exams will go ahead in the summer term. However the Department of Education confirmed at the beginning of October that most GCSE and A-level exams will take place three weeks later than usual in 2021 in an attempt to give students more time to prepare. 

 

However, what this does mean is that one English and one maths GCSE exam will still take place before the May half term in order to “help manage disruption”. All other exams will be sat after June 7 and will continue until July 2. The government has also planned to engage with schools to address further potential disruptions and provide solutions to these. But again this will leave schools waiting more than 6 weeks to hear the ministers’ “Plan B”. 

 

Here at Marvellous Minds, we will continue as planned to get our students ready for their exams, regardless of when they take place, but these are uncertain times and we would love to hear what your opinions on the governments actions are and whether you think exams should still go ahead? 

 

Charlie is adding a new room to his chocolate factory and you have the golden ticket to see this new and exciting room! 

 

Describe the weird and wonderful inventions you can find in this room. Remember to think about the five senses. What can you see, smell, hear, taste and touch? 

 

We would like to see you use some lovely adjectives and descriptive writing. Please also use some literary devices such as similes. * 

 

*This exercise can be adjusted depending on a student's age group and level. It can also be linked to relevant learning objective such as use of grammar like verb, adverb, conjunctions, punctuation or watever else you would like your studens to develop and use.