Blog Archives - Page 3 of 3

December 9, 2016 By Natalie

Since we introduced Forest School in London for ages 6+ at Holiday academy it had had a great response. That’s why we’ve now decided to run Forest School for along side each Holiday Academy camp. We offer an outdoors experience in the wild/wilder spaces of NW London with trained Forest school leaders from 10am-4pm with wrap around care if required. The activities include den/shelter making, fire making, tool use, nature arts and crafts, team building games (e.g. bat and moth!) mud slides and eating your lunch up a tree! A perfect antidote to spelling tests and times table. The children return with rosy cheeks and muddy trousers having had tons of fresh air and exercise. It’s a perfect way to make friends! Drop off and pick up are from the Holiday Academy venue so perfect if you have younger children going to the Holiday Academy day-camp.

Our Forest school leaders, Jane Worroll and Peter Houghton have written a superb book with amazing illustrations, ‘Play the Forest school Way’.

Find out more about our Forest School Programme here. Come and join us!

What is Forest School?

Forest School Training in London is an inspirational alternative learning experience that takes outdoors in natural settings and across all seasons. Throughout a carefully planned programme of achievable tasks, play and activities, each participant has an opportunity to learn about and connect with the natural environment. For children today who may have limited opportunity to explore and be part of the nature world, Forest School can be the link to investigating and experiencing these magical places.

How it all started!

The Forest School Training movement in England was kickstarted by Bridgwater College, which established the first Forest School in Somerset in1993 after an inspiring trip to Danish nurseries run on Scandinavian Firlufts liv (open air life) principles. Since then, the Forest School Association charity has helped thousands of teachers and other professionals undertake Forest School training.

Forest School is a long-term approach to education for children and young people that maximises the benefits of learning in the outdoors. Forest School offers children the opportunity to engage with the rich natural diversity of the woodland environment to help build confidence, sensitivity, resilience and curiosity. The Forest School approach to learning in the outdoors is rooted in the key progressive education theorist of the past 150 years; from Froebel to Steiner, Vygotsky to Montessori; and Dewey to Gardeer. All of these theorists put the child at the centre of their own learning and underline the importance of children being allowed to explore the world with appropriate support.

Learning from the outdoors 🙂

Participating in Forest School London sessions can lead to the development of a healthier lifestyle as the children are physically active most of the time. During the sessions the children will participate in activities that will teach them how to work in teams and how to become more independent. Carrying out small achievable tasks or exploring ‘on your own’ (under the watchful eye of Forest School teachers and staff of course!) will help the children develop their confidence and teach them how to problem solve. Studies have looked at Forest School’s positive impact on confidence and dispositions for learning. A Scottish study recently found activity levels 2.2 times higher in a Forest School day than during a regular school day that included PE lessons!

Forest school can be particularly effective for children who don’t do well in classroom environments as they can take their new found self-confidence into school and other areas in their lives. Growing up in urban areas, many children are unfamiliar with woodlands. Forest School re-connects children to nature and hopefully forms a basis for a life-long relationship with their natural environment.

It sounds idyllic but yet it could trigger some parental alarm bells: what about the tools and the cold weather? The mantra that seems to be on the forefront of all Forest Schools is: ‘There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. If the children can brave the weather in Scandinavian countries in -10C, your child will be fine if they are wearing appropriate outdoor clothing. What about fire and tools? All the children are closely supervised when working with tools and fire. Part of the education in Forest School is safety training so that each child will learn how to use the tools responsibly and how to be safe at all times. Find out more about Holiday Academy’s Forest School program here.

References
www.muddyfaces.co.uk
www.forestschooltraining.co.uk
www.theguardian.com

August 23, 2016 By Natalie

August 2, 2016 By Natalie

In today’s bustling society it’s common to see children faced with great expectations and pressure to perform academically. There are incentives for getting good grades, punishments for not putting in enough effort, and praises for students that are ahead of their class. Unfortunately, many students are not receiving adequate emotional and social learning experiences, as strict academic progress is overshadowing the imperative role of child socialisation. Most schools have recess time that allow kids to play and converse openly, but we don’t see much emphasis put into the structure and purpose of playtime, despite it being arguably just as important as the learning activities that take place inside the classroom. We spoke to the staff at Playworks about the importance of social-emotional learning in our communities, and here’s what they had to say on the matter.

1. Positive Social Behaviour Linked to Enhanced Academic Performance

For more than 20 years Playworks has been traveling around the country to set up well-planned social-emotional learning experiences for children of all ages, particularly in the younger age groups. During the past two decades, a number of studies have shown a direct correlation between positive social behaviours and commendable academic performance. Researchers speculate that children are more motivated to learn and attend class when there are elements of fun and entertainment to look forward to. Studies have even shown that the presence of humour boosts information retention rates. Adversely, children who frequently have negative social experiences are less likely to want to participate in group activities.

2. Emotional Skills are a Key Focus in Elementary and Preschools

It’s also worth noting that elementary schools and preschools have made emotional and social learning key areas of study, and for good reason – it is common knowledge that children need to work on their emotional and social maturity before they can achieve optimal productivity in the classroom. A huge part of the learning process is adjusting to the heavily social environment in today’s schools, which sharply contrasts with the more private setting that kids often become accustomed to at home.

3. Socialised Students Are More Creative and Less Aggressive

At Playworks we routinely interact with some of the most creative and fun-loving kids in communities across the nation. Studies confirm our personal experience that the most outgoing and socially skilled children are also the most creative. Likewise, kids with healthy social lives are typically less aggressive and have a lower chance of eventually committing violent or rambunctious offences. Researchers have postulated that giving kids an outlet to express their abundant energy may help relieve emotional tension and reduce the likelihood of harmful outbursts and impulse-based decisions.

4. Reducing Anxiety, Depression, and Stress

Finally, psychologists have proven that more social engagement and interaction with peers reduces the occurrence of depression, stress, anxiety, and other negative emotions. This is largely a matter of children getting used to being around other kids and dealing with the inevitable ups and downs of everyday life. Children who are sheltered from such experiences tend to overreact and develop more powerful negative emotions, whereas kids who are accustomed to dealing with other kids are more likely to take mishaps in stride.

Bringing in the Pros

While socialisation should be an essential aspect of education for every child, it is important to distinguish between unguided, unsupervised action and a more structured play environment. Leaving kids to their own devices without any adult input is usually not the best approach, it is important that adults are around to guide, encourage, demonstrate, set challenges, communicate and explain through planned or child-initiated play and activities.

Ready Steady Play

November 16, 2015 By Natalie

Children these days spend a lot of time online, and are always a step ahead of us. I have just caught my 3 year old hacking my iPad password and navigating her way around You Tube (despite having deleted the app)! Online safety is something we take very seriously, and we do our utmost to protect the identity of the children in the photos we use. Please click here for Holiday Academy’s Photo Protocol.

While our children are using the internet to find information, socialise, explore and have fun, there are also the risks of being hacked, of cyber-bullying, grooming or viewing content that’s inappropriate. This may seem obvious to us, but for our children we need to keep reinforcing and reminding them about being prepared for life in the online world with the points below. Please also sign up to the NSPCC newsletter for their informative ‘Share Aware Campaign‘

Prepare your kids for the online world – make sure they…

Trust no one – Never ever give your or your family’s personal data and details out. You wouldn’t in the real world, so don’t do it online.. It’s easy to set up fake profiles via social networks or gaming sites, so you can never truly know who is on the other side of the computer screen. If you are unsure, please ask an adult first, don’t take the risk.
Always keep your password secret – If you don’t you could then run the risk of someone going through your stuff or do things to your online profile that you don’t agree with. In worst case scenarios they can access private and confidential information such as; pin numbers, addresses, phone numbers, images etc, and steal your identity.
Don’t display your full name – make your username as imaginative as you can. If your username gives away too much about you, people might be able to find out other details about you that you don’t want to share.
If you feel unsafe or unsure about anything, tell an adult straight away – If another user or an image is upsetting you or making you feel uncomfortable, tell an adult and let them help you report the problem even if it’s embarrassing.
Don’t share anything unless you don’t mind the whole world seeing it – think before you post! Loads of people use the internet including your family, your friends and their families, your teachers, your future employers and so on. If you don’t want them to see it or anyone else, keep it offline!
Don’t send images to people you don’t know in real life – If you only know the person online then don’t send them images of you or your house or anything that can identify you or your location. The person that you send the image to could be a completely different person to their online profile. They might upload the images online for everyone to see, use it to create fake online profiles, or other malicious things. Once they do this it is difficult to undo!

Risks your child might face online

Grooming

In essence, grooming is a process used by people with a sexual interest in children to attempt to engage them in sexual acts either over the internet or in person. Basically grooming is manipulation. Sometimes it involves flattery, sometimes sympathy, other times gifts or money. The short-term goal of these ‘groomers’ is to make the victim feel loved or just comfortable enough to want to met them in person. They tailor their flattery to the victim and try to get as much information about their target as possible.

In the ‘real world’ groomers hang around where children hang around. This could be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, gaming sites and children’s chat rooms and other social media platforms that are popular with children. Online grooming can be hard for parents to recognise because it can happen in the comfort of your own home as you might just be in the other room. There are however, a number of signs to be aware of and to look out for:

Wanting to spend more and more time on the internet
Being secretive about who they are talking to online and what sites they visit
Switching screens when you come near the computer
Possessing items – electronic devices or phones – you haven’t given them
Using sexual/racist/intolerant/criminal language you wouldn’t expect them to know
Becoming emotionally volatile.

The best way to prevent online grooming is to have an honest and frank conversation with your children about grooming and the dangers they face online. Tell them to not befriend or engage in conversation with anyone they do not know in ‘the real world’.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is an increasingly common form of bullying and takes place via online and on enabled devices rather than in the school yard. Whether it is on gaming sites, through a mobile phone, a tablet or via a social networking site, the effects can be devastating for children. One of the biggest differences between cyberbullying and face-to-face bullying is that it can be very hard to get away from. The bullies are on the phone, the computer, the tablet and so forth, so it doesn’t stop when school is out, it continues when your child comes home. Cyberbullying can also spread very quickly and be seen of lots of people via posts on social networks, emails and group chats.

Cyberbullying includes:

Sending threatening or abusive text messages
Creating and sharing embarrassing images or videos
‘Trolling’ – the sending of menacing or upsetting messages on social networks, chat rooms or online games
Excluding the child from online games, activities or friendship groups
Setting up hate sites or groups about a particular child
Encouraging young people to self-harm
Voting for or against someone in an abusive poll
Creating fake accounts, hijacking or stealing online identities to embarrass a young person or cause trouble using their name
Sending explicit messages, also known as sexting
Pressuring children into sending sexual images or engaging in sexual conversations

Since most cyberbullying takes place at home, as a parent it is important to know about cyberbullying and get involved in preventing it. Here are somethings you can do to prevent your child from suffering through cyberbullying.

Keep your home computer in a busy area of your house not in the child’s bedroom
Set up email and chat accounts with your children. Make sure that you know their screen names and passwords and that they don’t include any personal information in their online profiles
Regularly go over their instant messenger “buddy list” with them. Ask who each person is and how they know him or her
Discuss cyberbullying with your children and ask if they have ever experienced it or seen it happen to someone else
Tell your children up front that you won’t blame them if they are being bullied online and that you will not take away their screen time if they try and tell you about this. It is also important you tell them that if they are being bullied to always keep the evidence. Whether it’s a text message or email, tell them not to reply to the bully or delete the comments. Instead encourage them to block the individual so that they can’t be contacted by them any more. Then..
Take action and report any bullying content to the website it is hosted on. If content has been posted, such as an image or a video, that is upsetting your child you should report it immediately to the host (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or what ever platform it is on). Contacting the website is the only way to get offensive content removed, unless it is illegal. In case of illegal content for example indecent images or videos of young people under 18, contact your local police or report it to CEOP

Both you and your child could also visit the Childline website to find advice and if they wanted to talk to someone directly and in confidence they could also call Childline on 0800 1111

Inappropriate content

What you think is inappropriate material for children your child might not think is inappropriate. It is important that you explain to your child what is inappropriate content so that you are on the same page. Inappropriate content includes information or images that upset your child, material that’s directed at adults, inaccurate information or information that might lead or tempt your child into unlawful or dangerous behaviour. This could be:

Pornographic material
Content containing swearing
Sites that encourage vandalism, crime, terrorism, racism, eating disorders, even suicide
Pictures, videos or games which show images of violence or cruelty to other people or animals
Gambling sites
Unmoderated chatrooms – where there’s no one supervising the conversation and barring unsuitable comments.

It can be difficult to monitor what your child is exposed to when they are surfing online, sometimes they might come across something unsuitable by accident. To avoid this from happening you can use filters to block content and show your children how best to avoid it. Tools like parental controls helps to manage what your child has access to online. Thats said, you can’t block every single piece of unsuitable content so it’s equally important to talk to you children about it.

Start a conversation – As soon as your child starts to use the internet you should begin to talk about what they might find there. Help them understand that sometimes they may come across things that they’d prefer not to see, or that you would prefer they didn’t see. Try to have these conversations regularly.

Make sure they know about age limits – Many sites have a minimum age limit of 13 – this includes websites like YouTube and Facebook. Explain to your child that age limits are there to help protect them from unsuitable content.

Talk to other parents and the school – Ask other parents and your child’s school what sort of rules they’re following and what they recommend.
Agree ground rules – Find out the kind of things your child likes to do online and agree which websites and apps are the best for them to use. These should include the search engines they use to find information. There are child-friendly search engines that are especially suitable for children. You can find these listed here.

Be calm and reassuring – Let your child know they can talk to you or a trusted adult if they come across anything that upsets them online.

Online safety is something we take very seriously, and we do our utmost to protect the identity of the children in the photos we use. Please click here for Holiday Academy’s Photo Protocol.

References:

www.safekids.com

www.thinkuknow.co.uk

www.kidsmart.org.uk

www.focusonthefamily.com

www.nspcc.org.uk

www.internetmatters.org

November 6, 2015 By Natalie

One of the things we love most about our Holiday Academy yoga and mindfulness sessions for kids is the fact that children of any ability and fitness level can participate. Movements are slow and methodical which helps even the most hyperactive children to learn the art of focus and concentration. We are proud to offer our yoga workshop for kids which is led by the yoga Alliance accredited Children’s Yoga Teacher, Anita Looby. Anita is a master at Yoga and Mindfulness and has been working with school children and with a number of after school groups. More information here

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is said to have originated in Buddhist thinking and mediation practice over two and a half thousand years ago. Its original purpose was to address and relieve self-induced suffering caused by the dysfunctional ways people habitually tend to respond to their experiences. During 1970s research findings confirmed that meditation can reduce unhealthy psychological problems and has since then been used in treatments for stress, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders and addiction.

Mindfulness training emphasises focused attention to internal and external experiences in the present moment of time. Research has shown that this type of training also can be beneficial in everyday life. Children can be more focused on the present than adults, they can focus attentively on a game or activity. They feel their emotions immediately, even if they sometimes have difficulties verbalising those feelings. However, children also live in a world of being told what to do, what time to wake up, what time to go to school, what to eat, etc. Their lack of agency may lead to going through the motions of their daily tasks without conscious awareness of what they are doing. With mindfulness training we can teach children to being to pay attention to the things in the present moment that they have not noticed before.

Mindfulness is about being fully aware of living right now, in this moment. However, in this stressful world it can be hard to stay ‘in the moment’ as most of us spend they day rushing in between appointments and ‘musts’. Mindfulness training will help you to stay in the present and pay attention to the here and now. Being in the present moment help us to cope better with our lives and brings happiness into our daily routines. Mindfulness is also about accepting who your are so you can keep focus on the important things in life. Thus, practicing mindfulness has been proven to help to focus and pay attention, both for adults and children.

Mindfulness for kids

Mindfulness can help children thrive at school. Most of the research on mindfulness has been conducted in school settings and recent studies have shown that school with mindfulness programs to be effective in reducing symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety. Such programs can also help students focus during exams, as well as reducing stress and boosting happiness among high school students. It has also been proven to be an effective intervention for children with autism. With autism (and many other psychological imbalances) it can be a challenge to balance the inner and outer world which can distort relationships and interactions with others. Environmental cues can become so amplified that the child shuts down from the world to protect themselves. Mantra meditation (a type of meditation that involves repetition of a word or a sound) can have a harmonising and balancing effect and children with autism have responded very well to mantra because it facilities response.

Mindful Parenting

Mindful parenting encourages children to self-actualise it involves paying attention to your child and your parenting in a particular way, intentionally, here and now, and non-judgmentally. It is about healing the home environment and healing relationships.

To begin incorporating mindfulness into your children’s life start with daily mediation, yoga or breathing practices. Family dinners can also become mindful by not allowing phones at the table and having a moment of gratitude for the food. Even simple things like positive affirmations and encouraging children to think before they speak can foster an environment of calmness, presence and compassion.

How to teach mindfulness at home

Here are five main tenets of mindful parenting by Carolyn Gregoire:

Make space for just being, every day.
Our lives are lived in moments, mindfulness training can teach your child to live in those moments. Mindful parenting depends on being more presents, so establishing a daily mindfulness practice is considered key. Simply sit for 5-30 minutes every day, at the same time and place, bringing awareness to the breath in the body as a natural. physical, felt experience. When the mind wonders, don’t make it a problem. Simply notice when this is happens, let of of that thought and gently bring your awareness back to the mind/body connection. The greatest gift you can give your child is your full presence. You must start with your self to teach your child mindfulness.

Mindfully manage your stress
Parents are often living their lives running on empty, over scheduled, in a constant state of low-grade to high-grade stress. As a result it is hard to be “in the moment” when spending precious time with your children. As the mind/body connection becomes strengthened through mindfulness practice, it becomes possible to actively track and notice stress or imbalance in the body/mind. And you can actually shift from a mindlessly reactive and stressed mode to a mindfully responsive mode by using the STOP acronym below.

S – Stop. Whenever you notice stress or imbalance, simply pause in awareness.
T– Take a breath. Simply bring your awareness into the breathing body, just letting the sensations of the breath move into the forefront. Also, notice how your mind begins to settle a bit, bringing more clarity. When we are stressed, we can’t think clearly or see any situation accurately.
O– Observe. Just notice how the breath begins to naturally bring balance to the systems of the body. Let this be felt. Also, look around. What is really happening, in the moment?
P– Proceed. Having shifted to a more mindfully responsive mode, take an action that is more skill-full appropriate and best attuned to your situation.

Embrace the model of the “good enough’ parent
Parents often feels the pressure of being the “perfect” parent. Mindful parenting embraces the reality and wisdom of the “good enough” parent, acknowledging that regardless of our best intentions, moments of imperfection and failure are unavoidable. Your children need to see to fail at times, otherwise your children are not given an authentic model of what it is like to be human and that s ok to fail. What is important is that you show that when these inevitable moments of imperfection and failure occur, they become opportunities for compassion, learning, repair, forgiveness, humour, honesty and kindness. It goes without saying that this needs to be conveyed in developmentally appropriate ways.

Honour your children’s sovereignty
Honouring your children’s sovereignty is not about giving them unbridled freedom or too many choices. It is about bringing more awareness to your unmet needs, agendas, issues, unfinished business and thwarted dreams, so it does not get project on to your children. We need to take responsibility for what is unfinished in us, rather than burdening our children. Can we truly see, value and love our children as they really are, different and quite separate from us? Many parent/child conflicts involve a lack of clear boundaries and emotional separation on the parent’s part. What they need and what we need, can often be at odds. The idea is to learn to acknowledge and address all these needs with more skill, understanding and grace in mindful awareness.

Cultivate kindness and compassion
Nothing is more humbling, more challenging and more heartbreaking than parenting. There is no quitting and no hiding and no “finish line.” Therefore, as an act of self-preservation, parents must learn how to actively cultivate kindness and compassion in the moment. Mindfulness practice is often referred to as an act of “self-love” or ongoing “self-parenting.”

Children are in need of unconditional love from their parents, but you can’t give that to your child if you are running on empty. Therefore, we must begin with ourselves, experiencing more and more kindness, compassion and self-acceptance. And as a result, this begins to naturally flow to your children.

Books on Mindful parenting

Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting
Mindful Parenting
Mindful Parenting: Simple and Powerful Solutions for Raising Creative, Engaged, Happy Kids in Today’s Hectic World
Mindful Parenting for ADHD: A Guide to Cultivating Calm, Reducing Stress, and Helping Children Thrive

References:

July 22, 2015 By Ruth Peel

Image source: www.coachingyciberoptimismo.blogspot.co.uk, www.eomega.org

Mindfulness for kids

Mindfulness has proven to be beneficial for adults (especially parents!). It allows parents to engage better with their parenting and provides the tools to allow for a calmer home environment 🙂 Children will, of course, also feel the stress of everyday life and mindfulness exercise can benefit them in the same way. This is why we have children’s yoga in the Holiday Academy programme – relaxing is fun! There is emerging research that indicates that mindfulness activities can improve attention span, calmness and it helps better decision making. So what is mindfulness actually? In short, it makes emotional regulation and cognitive focus easier. Mindfulness is ‘awareness’ – noticing thoughts, feeling bodily sensations and what is around us and happening right now.

Mindful Parenting

Mindful parenting is non judgmental. To incorporate mindfulness everyday, it’s good to start with a daily meditation, yoga or breathing practice. The purpose of teaching children mindfulness is to give them skills to develop their awareness of their inner and outer experiences, to recognize their thoughts as ‘just thoughts’, to understand how emotions manifest in the body and to provide tools for impulse control. To teach children (or any one for that matter) it’s worth practicing mindfulness yourself and mediation just 5-10 minutes a day. Find out more about mindfulness for adults here...

Image Source: www.thephysicaleducator.com

7 Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids

Bell Listening Exercise – This is an easy way for children to practice mindfulness.Ring a bell and ask your children to listen closely to the ringing sound until they can no longer hear it (usually takes 30 seconds to a minute). When they no longer can hear the bell ask them to tell you what sounds they noticed when they listened to the bell. This exercise is not only fun but it helps them connect to the present moment and the sensitivity of their perceptions.

1. Breathing Buddies – Give your children a soft toy as a breathing buddy and ask them to lie down on their backs with their ‘buddy’ on their belly. Instruct them to breath in silence for one minute and notice how their breathing buddy moves up and down. Ask them to focus their attention to the movements of their buddy and tell them to imagine that the thoughts that come into their minds turn into bubbles and float away.

2. Mindful walks – Make your walks mindful. When going for a walk with your children try to point out things in your surrounding that you have not noticed before. Designate one minute to walk in complete silence and simply pay attention to all the sounds around.

3. Gratitude exercises – Gratitude is a fundamental component of mindfulness. During family dinners have a moment of gratitude for your food. This simple dinner exercise teaches your children to appreciate the abundance in their lives.

4. The art of touch – Give your children different objects to touch, such as a ball, a feather, a soft toy or a stone, etc. Ask them to close their eyes and describe what the object feels like. This mindfulness exercise teach the kids the practice of isolating their senses from one another, and tuning into distinct experiences.

5. Mindful eating – Mindful eating is an experience that engages all the five senses. Tell your children to look, smell, taste and touch the food. By using all their senses your children will appreciate all of the characteristic of the food. They are more likely to savour the bites, eat slower, digest better and enjoy the meal more. You can find more about mindful eating here.

6. Smell & Tell – Pass something fragrant to your little one It could be anything from a piece of fresh orange peel or a spring from a jasmine flower, as long as it is pleasant and fragrant it should do. Ask them to close their eyes and breath in the scent, focusing all their attention to only the smell of the object. This is a great exercise as scent can really be a great tool for anxiety relief among other things.

7. The Heartbeat Exercise – This is a fun exercise that everyone will enjoy. Ask them to jump up and down in one place for one minute. Then ask them to sit back down and place their hands on their hearts, tell them to close their eyes and feel their heartbeats and their breath. You can also ask what else they notice about their bodies.

The most important thing is to remember to have fun and keep it simple. Some of the exercises will work and some won’t. If your children aren’t interested in one particular exercise, drop it, this will be a good time for you to practice non- attachment outcomes!

References:
www.mindful.org
www.huffingtonpost.com
www.mindbidygreen.com
www.blog.harvardvanguard.org
www.huffingtonpost.com

June 29, 2015 By Ruth Peel

The Suzuki method of teaching

The Suzuki method is a method of teaching music development and executed by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) dating from the mid-20th century. The Suzuki method has helped many children to play music at a high standard and many Suzuki trained students have become highly acclaimed professional musicians, however, the emphasis of the method is the development of the child through music. The method has extended from teaching the violin, to include many instruments such as cello, viola, flute and piano.

What is the Suzuki method?

The Suzuki method is based on the principle that all children process ability and that this ability can be developed and enhanced in a nurturing environment. Most children learn how to speak their own language with relative ease and if the same natural learning process is applied in teaching other skills, these can be acquired successfully. Suzuki referred to the process as the mother tongue method.

The mother tongue approach for music builds on the principles of language acquisition. These principles include an early beginning, listening, loving encouragement, parental support, constant repetition, learning with other children and then then learning how to read. Since all children learn and master their language before they can read, Suzuki believed that all children could learn and master music the same way. Even though theses are important elements in the Suzuki method to instrumental teaching, it is the totality of the method that distinguishes the Suzuki method.

Image Source: www.spectator.co.uk, www.amypirtle.com

The important elements of the Suzuki approach to instrumental teaching include the following:

Early Beginnings (3-4 years)
So much development takes place in a child’s early years and Suzuki though that these years should not be ignored but cultivated with love and care.

Learning from demonstration
Children learn a lot from observing other children learning. With the Suzuki method a beginner student may observe others for up to a year before they start to play themselves.

Pace
Start young, slow and don’t stop. Children learn at their own individual pace. The Suzuki method is thorough and challenging but not “pushy” at all.

Listening
With the Suzuki method, students will listen to the recordings of music pieces that they will learn to play long before they learn how to play.. Just the same as in conventional schools, books are introduced to children only after they have learnt how to talk. Therefore, written music should only introduced to the student after they have played for a few years. Moreover, by listening to music and learning to play a piece by ear will develop a sophisticated ear for pitch and tone.

Complete mastery
Students of the Suzuki method stay practicing on a piece long after they have mastered the notes. They are taught to play from memory which is seen as the starting point for work on proper technique and musicality.

Common Repertoire
All Suzuki students learn and follow the same sequence of material. Each instrument has its own repertoire which has been designed to take the student from ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ to grade eight level and beyond.

Group practice
In group practices children benefit from the social aspect of playing together by learning from each other and maybe discovering something new. Ideally a Suzuki student would attend group practice once a week, in addition to their individual lessons.

Playing in public
Not only do the children become used to playing in public by having their individual lessons observed, they should also get the opportunity to play in concerts organised by their Suzuki teacher. The British Suzuki institution organise concerts in prestige concert halls every two years.

Parental Involvement
Parents have an active role in the Suzuki method and are expected to attend lessons, take notes and practice with their children.

Practice
Children learn to speak their language fluently because they speak everyday, therefore, according to the Suzuki method, music should be practiced every day.

Love
Suzuki believed that music ability lies in all children, he did not believe that he was imposing a skill upon the children he was teaching, he was rather guiding them to manifest what they already possessed. The Suzuki method is not about breeding musicians or inculcating skills in children, it is about the amazing results that can be achieved with understanding, sensitivity and discipline combined in a single field of study. Suzuki believed that the glue that binds these various elements together is love.

Being a Suzuki student or parent
With the Suzuki method students begin very young and parents must attend their children’s lessons so that they can supervise home practice every day, however, the parent’s obligations dwindle as the child gets older. Students typically take weekly lessons from a private teacher and at some point you’ll have to buy or rent (borrow, beg or steal) a violin. We recommend that you ask your child’s teacher to help you find the ‘right’ violin.

Hope to see you soon!

Find out more about Holiday Academy’s Suzuki classes and all our other activities here

References:

www.violinist.com
www.suzukimethod.or.jp
www.internationalsuzuki.org

Image Source: www.suzukiassociation.org

May 17, 2015 By Ruth Peel

At Holiday Academy our first priority is safety when
uploading photos on our website and social media platforms.

*To find out more about Holiday Academy’s Photo Policy here

Here are some tips on how to make your and your child’s online profiles safer

Google Safe Search

By enabling SafeSearch via your Google settings, you can filter out most of the mature content that you or your family may prefer to avoid. If an inappropriate result does sneak through, you can report it to Google. Read more about Google’s safety tools here

YouTube Safety Mode

If you’d prefer not to see mature or age-restricted content as you browse YouTube, scroll to the bottom of any YouTube page and enable Safety Mode. Safety Mode helps filter out potentially objectionable content from search, related videos, playlists, shows and films. You can find out more about YouTube safety mode here

Restricted Profiles

You can create restricted profiles to prevent family members who may have access to your tablet from viewing mature content. You can also use restricted profiles for several purposes, such as, having a profile with parental controls that selectively restrict family members from accessing mature content.

How to keep your children safe online

Today children grow up with computers and know that the internet is a magical entity capable of answering all sorts of questions; with printable templates of pretty much any animal to colour in; and serving up endlessly repeatable videos of startled cats, or whatever tickles their fancy. Children these days can be better at navigating on-line than their parents! What they don’t know yet, is anything about viruses, online privacy, phishing, social networking etiquette, and any other internet safety and/or security issues. Teaching them how to use the internet safety now and in the future, is one of our many roles as a parent. We appreciate that the challenge of keeping your children safe online could be an intimidating task if you don’t quite know where to start. Here are some steps that you can do with your children to ensure that they are using the internet responsibly.

Start discussing online safety at an early age

It is important to begin having conversations about internet security with your children from an early age in order to protect and educate them from risks that they may not yet understand. If you are using the computer with your child take advantage of the opportunity and teach them about unsafe and safe things on the internet, and discuss the things that are there to protect us, e.g., passwords, security settings, etc. As they get older and begin to do things independently, help them create sensible passwords and explain why they should use different passwords for each account, not to give their passwords out, or indeed any personal information, and the possible consequences of not doing so. If they do have an email address, they should not give it out freely, and should be careful who they do give it to.

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Follow the same rules that you follow in the real world

Let them know that the same rules apply for behaviour and manners on-line as they do in real life. For example, you wouldn’t go up to a complete stranger and start a conversation or say something offensive to someone in the playground. So if it’s not ok to do it in the real world, then it’s not ok to do it online. Explain to your children that just because they feel protected by the apparent distance a screen gives, they must remember that the online world is the real world and that there are real people behind the screens.

Beware of strangers bearing gifts

Enforcing boundaries and engaging in age-appropriate open discussions about your child’s online activities will encourage your young cyber minds to learn the benefits and realise the dangers of the internet. Explain to your children that there are criminals on the internet just as there are criminals in the real world. The difference is that hackers breaks into your house through the computer, rather than through the window. Also, teach them that just as in the real world, never accept gifts from strangers, for example, to not open an email or a link if they don’t know who sent it, or it just looks like their friend’s email has been hacked, and how to spot something which is suspicious.

Communication is key

Communication and education is key. Keep talking, sharing and being interested in your child’s online world. If your child sees that you’re interested and knowledgeable about what’s ‘sick’ in ‘tech’, they will want to talk to you about what they are doing online! If your children or your child is old enough to be on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter ask them to be-friend you on all their social media networks, and tell them why. This will help you keep an eye on some of their online activities and hopefully they would think twice about posting a photo or a comment when they know you can see it. Last but not least make sure that your children ONLY message and accept friend and contact requests from people they know IRL (*In the Real World). If you don’t know how to use a certain social media platform, then learn, log-on and be-friend your children.

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Don’t only tell them to be safe, show them how to be safe

Tell your children that when it comes to passwords use long sentences as it’s easy for them to remember and harder for others to crack. Teach them how to check that the virus protection is updated and how to answer requests. Talk abut cyber-bullying, Facebook depression, sexting, pedophiles, scammers and exposure to inappropriate content, to give your child an idea of what internet danger is all about. Further more, don’t hand over any internet connected devices before you know yourself how it works. When educating children it’s good to use material or images, as web comics or animations to get the point across.

Anything that is put online should assumed to be permanent

Children can be very trusting, so it’s important for them to understand that anything that is put online should be assumed to be permanent. Everything they do online is captured forever and could come back and haunt them at any time of their life. For instance, many employers and university admissions officers look at social media profiles when researching candidates. Therefore they must be careful of what they expose and appreciate that their identity and all that goes with it, is precious and should not be shared online without thought.

At Holiday Academy our first priority is safety when uploading photos on our website and social media platforms. To find out more about Holiday Academy’s Photo Policy click here.

REFERENCES:

www.ikeepsafe.org

www.theguardian.com

www.familyinternet.about.com

www.creativebusstop.com

April 12, 2015 By Ruth Peel

“The most important thing is to actualise the instinctive love of the child for singing and playing, to realise the changing of his moods through the songs, his feelings, his experiences – in other words, to bring about the miracle of music”

– Zoltán Kodály

Kodály believed that music is meant to develop one’s entire being-personality, intellect and emotions. He said, “music is a spiritual food for everybody. So I studied how to make more people accessible to good music.” (Kodály, 1966). Kodály realised this was part of everyone’s basic heritage and was necessary for human development and should be started at as early an age as possible. Jenö Ádám, an early and prominent colleague of Kodály, stated, “The most important thing is to actualise the instinctive love of the child for singing and playing, to realise the changing of his moods through the songs, his feelings, his experiences – in other words, to bring about the miracle of music”.

Kodály Method of teaching Music is to children and adults of all ages:

Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) was a Hungarian composer who, appalled by the apparent lack of musicianship skills in his students at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, developed a set of educational principles for teaching music.

The Kodály approach to music education has three underpinning ideas.

Everyone is a musician and has a right to high quality music education
Everyone can sing and the voice is the first instrument
Through singing one can learn ‘musical literacy’ and the transferable meta-skills (eg. Understanding of pulse, rhythm, melody, harmony and musical structure) that apply to any instrumental learning

Kodály travelled through Europe to find the best educational practice in music, in Britain he discovered the use of ‘tonic solfa’ a system of naming musical pitch relationships (melody and harmony) using the ‘do, re, mi’ syllables. In France he found the rhythm syllables that demystify rhythm reading. To these specifically musical ideas he added the pedagogical ideas of a progression of learning from simple to complex and the sequence of learning by which something must first be known unconsciously, then learned consciously and then that learning must be reinforced by repetition in a new context.

Image Sources: www.thinkinginsound.wordpress.com, www.clarkcountychildrenschoir.org, www.kasc.oake.org

When asked when a child’s musical learning should begin he is reported to have said ‘Nine months before the birth of the child’ he later revised this to be ‘Nine months before the birth of the mother’ meaning that our musical culture is passed to our children from generation to generation through lullabies, rhymes and games and is inextricably linked to our language.

In Kodály music education parents learn with their child to sing simple songs, perhaps remembering and re-learning songs from their own childhoods. These rhymes and games give children the experience of beat, pitch matching (singing the same note as someone else), form and expression. Later on this body of song becomes a bank of material that can be used to teach specific elements of music. Unaccompanied song is used and children are encouraged to sing short simple phrases by themselves and perform other musical tasks such as keeping the beat or a simple ostinato independently. Gradually they relate this learning to written notation and thereby become musicians who read music with ease and understanding. The Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Ivan Fisher is an example of this method used at the highest level.

For more information about Holiday Academy activities visit www.holidayacademy.co.uk

References:

www.britishacademy.org
www.iks.hu
musiced.about.com
Image source: www.publicityhound.com

February 12, 2015 By Ruth Peel

At Holiday academy we have yoga for children with the talented Anita Looby. We have all heard about the advantages form yoga, but what makes yoga classes different from other activities and how do children benefit from yoga?

Yoga is an ancient science which helps to create health and well-being by building awareness, strength and flexibility in the mind, body and spirit. What is unique to yoga, compared to other activities, is that yoga has no age limit and yoga postures (asanas) are practiced by people of all ages. Yoga for kids is a fun way for children to develop important skills in a fun, non-competitive environment. Another aspect that differentiates yoga from other physical activities for children is that it teaches respect and honour, for our self, for each other and the environment around us. But most importantly: it is fun!

There are five key areas where children benefit from the practice of Yoga:

Physical Flexibility

Yoga promotes physical strength and kids learn to use all of their muscles in new ways as yoga poses challenges various muscle groups, whether it is standing, sitting or laying down. These poses will help children become aware of their body and how it functions.

Balance and Coordination

Balance is one of the key elements of yoga. Balancing poses were created to promote mental and physical poise but also mental clarity and stability. Coordination is also closely tied to balance and promotes overall dexterity.

Focus and Concentration

Practicing Yoga poses encourages children to clear their mind and focus on what they are doing right now. As a result, yoga helps children to focus and concentrate in school and achieve better grades.

Boost Self-Esteem and Confidence

Yoga helps to instill confidence as a yoga teacher can only provide guidance, it is the child that has to do work to succeed. Therefore, when a child masters a pose it will give them confidence and self-esteem. This also teaches children to be patient and work towards their goals.

It Strengthens the Mind-Body Connection

Yoga exercises the body but also calms the mental spirit which helps kids achieve a sound mind and body. Even at a young age children can feel pressure at school, academically and socially, and/or pressure from competitive organised sport. Yoga functions as a release that alleviates these pressures and acts as a foundation to nurture and develop a resilient and resourceful body, mind and spirit. This nourishing atmosphere encourages children to relax and have fun while they develop not only strength, coordination, flexibility and balance, but also body awareness, breathing awareness, better focus and concentration, and self confidence

Yoga is beneficial to children of all ages and it helps children concentrate focus better on their activities during the day, and pay attention to their tasks. It encourages self-esteem and body awareness, it also fosters cooperation and compassion. By practising yoga children will connect more with their inner self and be more self-aware. Book your Holiday Academy Yoga classes here.

Hope to see you soon!

References:
www.yogajournal.com By Marsha Wenig
www.rainbiwkidsyoga.net By Gopala Amir Yaffe