Bonding & Communication

Best Beginnings, a charity supporting parents with babies, discusses how daily positive communication with children, will support their emotional, language and social development. A useful article with related videos can be found on this page. 

The National Literacy Trust have gathered up a range of popular songs and nursery rhymes which can be sung to babies; it is understood that rhythms and repetitive language make it easier for babies to learn language skills and as babies hear the same rhymes over and over again, they soon learn to join in with the actions. Singing and reciting along with a child also helps with bonding.

Too much homework?

The debate on whether homework should be scrapped has been an long-standing one. Now, excessive homework is being blamed on the rise of mental health illness in children and young people. A “high-stakes achievement culture” is also being cited amongst the reasons given for a rise in anxiety and depression. This follows on from a recent announcement by Cheltenham Ladies’ College, that it will be carrying out a review on whether to abolish homework. However, when one school in New York decided to scrap homework, parents were not pleased....

And whilst the West has been inspired by the success of Asian education systems, a report by Professor Yong Zhao indicates that Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Shanghai are turning their attention to cultivating “twenty-first century skills” in their children, such as creativity, communication, collaboration and higher order thinking skills; they are also more concerned about student social-emotional and physical health.