This is a presentation used at progress day 2013

1. Working together….
Helping your child with revision
Ideas and techniques to
help you support your child
to achieve their potential

2. What is revision?
I’ve read all my notes
but I can’t remember
any of it!
It means actively looking over work on
an ongoing basis:
1. To remind you of things you have forgotten
2. To make links with other learning so you
have the bigger picture
3. To reinforce learning
4. To identify what you don’t know
5. To check understanding

3. Why encourage your child to revise?
 It
reduces panic – gives them control
and confidence
 It means that exams reflect what they
can do, not what they didn’t bother to
do!!
 It can help identify problem areas
 Achieve better results!
Talk to your child about what their subjects are about, what they have to do in them,
what they feel confident/ less confident about. Talking to you about their
learning will help them to think about their learning needs.

4. Should I help with revision?
 Research
and experience shows that children
whose parents/carers take the opportunity to
be frequently interested in their child’s learning
make most progress.
 You will get to know your child’s strengths and
difficulties and find out what they are studying
 Helping them do their work is not the same as
doing it for them!!!
 Discussing work with them strengthens their
understanding
Let them be the teacher – if you don’t know anything about what they need to know in
a subject – ask them to teach you

5. Where to start? When to do it?
 Help
them work out how much time they have
– being realistic
 Don’t forget to factor in a bit of play time also!
 Get them to take into account their ideal time
day of work – work out when they will revise
 Break it down into manageable “chunks” e.g.
‘revising French verbs’ sounds more
manageable than ‘revising for GCSEs’
Make sure they use their planner/timetable to keep up with revision
and encourage them to attend revision sessions outside school hours where offered

6. Exam Skills/Tips
 The
following slides will go into more
detail about:
 Getting
organised (study-area/resources)
 Creating a revision timetable
 Keeping their brain happy!
 Taking breaks
 Learning styles (VAK)
 Revision strategies
When your child is revising, encourage them to drink water, listen to music and to
take regular breaks. This helps keep the body refreshed allowing the brain to
process information well.

7. Hints for an ideal revision area

8. What and how?!?!
 Does
your child know what they need to do?
What will be actually tested in the exam? (Revision
list)
 What day is the exam? (Exam timetable)
 When does the exam start and how long is it?

 Do
they have the materials to do it?
Exercise books, textbooks, folders…
 Revision guides
 Access to internet (websites)

 If
there are any gaps encourage them to
ask their subject teacher….

9. Resources to revise
 Help
provide the right resources for your
child to revise actively:
 Pen,
rules, pencils, paper, glue, scissors
 Post-it notes
 Coloured pens
 Highlighters
 Dictionary
 Revision guides, CDs & Podcasts
 Food and drink!!!
Encourage your child to use a variety of appropriate revision methods and equipment.
Discuss with them how these methods work, and help them choose the best one
for their learning style

10. 10 tips to keep their brain happy
(and productive!!)

11. Creating a revision timetable
A
week in your child’s life:
Eat…sleep…socialise…relax…work…play

12. An example of a long term timetable
Support them with their coursework, ask them what they have to do and what
deadlines they had to meet.

13. How long should they revise for?
Learning
Students working without breaks
1
2
3 Time (hours)
4

14. Breaks are important!
1
2
Breaktime!
Breaktime!
Breaktime!
Breaktime!
Learning
Encourage your child to take breaks = remember more!
3
4
Time (hours)

15. Learning Styles


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We all learn in different ways
Knowing your child’s preferences may help them to
get the most out of revision activities
It is important not to see learners as fixed to one of
these learning styles
Learners need to use all of them, but we all have a
preferred style which tends to dominate
See the websites below to check your child’s preferred
learning style - maybe have a go yourself!
www.learningstylesonline.com/inventory
OR
www.chaminade.org/inspire/learnstl.htm
Make sure that their social life/ job is not interfering with their studying.
They need rest and sleep to make sure that their brains are active
and open to learning.

16. Learning Styles
Visual
Symbols
Text
A
uditory
K
inaesthetic

17. Visual Learners
 Visual
learners have a preference for
seen or observed things e.g:
Images
Pictures
Charts
Diagrams
Record information in words and
symbols
Colour
Work from lists

18. Visual Learners
 What
can they do to revise?
 Create cue cards and arrange them in order
 Hang notes on walls/doors/near desks…
 Re write notes/different subjects/topics in colour
 Create models/charts/tables/mind maps
 Use highlighters
 Use visual mnemonics
 Memorise notes
 Write key information in different places on the
page because in the exam you may see the
location of an answer rather than the answer
itself!

19. Auditory Learners
 Auditory
learners have a preference for:
Listening
Hearing an explanation of something
rather than reading about it
Recording notes and play them back
Talking/discussing
But, they are easily distracted by
noise!!!!!

20. Auditory Learners
What
can they do to revise?
 Download
and listen to podcasts
 Record notes and play them back
 Discuss with friends
 Say facts over and over again
 Make a song
 Remember who said it!
 Use different voices
 Aural Mnemonics

21. Kinaesthetic Learners
Kinaesthetic
learners have a
preference for:
Physical experience (doing,
touching, feeling…etc.)
Trying things out
Physical repetition e.g. flashcards

22. Kinaesthetic Learners
What
can they do to revise?
Copy notes over and over
Go on interactive revision sites
Simultaneously talking-walking, walkingreading
Move hand and feet in rhythm
Construct things whilst studying

23. What about all 3 learning styles?
 Revising
can become boring!
 Their brain can feel like it is going to explode if
they create another cue card or listen to that
podcast again!
 Mix the INPUTS!!! – use more than one
revision technique e.g.
 Create cue cards
 Stick them on the wall
 Walk around the house with them
 Talk them over with you

24. Examples of revision strategies…

25. Final pieces of advice…




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Be positive about your child’s attempts. Make an
appointment with school if you are concerned about
their progress.
Be patient! Help your child to become an independent
learner. Explain how to look up information or find a
word in a dictionary rather than simply giving them the
answer in order to get the task finished.
Don’t let working together become a chore. Make it a
special time that you can both enjoy.
Turn off the television while revision is underway,
but do let your child work to music if they find it helpful.
Agree a place and a time for help - listening while you
do another chore can work too.

26. Advice cont..



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It doesn’t need to be a marathon session; little and
often is usually best.
Recognise your own emotional state - if you are
tense or worrying about something else, it might not
be a good time to work with your child.
Don’t be afraid to STOP if it isn’t going well. Try to
agree what the difficulty is and when to come back
together later.
ALWAYS end with praise (they’ll feel good, you’ll feel
good) It should be enjoyable… for both of you!

27. Ask the right questions
 Help
your child by asking the right question:
When is your exam…?
 What are you likely to be tested on…?
 What do you need to take on the day…?
 What strategies are helping you most..?
 You’ve been studying…What can you teach me…?
 What support do you need…?
 Do you need a drink/food?
 Is it time for a break yet?

Encourage your child to use revision websites e.g. SAM Learning (www.samlearning.co.uk)

28. Useful websites



www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents
- advice on helping your child
Bewise revise
GCSE pod

29. Supporting your child in English
M I’Anson
Director of Learning (English and Literacy)

30. English Revision
Read, Read, Read!!!!!
Non fiction – newspapers, blogs, leaflets,
tour guides…
15 – 20 minutes of silence concentrated
reading a day.

31. Ask them questions about what
they have read
 Can
you summarise what has been
written?
 What is the writer’s point of view? How do
you know that? Can you find a
word/phrase/sentence from the text to
prove that?
 Has the writer used any language devices?
Can you find an example?
 How does that device make the reader
feel/think and why?

32. More questions to ask
 Can
you pick out any presentation
features – headlines, logos, font colour
and all the time asking WHY has it been
used…
 Comparing two texts – what is the same
and different
 Ask your son/daughter to pick out any
words that they don’t understand from
the texts and together find their
meaning.

33. Time them
 Time
management is a big issue!
 Students
need to answer each reading
question in 12 minutes – with 5 points!
 Ask
students to answer the questions on
the hand out and only give them 12
minutes

34. Writing
 Vocabulary
and spelling – as a family
pick a word a day and try to use it in
conversation

35. Use their planners
 Use
the Literacy Apps in the planner as
a reminder of how to plan a piece of
writing
 Literacy Apps - remind students when to
start a new paragraph and how to write a
structured paragraph
 Look at the page with the layout of a
letter on it – remind students where to
put the addresses etc

36. Spelling
 Help
your son/daughter to revise the
correct spellings of common words. For
example – there, their and they’re – to,
two and too.

37. Supporting your child in
mathematics
A.Fraser
Director of Learning (Mathematics and
Numeracy)

38. Mathematics Resources


Lots of material available from school.
MyMaths.
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All pupils are able to access MyMaths using the internet.
Some homework is set on this.
Revision materials for all areas of Mathematics.
Fantastic revision material for preparation for GCSE exams.
Mathswatch
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Multimedia resource
Worksheets
Visual presentations
Graded exam questions
Available to students for £3.00.

39. Revision material

Revision material
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As part of preparation for exams all pupils
will be provided with practice exam papers
and or sample questions.
The most important part of exam
preparation.
Must ensure that your child completes
these to the best of their ability.

40. Homework




Check your child's planner
Check whether homework has been
completed.
Review any problems your child has
had.
Help if possible. If not write a note in
your child's planners outlining where
difficulties have occurred.

41. Thank you
 If
you wish to receive a copy of this
presentation then please leave your
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