About the centre

Visits to the centre are enjoyable and confidence boosting, with students receiving positive feedback from both myself and my team of fully trained assistants, some of whom are also students themselves. Class time also gives us the chance to observe students working which often gives us a clue to problems.

New students will meet their buddy, an assistant who will guide them through the class routine until it is familiar to them and they are able to organise themselves without help. Independence and self-confidence develop class by class as students' self-esteem increases and they begin to take responsibility for their own learning.

Completed homework is exchanged for new work and as students begin their classwork, records are updated and changes made to individual programmes of study, if required. Visits last approximately 30-45 minutes and parents can meet other Kumon parents and chat about their Kumon experiences during this time. Students will meet with Sue either at the beginning of class or at the end to review progress and to look forward to new work.

In class, students may be working on the next part of their course, learning new skills or completing an end-of-level assessment. Classwork is supervised by the Instructor, who gives individual guidance to students, as required. While work is being marked there are a range of activities to further develop understanding of their subject. These include mental arithmetic and times tables practice, oral testing and completion of puzzles. There is also a selection of reading books, and resources including a Maths library, dictionaries and reference material.

Younger students, and those requiring extra support, work one-to-one with a trained assistant and all students following the English programme read to an assistant before commencing their work, to check fluency and understanding. Every student has the opportunity to work with Sue when new work is introduced or difficulties arise.

Students correct any errors in their work as soon as it has been marked, as they do at home, before seeing the Instructor for positive feedback on their performance and guidance on their way forward. Finally, they collect their stickers before leaving with their homework assignments. Stickers, as you probably know, are highly motivational and encourage students to complete their work every day in exchange for rewards.

Whatever their position in their programme, the aim of each class visit is to encourage students to aim high and to build self-confidence and excellent study skills, which will equip them for life.