The Orchard Gate

Here at the Orchard Gate, we are thinking about time and how we manage our work. We have just finished Week 7, and the alphabetical order questions are over for another year! Thank you for all your perseverance, for slowing down and for learning to work smarter, not harder.

Having the alphabet written out in front of you is not cheating. There is a difference between knowing the sequence and using it. Sorting several words into alphabetical order can be quite tricky when you need to check their second, third and fourth letters. We should use the tools we have to hand to help us. Well done to everyone who completed the units.

Next week is our final week before half term. Let’s pace ourselves, keep working steadily and make sure we reach the end without running out of steam.

Working smarter means spreading the work across the week, rather than leaving it all until the last minute. At Orchard, we keep the holidays free from assigned learning, so the aim is to finish before half term begins. Make steady progress each day, and ask for help if you get stuck. As always, if you complete all your assigned work before the end of the week, you can take the remaining days off—you will have earned that break!

A little while ago, we discussed how long Orchard’s autumn half-term break should be. If you have recently joined us, here is the background.

Surrey County Council initially announced a two-week autumn half term, and schools planned and published their calendars around it. The council later decided to return to a one-week break, but the calendars were already in place. This means a two-week break this year, returning to one week next year.

Here at Orchard, parents and homeschoolers had their say, and we all voted for a one-week autumn half term.

We will therefore finish for half term on Friday 23 October and return to learning on Monday 2 November.