Studying During the Winter Break

With the Christmas just around the corner, it’s a good idea to have a plan for the winter school break. In this blog we will be discussing how to use the school winter break productively, while still having a fun and restful time, and how to work on aspects such as healthy eating and fitness that can have positive impacts on your children’s learning and wellbeing.

It is important to incorporate days of pure rest into the winter holiday. After all, it is a break and rest is good for the long term memory, however, doing some light studying will also support your child’s learning. Some children will prefer to do short bursts of study, 20 – 30 minutes at a time, while others will want to spend an hour or two completing a lot. The important thing is to listen to your children and work out the best method together.

This is a good time to do catch-up on work that may have not been completed in school, or altogether missed due to time off. If you are unsure what your child needs to be catching up on our tutors can help identify the topics and subjects that could be worked on during the break.

Some rough suggestions are:

• Maths – practice times tables, equations and other formulas.
• Sciences – similarly to maths, practice equations, practical formulas, but also the context of various topics.
• Humanities – revise the set texts, or case studies, and learn their contexts.

For students that are sitting exams in January past papers are a great resource to work with over the break. The examination board pages can be tricky to navigate, however, our tutors are excellent at finding the correct past papers and other resources, and can guide you and your child to the right places.

What about healthy eating? Don’t worry, there is no need to take away all the Christmas favourites off the table this year, instead try to also incorporate some balanced meals and snacks. According to Harvard Health Publishing*, the following are  foods linked to “brain power” which can aid studying.

These foods are:

• Green, leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, collards, and broccoli.

• Fatty fish which are sources of omega-3 fatty acids which support healthy brain function. Try to eat fish from responsible sources such as salmon, cod, canned light tuna and pollack. Some vegan omega-3 options are flaxseeds that can be scattered over a cereal bowl, walnuts or avocados.

• Berries which contain flavonoids, the natural plant pigments, can help improve memory. Berries are also full of anti-oxidants which protect our cells from oxidative stress, and they provide many nutrients such as vitamin C, Folate and vitamin K1 amongst others.

Light exercise such as walking, jogging or stretching, especially outside, is a great addition to the winter break routine. Try to make the most of any rays of sunshine during the winter as vitamin D is essential to keep bones and teeth healthy, and to regulate other minerals in the body.

We at Cardiff and Vale Tutors wish you a restful, safe and fun winter break and we look forward to starting afresh in 2022!

Written by Aleksandra Dul, our A level and GCSE English  Tutor. She is also a freelance photographer at Not So Casual Photography which produces fantastic locally-themed calendars and other artwork, as well as writing her own blog focusing on themes such as wellbeing, mental health and personal growth.

Keywords:self care, healthy eating, catch up work, well being, student work

Sources used:

‘Healthy eating for teens’, NHS, (2021), https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/healthy-eating-for-teens/

‘Foods linked to better brainpower’, Harvard Health Publishing, (2021), https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/foods-linked-to-better-brainpower