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Farlington to Admit Boys to Reception Class from September 2018

The Governors and Senior Leadership Team of Farlington School have made the decision this week to welcome boys into its Reception Class from September 2018.

The move towards a co-educational Prep School will be gradual and our existing classes in the Prep and Pre-Prep will remain girls-only. Only the Nursery and Reception class in September 2018 will have both boys and girls.  There is no change to the arrangements in the Senior School or Sixth Form.

Louise Higson, Farlington’s Headmistress comments, “This is a significant and exciting change for the School.  The Farlington ethos of inspiring and educating the individual will always remain. We know that girls and boys learn in different ways and this will be reflected in our teaching methods in the classroom. We are looking forward to giving our new co-educational Reception class of September 2018 a very warm welcome to the Farlington community.”

Read more: http://www.farlingtonschool.com/farlington-admit-boys-reception-class-september-2018/

Calculators 'a plus' for young mathematicians after all

Using calculators in the classroom does not harm children’s maths skills and can actually boost understanding in the subject, a major study has found.

Calculators were banned from maths SATs tests for 11-year-olds in 2014, amid concerns by ministers that primary school pupils can be overly reliant on them.

In this latest research, academics quoted a paper which showed pupils who had used calculators systematically throughout primary school had a greater understanding of and fluency with arithmetic.

Academics for the Education Endowment Foundation also found that when taught properly, calculators can help students become better at problem solving.

Calculators are most useful, they said, when weaved into teaching materials.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43500274