Kirsty is an advocate of sustainability and her classroom environment and practice fully embrace this. Her classroom itself has been called an ‘enchanted garden’ by online students in Asia who have view of a botanical backdrop with its varying weather and colours. Children feel safe and inspired surrounded by resources that engage and develop their cognitive and emotional progress.
‘My daughter has really benefited from the supportive and positive learning environment that Kirsty creates.’
Odd socks? Kirsty embraces the unbelievable number of odd socks her family seem to create on a weekly basis! These odd socks are used to hang on strings to get those fine motor skills ready for handwriting, they are used for cleaning whiteboards, sock puppets are created to use as a speech and language tool in lessons both online and in person. Furthermore, she uses the spiralling collection of odd socks for matching games and even dusting! As one parent wrote
‘My son openly says he hates learning at school, but he thoroughly enjoys his lessons with Kirsty, he’s always eager to go back the following week, and I always pick him up with a big smile on his face!
Kirsty is kind, caring and fun! She always makes us feel so welcome in her home. Thank you’
Old cereal boxes are put to all kinds of uses from flashcards to making card games. Likewise toilet rolls make a regular appearance as sorting holes and pencil pots!
Bringing nature into the classroom is important to Kirsty and her sustainability mindset and commitment to the environment and natural resources means she make uses of all sorts from the garden and local surroundings. No maths lesson is complete without some rapid recall of number facts aided with the throwing and catching of pine cones – so much more interesting to use than plastic balls! Sea shells and conkers make superb counting pieces and are used to demonstrate fractions of amounts to multiplication arrays! In English lessons children select a variety of leaves to describe with a range of vocabulary enhancing colour, shape and colour descriptions. Art work is framed in sticks and twigs. Even the weeds come in handy and the daisies in the garden have been used to demonstrate estimation and calculating (the resulting number was staggering: 20628!!!)
‘Our daughter has absolutely loved her summer tutoring sessions with Kirsty. Kirsty is warm, welcoming and provides just the right mix of fun and focus. Our little girl got a real confidence boost from her sessions.’
In her first year of teaching at a state school in London back in 2002, Kirsty was given one pack of A4 plain paper and told that was her ration for the year. All photocopying and printing had to be done on those few hundred pieces of paper. So she quickly learned to avoid using worksheets, and this philosophy continues today. Rarely are paper sheets used in lessons (with the exception of written assessment papers and certificates). Instead, Kirsty uses rolls of old wall paper (one of her favourite handwriting preparation activities is to have children lie on their tummies and doodle on enormous sheets of wall paper, building the core strength that is vital to posture and handwriting skills). But the students’ favourite way to write mathematical work or spellings out is by using chalk pens all over the windows (wiped clean with an odd sock afterwards of course!) Chalk on the pathway is another favourite, again for spelling work, vocabulary lists and making hopscotch to rehearse number bonds or times tables on.
‘Kirsty makes their learning fun so they are always eager to go and they want to work hard for her. She is incredibly kind, patient and supportive.’
It is not just the classroom and garden that Kirsty uses for her lessons. Her pond has been used as a learning tool – her students have been engaged in learning about the life cycle of frogs for example, or exploring adjectives to describe the setting of a water skater’s home . Such glorious surroundings aid positive well being too.
‘My daughter has really benefited from the supportive and positive learning environment that Kirsty creates. We are incredibly thankful for Kirsty’s guidance’