A Day To Remember…
New in-school Memory Days from The Learning Skills Foundation
The Learning Skills Foundation is delighted to offer tailor-made Memory Days for primary schools. Jonathan Hancock, Founder of The Junior Memory Championship, can spend a day in your school, showing children, teachers and parents the power of creative memory techniques. In just one day, every member of your school takes part in fun, exciting, inspirational learningto- learn training, experiencing the power of memory at first hand and gaining skills that they can start using straight away.
The consultation document for the new primary curriculum states that children need to have ‘…the skills to learn effectively’. Learning skills will be at the heart of the new curriculum, due in 2011. The Learning Skills Foundation is helping schools to prepare themselves – starting with this new campaign to put creative memory skills at the heart of effective teaching and learning.
LSF Memory Days give you everything you need to inject memory skills into
the life of your school. For a whole day, every child explores the power of their
memory, playing games, trying out new activities and challenging themselves to
think and learn in some exciting new ways. They experience the power of
memory and come away with practical ways to use it every day in school.
Each class or year-group, from Reception to Year 6, is given specially-written sessions to take part in throughout the day. These can be tailored to your school and explore all the key aspects of memory, along with a range of related learning skills.
Memory Days are about:
- learning how your memory works, and how you can make it work better
- developing skills to learn anything and everything, in school and out
- using memory techniques to boost your learning in every lesson
- finding out how memory can make you more organised and confident
- learning memory techniques that will boost your imagination and creativity
- stretching your memory skills to solve problems and puzzles
- pushing yourself to take on new challenges, learning and remembering more
confidently than ever before
Exploring your memory is endlessly fun and fascinating. Children will love the competitive challenges as well as the intriguing experiments that feature in their Memory Day. They explore the particular characteristics of their own memory, learn to use their natural talents, but also develop new aspects of their learning skills.
Children of all ages are shown how to become active learners, to make good decisions about their learning, and to become aware of their role at the heart of the learning process. Memory Days include additional activities for children with special needs as well as ideas for stretching Gifted and Talented students.
By following the lesson-plans and taking part in the interactive sessions themselves, teachers learn new ways of weaving memory skills into their practice and engaging all their children in learning-to-learn. They’ll see how children’s concentration, motivation, communication skills and behaviour can all be boosted by memory training.
Parents are invited to take part too, attending an after-school meeting where they can try some of the techniques for themselves and pick up ideas for supporting their children’s developing learning skills.
The sessions are delivered by the school’s own teachers, using step-by-step instructions and lesson plans written by memory expert Jonathan Hancock. A primary teacher, author, world-record breaker, and now Founder of The Junior Memory Championship, Jonathan will be present throughout your Memory Day, working with every class or year group for at least one of their sessions. He will also run the event for parents at the end of the school day, explaining the key role that families play in nurturing their children’s essential memory skills.
Each year group is then given a pack of follow-up activities to help teachers embed learning skills in the curriculum.
The Memory Day package includes:
- 8 half-hour memory/learning skills sessions for every year group, R to Year 6
- a visit from Jonathan Hancock, who will take part in at least one session with
every year group, and run a session for parents after school
- a copy of Jonathan’s book for parents, ‘Help Your Child To Succeed At
School’, and a discount for every parent purchasing a signed copy
- a copy of his book for children, ‘Be A Memory Champion’, and a discount on
every signed copy sold
- a pack of follow-up memory activities for each year group
- a certificate for the school, awarding them the title of Learning Skills
Foundation Associated School; and an electronic logo for the school letterhead
- certificates for every child who takes part
Jonathan Hancock
At the age of 16, Jonathan Hancock perfected a system for memorizing playing-cards. He broke the first of his two Guinness World Records by successfully recalling 6 shuffled packs, and went on to memorize a single pack in a world’s best time. In demonstrations since, Jonathan has recalled more than 20 packs of cards, and can memorize a single pack in around half a minute.
His interest in memory and learning ignited, Jonathan researched and developed techniques for remembering every kind of information. After using his strategies to gain A grades in all his GCSE and ‘A’ Level exams, he won a place to read English at Oxford University, graduating with a First Class degree.
It was while he was still at Oxford that Jonathan began taking part in memory
competitions. He was the first ever World Student Memory Champion, and
then, in 1994, became the World Memory Champion and a Grandmaster of
Memory.
Jonathan has written a number of books about memory and learning, for adults
and children: ‘Jonathan Hancock’s Mindpower System’, ‘Mega Memory’,
‘Memory Workout’ and ‘Memory Techniques in a Week’ (Hodder); ‘Memory
Power’ (Barron’s, US); ‘Maximize Your Memory’ (Reader’s Digest); ‘How To
Be a Genius’ (Oxford University Press); and ‘Help Your Child Succeed At
School’ for Hodder Education’s Teach Yourself series.
For several years Jonathan co-wrote and presented the Institute of Management’s learning skills course. He also ran workshops in a wide range of primary and secondary schools around the UK.
Jonathan has appeared at the Hay-on-Wye Children’s Festival and the Birmingham Festival, as well as on numerous television and radio programmes. Jonathan has acted as a consultant to various media companies, and enjoyed a career as a broadcaster in his own right, spending 15 years presenting and producing radio programmes for the BBC in Oxford.
Inspired by his work with children and his passion for learning, in 2006
Jonathan trained to be a teacher. He gained a post-graduate qualification
(PGCE), and in July 2007 began work teaching Year 6 children at a primary
school in Brighton.
In that year he also accepted an offer from The Learning Skills Foundation to
be Founder of The Junior Memory Championship, the first national primary
school memory challenge.