'Fortnight spent on Lessons forgotten over summer'

More than one third of London primary school teachers will spend the first two weeks of term going over forgotten lessons as children suffer from summer holiday “brain drain”, research suggests.

Experts called on parents to organise more educational activities during the six-week break to stop children from regressing in their studies.

It comes after shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg urged parents to make sure their children read during the holidays to prevent the “summer slide” in educational achievement.

Research published today by education entertainment company LeapFrog found that just 23 per cent of parents actively kept up learning activities and school exercises over the summer holidays, while 10 per cent said they think it solely up to teachers to educate their children.

Just two per cent of parents considered educational activities as a top priority in the holidays — instead, keeping costs down was the top priority for almost a quarter of parents.

As a result, 38 per cent of London primary school teachers will spend up to two weeks covering old ground, the survey claimed. It said maths and English were most badly affected.

Labour has called for more summer reading programmes to be available for lower income families after research found poorer children are believed to be hit the hardest by the “summer slide”.