The level of happiness a child will experience at school has a lot to with the child’s personality and their willingness to learn. However, there are plenty of things that parents can do to help their child settle at school, which can aid them in their next stage of life as they achieve their own success.
Support
For some, the school that is most suited to them is a grammar school. This will involve an entrance exam, with a certain pass grade. If you feel your child would thrive in such an environment, then you can help them by organising tuition for this exam, and even mock tests. By helping your child understand what’s expected of them, it means that when they come to do the test, they’ll know how the exam is set out and how they can approach and solve questions easily. This is opposed to heading into the unknown, answering questions that may be an unknown format to them if they haven’t had previous tuition.
Know the Curriculum
Children will do better at school when their parents get involved in their academic lives, so at the start of each year, make sure you attend any open evenings the school presents. This will ensure that you get to know the teachers and their expectations as well as finding out school-wide programs and new policies for that year.
Parents evenings are also a good way to maintain a healthy relationship with your child’s teacher and also gives you a chance to find out about your child’s progress for that term. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to find out what areas of support your child needs and how you can help with that.
Homework
Although many children don’t like it, the benefits of homework have shown that it helps reinforce what is taught in the classroom and helps children practice and develop study skills they will need for a long time to come.
While your child is doing their homework, be readily available to offer help with assignments, projects, and review the work that is done. However, it won’t help your child if you read the instructions, then help them complete it as they have to not only be able to work independently, but if they struggle with the homework, then the teacher can help review this and help them understand parts of the subject they don’t understand.
Be Ready to Learn
Although this isn’t directly related to learning in the classroom, it is just as important as there is nothing more vital for children than setting them up for the day the correct way
- Food: make sure they arrive at school, having had a nutritious breakfast. Children don’t want to learn if they haven’t had the right fuel to enable them to learn.
- Sleep: Make sure your child, at least on a school night, has had the right amount of sleep to best prepare them for the school day. Most school children need approximately 10 – 12 hours of sleep a night, to ensure they are not irritable and hyperactive, which makes it very difficult for them to pay attention in class.
The early years of school are incredibly important for children as it’s these years that set the foundation for how they want to learn. If parents can offer them support and make sure they’re happy in their early settings, then this will help them right through their educational years in school and subsequently university, if this is the route they choose.
