Category: Education

If your child attends nursery you may already receive a sort of report on a term by term basis which will explain to you what tasks your child can complete and what you may need to work on with them. This will give you an idea of their level in terms of education but may not touch much on their behaviour. Behaviour can have a lot to do with how well a pupil succeeds in education. If the child is bored or the work is too hard then they will most likely become easily distracted and often play up.

If you can grab 5 mins with the team leader of the nursery class, to ask how your child is behaving at nursery it can allow you a true insight in to what is happening in the classroom and if there are any behaviour issues you may need to address at home.

The education department has been in the news a lot recently as over the past twelve to twenty four months there have been a number of rather large changes that has had a large impact on teachers and students.

The bench mark for where pupils are expected to be at for their learning has risen meaning that teachers are now getting told that they are marking work too high in comparison as to the expected levels the children should be at. A school can be chosen at random to be moderated. The moderators will come in and check the levels the teachers have selected for their pupils, if the levels are too high the teachers will be made to re-evaluate their decision, but if the grades are too low then the school can be seen to be under performing. Neither is an ideal situation and it may take a while for the true balance of this to be corrected.

A school or nursery is a great place for your child to start to learn important life skills and gain a good education but it doesn’t and shouldn’t stop there. From the moment a child is born they start to learn and in the early days much of this is from their parents or carers.

If you can spend a little time every day or a couple of times a week with your child you can add to their understanding of educational topics that they may be expected to learn in school. Reading and writing is a basic skill that unfortunately many children do not receive the support and encouragement that they should. Buying fun activity books to do at home are brilliant for improving a child’s learning ability whilst keeping it light hearted and fun. You may be surprised to see how many children really enjoy doing these activities and also to have the opportunity spend time with their parents or carers one to one.

Year upon year the exams that children have to do at school seem to be getting harder. I heard a comment the other day that stated that the level of maths in the UK for a child at the age of 10 is similar to that of a child in china with an age of 6, implying that the UK needs to work harder if we want to catch up. I do believe that having a good education will help people in later life, but I also believe that children need time to be children and that there should not be a huge amount of pressure put on them to perform exceptionally in exams.

The age for choosing GCSE subjects has been lowered meaning that many students are having to make important life decisions under the age of 14! Surely this is too young for anyone to have to decide what they want to do further on in life?

Often parents think that their child’s progress in their learning and education is only really tracked when they start school. This is not the case as all nurseries and child minders have to be inspected by Ofsted and part of the criteria that they have to meet is to keep accurate records of how the attendants are progressing in many aspects.

For this to be assessed it is vital that accurate records are kept by the setting and compiled in to a report. This report is available to all parents/ carers of the children and should look in to how they are progressing in these areas: Areas of learning, personal social and emotional, physical, communication and learning, literacy, maths, understanding the world and expressive arts and design.

Once the child has been assessed, the report will show where the child currently is progression wise and targets to achieve by the next time the report is created. These targets are purely there for goals to help keep parents and staff reminded of what areas the child may need encouragement in.

Many people complain that they cannot get a job and that there are none available but recent studies have shown that there was over 730, 000 job vacancies from August to October. Obviously these jobs are in many different industries and locations all over the UK, but it does show that there are jobs available.

So where can you find these jobs, well they are listed in a number of different places and a large percentage of them are online. You can register to have access to a jobs board that will show a number of jobs privately advertised and through recruitment agencies. Some companies will only employ people who have come through a recruitment agency, so it is worth looking at these types of jobs too. Some of the job board websites also have a questionnaire you can complete, following completion you will be taken to a page showing you all the jobs that match your skills and qualifications.

When you first start in a new school then you need to very quickly take control of the class. This does not mean that you have to go in shouting and screaming at everyone on the first day, but you do need to lay down the ground rules.

Introduce yourself to the class and then go through some house rules. Explain what behaviour you expect from them and what will happen should they break the rules. Children respond well to rewards, so introducing a rewards system can help pupils stay on target. Traffic light systems have been used in many schools where pupils start off on a green light and then move to amber if they are on a warning and then to red if they do not improve which is then followed by a punishment such as missing a playtime.

If you find a group of children who are constantly misbehaving together then it is often a good idea to split them up.

Education is an ever changing subject with new teaching techniques coming out throughout the year. One of the biggest changes that has come out over the past few years regarding teaching techniques is the introduction of phonetic spelling. Phonetic spelling is where a word is spelt out using the sounds that the letters make rather than the name of the letters themselves. This is to help children understand how to pronounce words. As with any rule, there are of course exceptions, but in general, children do seem to be able to understand how to pronounce words quicker and more accurately using this method.

Some parents have expressed concerns about this as they don’t fully understand the phonetic spelling method and therefore struggle to aid their child’s learning at home. Many schools and other governing bodies are now running courses for parents to teach them about phonetic spelling and how they can help their child with it.

Waiting for your exam results can be a stressful time for any student, regardless of age. With A Level results released this week in England and GCSE’s the following week, many students are having to make important decisions on where they want to progress to in terms of education or employment.

Some students will not get the grades they need to progress in to their chosen degree or job opportunity, but this does not mean they have to give up. There is often more than one way in which to enter the university, college or job role that you desire and if you are not sure how to go about it then, a careers adviser will be able to assist you.

You may have to take additional exams, re-sit a year or gain experience through voluntary work first but if you have your heart set on a certain career path then this should not stop you. If you do need to have a total rethink about your prospects, then do not get down hearted as often people find that they job they end up in after a career change is more enjoyable and fulfilling that the role they had first decided upon.

A child’s first day at school can be extremely daunting for the child and the parents. It may be the first time that your child has been away from you for a long period of time throughout the day or just the fact that they seem to be growing up fast and will not be learning surrounded by children of all ages.

Preparing your child for their first day at school will not only make them feel better but will also help you relax and put your mind at rest. Most schools have new starting children in for taster days a number of times before they actually attend as a registered pupil. This allows them to get a feel for the school day and get to know some of the members of staff along with other pupils that they may be in class with.

Talk to your child about what they can expect and ask them if they have any questions about the school before they start. IF your child has any concerns, try to discuss it with them and make sure that they understand the answers.