You have to be proactive in your child's education and School-info4u.com can help you to do this.
If your child is experiencing difficulties in school, contact the school as soon as possible so that you can get the necessary support. Be proactive in working with the school to nurture your child academically.
Underachievement
If your child is gifted and talented, but also underachieving as well, it might be because they are finding school boring and frustrating.
This could be because their lessons are being taught too slowly and at a low level. Find out if this is the case and deal with the situation straight away.
Some children can start to be disruptive if they don’t find class work challenging enough, don’t let your child fall into this trap.
‘Procrastination is the habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow, what you could have easily done the day before yesterday’.
Other reasons for underachievement
- Pressure from peer group/an anti-education attitude.
- Bullying.
- Conflict with teachers.
- A special educational need that hasn't yet been identified.
- Not being encouraged.
- Not being given enough opportunities to be creative.
- Their learning style has not been taken into account.
- Issues at home.
- A health issue.
What can you do about your child’s underachievement?
- Meet with your child’s teacher in order to discuss the problem and keep in regular contact to monitor the situation.
- Join a parent/carer support group for gifted children.
- Encourage your child’s interests.
- There are indoor activities that you can do with your child, like visiting museums, computer fairs, art galleries, exhibitions or poetry events. You can even encourage your child to participate in some activities alone, like music, drama or dance.
- Encourage your child to get involved in school clubs or community projects.
- Encourage your child to participate in sports, games and other outdoor activities.
- Encourage your child to go on residential weekends.
- Get the support of a mentor or Connexions Personal Adviser, if your child’s school has them.
- Encourage your child to become a peer mentor, so they can mentor other pupils.
- Encourage your child to attend a supplementary school.
- Think about getting your child some home tutoring.
- Encourage your child to do homework.
- Praise your child as much as you can.
- Talk to your child about any difficulties that they may be having with their homework or class work and then talk to their teacher about it; they will be able to offer you support.
School reports
Once a year your child’s school will write a report on your child- towards the end of the summer term.
The report will tell about your child’s attendance record, general progress, their progress in all subjects and their key stage results.
It will also tell you how you can make arrangements to discuss the report with a teacher.
Understanding the Key stages
Your child is expected to reach certain levels by certain ages.
At age seven this is level 2.
At age eleven this is level 4.
At age fourteen this is level 5 or 6.
If your child is not reacheing the expected levels you will need to try and find out why. You should also try to get extra support for your child.
Options
The options that your child will choose in year 9 will affect them for the next two years of their time at school and maybe influence the rest of their life.
It is crucial that they understand the process for choosing their options and they seek the right advice before making their final choices. If they don’t make the right choice they could end up dropping out of the course and losing out on a crucial GCSE.
Your child’s school will make a presentation to parents/carers and pupils about options, you should make every effort to attend.
The process for choosing options:
- Your child will be interviewed at school to discuss their subject options and future career plans.
- Your child will need to think about the subjects that they are good at and enjoy doing.
- If your child has a particular career in mind, there will be certain subjects that they will need to take. They should find out what qualifications that they will need to persue that career path before making their final choice.
The subjects that your child chooses to do for GCSE might affect what they will be able to do at 6th Form/College or for a degree.
They need to find the right balance between:
- Subjects they are good at.
- Subjects they enjoy.
- Subjects they might need to take for 6th Form/college or a degree.
Don’t try to tell your child what options to pick and make sure that they don’t just copy their friends either.
If your child is thinking about choosing a subject that they haven't studied before they should talk to the relevant subject teacher about it first, to find out if it's really suitablefor them.
Your child’s school might give their pupils the option of doing vocational courses as well as GCSE’s- refer to support groups and services, personal development and alternative education section for further explanation about this.
It's crucial that your child talks to as many adults as they can about their options to make sure that they make the right choices.
People who might be able to offer advice:
Connexions careers advisers: They can offer advice on careers, college and university courses.
Teachers: Your child can talk to different subject teachers and their tutor. They will be able to help your child to decide what subjects they are good at.
Parents/carers: No one knows your child better than you and you have a wealth of experience that you can use to help your child to make the best decision for their future success.
Mentors, Connexions Personal Advisers and Youth workers: They will be based either in your child’s school or in the community and will be able to give your child some valuable advice.
School attendance
It is essential that you make sure that your child attends school on a regular basis and that they are punctual.
If you don’t, the Education Welfare Officer- EWO- will visit you at home. The EWO’s job is to work with you and your child to improve their punctuality and/or attendance. They will telephone you regularly and monitor your child’s punctuality and/or attendance.
If you don’t work with the EWO to encourage your child to improve, you can be served with a School Attendance Order- SAO, Education Supervision Order- ESO or even end up being prosecuted by the LEA as a result.
You can be fined up to a maximum of a two thousand-five hundred pounds and/or a jail sentence of up to three months- for each child who isn’t going to school.
The court can also make a ‘Parenting order’, which would mean that you would have to attend parenting classes or take your child to school each day.
If your child has been continuously absent for at least four weeks and despite the school making enquiries they cannot be found, the school can take the decision to take your child of the roll.
What are acceptable reasons for school absences?
- Exclusion.
- Interview for employment/place at another school- you will have to give notice and provide proof of the appointment.
- An illness or any other unavoidable cause.
- Family bereavement, family crisis or to visit a parent in prison.
- A religious observance.
- Study leave.
- Special occasions.
- The school is not within walking distance of your child's home and the LEA has not provided transport to and from the school. Walking distance is three miles.
It is essential that you contact your child’s school if there is a good reason for your child’s absence. You can telephone them, write them a letter or arrange a meeting to discuss it.
If you arrange a meeting, invite your child’s mentor or Connexions Personal Adviser.
What are the risks if your child misses school?
- Falling behind with schoolwork/coursework.
- Developing a pattern of poor attendance/punctuality.
- Participating in criminal or anti-social behaviour or becoming a victim of it.
How to minimize risks for your child
- Make sure they go to school regularly and telephone the school to confirm this.
- Make sure that they are punctual. Get them up and out the door in the morning on time.
- Make sure your child knows that you won’t let them get away with being late.
- Contact the school if your child is ill or has a really good reason to be absent.
- Always get permission from head teacher in advance if your child will be away from school for a special event, like family holiday. To avoid any possible conflict on this issue it would be advisable to try and take family breaks during school holidays, as more often than not a school will not agree to a family holiday during term time.
It is your parental responsibility to ensure that your child attends school full-time. You will be breaking the law if you don't and you can be taken to court.
If you don't enforce and instill rules your child will keep missing school because they know they can get away with it.
Your child will do much better in school if you ensure that they make it to school.
Click here for more guidance on school attendance.
|
