Parents
The ‘Holy Grail’ – My Child’s New School
One of the most common discussions I hear around the dinner table or whilst chatting to friends is that ‘old as the hills’ topic of moving home to within a nice short walk to that ‘holy grail’ that is the school you would like your child to attend. That most fractious of times, choosing schools, before the application goes in. Many parents are organised and have done their research, spoken to friends, rung the Head, attended open days etc. etc. etc. and some parents do this two or even three years prior to their little darling even stepping foot inside a classroom.
So our hot tips to making this work for you:
Do talk to family and friends, get the real life version of life at your chosen school
Read the Ofsted or ISI report (remembering that these take place intermittently – so check the date of the last report online, if your chosen school has not been inspected for a year or two some things may have changed since then, so do your own homework). See link to check out schools in your area
Ofsted
ISI
If you are thinking of moving home to ensure access to the school of your choice, ensure you do this in good time prior to your school application going in. Good tip for home movers is that as soon as you have exchanged contracts on your new home, this address is then eligible to use for your school application, so you do not need to worry if you have not completed on your purchase
Do make sure that your new choice of home and area fit all of your families needs, life can become very tricky if the children can walk to school in 4 minutes but Mum or Dad have a two hour journey to work. Consider other siblings, support network (who is going to collect the children on your behalf if all of your support network live an hour away)
There are some very good social media blogs/threads/sites which can be useful, but do take some advice with a pinch of salt, a disgruntled father at a parents evening may comment in the negative, whilst the rest of the school runs like a dream. Carry out your own research
Some schools have summer clubs, after school classes etc. that you or your children can get involved in without actually attending the school, these make good scouting trips to see the school with its ‘everyday’ face on, rather than Open Day
Don’t forget when attending Open Days or meetings at the school you will be seeing it at its best, try and stop off at the school to drop something in to reception or attend an open school play, this will give you a really good feel for real school life
When meeting the Head or visiting the school go prepared, have facts and figures, ask tricky questions, check to see if the school has been mentioned in the local or national press
Katie Jayne has a really good network of teachers and experience in finding the right school for the right child, if you would like to chat to us please feel free to get in touch, we can advise according to your individual child’s circumstances and your family ethos – good luck!
Juniors
Who doesn’t love a musical – Frozen, The Lion King, Cinderella… or the latest book ‘The boy that made everyone laugh’, Blue Peter Book Award Shortlist contender by Helen Rutter!
It has been shown in many papers that creativity is a wonderful tool when teaching, encouraging and shaping children for their future, whatever their chosen profession will be.
One such report is the Durham Commission which examines the role that creativity and creative thinking play in education. A thoroughly interesting read.
One interesting finding of this report showed that, we must prioritise teaching for creativity to meet our future needs and to give all children the opportunities they deserve. Who will become our next script writers, or digital marketing guru’s otherwise?
Secondly, the inclusion of the arts as standard in the curriculum to key stage 3 has been advised if we are to give the next generation the skills they need for what is an ever changing and diverse workplace, whatever the job role.
Finally, the Commission engaged a number of organisations to help deliver this vision, organisations from NESTA and the BBC to the Department for Education and Ofsted have been involved and it’s clear that we shall see future steps to incorporate the arts and creative subjects in our children’s future educational journey.
As a side note, why not take a look at the Blue Peter Book Award Shortlist for 2022 – Happy Reading !!!!
