Helping Your Child Thrive in School: Tips for Academic Success

School is an important place for any child to learn and grow for the future. As a parent or foster carer, you would want to ensure that your child was taking the most out of his education and thriving academically. Here are some tips to help support your child’s learning and achievement:

Establish a Positive Attitude Towards Education

Your attitude toward your child’s education will be reflected in their eyes. Express enthusiasm about them starting school, praise their learning efforts and achievements, and tell them that education is important for their future. Do not criticize teachers or the school system in front of your child as this may bring down their motivation and engagement level.

Provide a Studious Home Environment

Create a quiet, organised space for your child to study if you are fostering with ISP Fostering. Minimise distractions like TV, loud music, or siblings while they do homework. Ensure they have the necessary stationery and resources for assignments. Display educational materials like maps, charts and their artwork around the home to stimulate learning. Doing this shows you value education and makes home a place conducive to study.

Help Your Child Develop Good Study Habits

Encourage good habits, such as planning homework and assignments in advance, breaking up big tasks into more manageable chunks, and taking regular short breaks to maintain concentration. Teach organisational skills like recording due dates in a planner and packing school bags the night before. Help younger children develop the routine of coming home, having a snack, and starting on homework right away. The earlier these habits are practiced, the better they will stand the child in good stead.

Support Learning without Overstepping

Encourage your child to work through questions and issues on their own as much as possible. However, guide them when they get stuck, but do not give them the answers or do their work for them. Praise the efforts they make before stepping in to help. Support their learning in a way that still enables their own thinking and growth.

Communicate with Teachers

Keep open channels of communication with your child’s teachers. Attend parent-teacher conferences to learn about their progress and discover ways in which you can help your child learn more at home. Email or call the teacher if your child is finding concepts difficult or if you are concerned about a particular situation. Being engaged with the teacher helps you support your child’s schooling.

Prioritise Consistent School Attendance

Make sure your child goes to school every day and shows up on time, save for illness or emergency reasons. School is where all learning takes place, after all. Teach them it is non-negotiable: they are responsible for getting to school and being ready and prepared to learn every day. Call the school for each unexcused absence.

Facilitate Extracurricular Activities

Pursuits like sports, music and hobbies boost skills like teamwork, discipline and time management. They provide an outlet for reducing academic stress. Ensure your child has time and access to such activities. Be open to interests they show talent and enthusiasm for. This nurtures their unique abilities.

Promote Reading

Reading for pleasure supports literacy development and academic success across subjects. Encourage reading as a habitual, enjoyable activity. Help select books they’ll find interesting. Read together as a family. Gift books as presents. Set an example by reading magazines, books or news yourself. A reading culture at home directly uplifts their learning.

By actively taking part in your child’s education and through these tips, you will be assisting in fostering the skills, habits, and mindset needed to unlock their full academic potential. Your support and encouragement can indeed make all the difference in allowing your child to succeed at school.