By Rory Edwards
Rory Edwards is a local parent, teacher of 28 years and a school governor. He offers us an insight into certain dilemmas parents might face at the start of the new academic year.
This summer holiday has been slightly different in our household in preparation for the new academic year. So, what makes this year different for us? Well, my eldest isn’t going back to school, she’s off to university. Not only that, she’s doing something in complete contrast to every other year: she’s being super organised. My happiness about how she’s grown up has been tempered however by the downside of her organisation, the monetary cost of this. Not fees and loans but the things she’ll need on a day-to-day basis. I knew the first item on her list was coming. “A laptop” she said at some point in July. At this point, I was relieved she picked the same laptop that I had already looked into. This organisation continued until something which I hadn’t even considered, new clothes. But we only recently bought new clothes I thought. No, these are new clothes for university!! Is this the difference between dads and daughters?
I don’t think I want to know the answer, but it did get me thinking what advice I could give to those parents who may be going into the different key stages of education for the first time.
Nursery: This is the hardest for parents as for many, apart from the worry about what will happen if they hurt themselves, it’s the first time that your children are away for any significant amount of time. My advice would be for you to be confident in the place you are sending your children. This sounds obvious but if you’re not, make a decision early. After 2 days of being in nursery, we took one of our children out because they had rung on both days saying that they couldn’t stop our child from crying. We ended up choosing one that was-n’t our first choice but in the end, we’re very glad we did.
Year 7: There’s been so much written about going to secondary school and the ways to support your children that there is probably very little that I can add so I will take a slightly different approach. Try to persuade your children to join a club: before school, at lunchtime or after school, every school has a huge amount going on and they’re not necessarily all sports based either. I know this is easier said than done but 1) they will meet others with similar interests and 2) learning happens in many different ways.
Sixth Form: The vast majority of students will find the jump from GCSE very hard and perseverance is key here. However, most schools allow students to start a course and change before a certain deadline if things aren’t working out, usually about 4 weeks into the course. Any later and students will have missed too much of a course to reasonably catch up. I say to students in year 11 to pick their post-16 options carefully as doing something that you don’t enjoy for nearly 2 years is very hard and will take its toll mentally. Enjoyment is the key and my own experience is that I gave up A-level Chemistry and took up Further Mathematics instead. I remember my Maths teacher at the time asked me why I was always smiling. Well, I was enjoying what I was studying so why wouldn’t I be happy?
If your children are starting in a new educational environment this year, I wish them, and you, the best of luck.