Top 10 tips for parents if you discover your child is being bullied online #antibullyingpro #edchat

At the Education Festival which took place over the weekend at Wellington College, I attended an excellent seminar run by the leaders of the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme in conjunction with Facebook. Their peer mentoring programme raises awareness and coaches young people in how to identify and address bullying issues in their school. For more information visit the website www.antibullyingpro.com Although a reasonably new initiative, it is already run in over 600 schools countrywide as part of the Diana Award, which encourages and empowers young people to engage in social action www.diana-award.org.uk

It was quite mind boggling to hear that one third of 3 to 4 year olds are now online via a PC and 5 to 15 year olds use of tablets has tripled since 2012 (Ofcom) 

With this in mind, I thought their top tips about how best to support your child if they tell you they are being bullied online might be a useful thing to share.

1. Praise and thank them for telling you. Reassure them and keep calm.
2. Ask them how long it has been going on and if they are happy to show you.
3. Ask them how it made them feel and discuss how they would like to resolve. Their buy-in to the suggested solution is important.
4. Screen shot the evidence. You may need your child to show you how to do this as all devices are different.
5. Block the person who sent the comments.
6. Explain the importance of not retaliating, no matter how much you feel inside that you would like to go and ring the person’s neck.
7. Change the password. They gave an excellent analogy-treat your password like your tooth-brush. Change it regularly and don’t share it with anyone.
8. Check who their information is shared with, if necessary changing the privacy settings.
9. Make the school aware of the issues, if your child is happy to do so and agree a plan as to how the problem will be addressed and the timescales.
10. If the comments are threatening, inform the police.

Other sites they recommended for information about preventing online bullying were www.facebook.com/safety/bullying or UK Safer Internet Centre http://www.saferinternet.org.uk

Tips for securing a #graduate job

As the class of 2014 finish their degree courses and another group of rose coloured spectacle wearing students leave university with ambitions to secure that perfect job, what practical ‘nag free’ advice can parents share to help them in their quest?

Online job boards are one way to find and apply for vacancies; however these have a huge audience and hence will attract large numbers of applications. Seek out less obvious opportunities. Build a network of contacts within the private sector industry that appeals to you by attending events, as well as asking around your current network to see where possible introductions could be useful. As well as targeting large Companies, research which smaller businesses are thriving in the same market-place, as they may be more open to a personal approach.

Once you have identified companies which appear to be growing or expanding show initiative through writing concise speculative emails or letters to them. Always address them to a relevant person, identify the key skills you can offer and put a strong case for how you can add to their business. Include a paragraph about why you are interested in their company, one to highlight your key skills as relevant to them and suggest a meeting.

If you are offered an internship opportunity make sure you will be doing work that is building relevant employability skills and that the position is within a known Company whose name will enhance your CV. Making tea and filing for months on end, will do little to motivate or enhance your ability to sell yourself at future interviews.

When making applications, match your CV to the skills required by the job description. In no more than two pages, highlight key skills, work experience and achievements, emphasise leadership, problem-solving and team-working skills and mention the core elements of your degree and how these will contribute to your effectiveness within this position.

Review online footprint and use privacy settings to make sure that there are no skeletons in the closet that could affect a potential employers’ assessment of you as a potential candidate. Start to build a more professional online presence by completing a profile on LinkedIn for example, listing your key skills, qualifications, work experience and interests. Don’t forget to add a business-like photo. Make constructive, engaging comments in relevant forums; write guest posts on relevant blogs, so you start to build some kind of recognition in the areas that interest you.

Hopefully the above will open some doors to realistic opportunities and then all you will need to do is prepare properly for interview!

If you need advice and support regarding making applications for graduate jobs, please contact our team of education consultant experts who will be very happy to assist you. More details about our consultants via our website http://independenteducationconsultants.co.uk/sasha-wellings

The value of ‘the extended day’ in an all-round education for each child as an individual

I recently had a conversation with the Headmaster of the local non-selective Free School –Sir Thomas Fremantle Secondary School. Part of their USP is that all children must take part in the extended day programme. Although formal lessons finish at 3pm, as they do in most state secondary schools, there is a compulsory enrichment programme that runs until 430pm. As a result over half of the children learn a musical instrument, the after school sporting programme is extensive, children have the opportunity to learn Italian, Spanish or Mandarin or to use the 3D printers and iPad to take part in various art, design and technology activities. Additionally teachers offer homework clinics for those who need a bit of extra support with their learning.

In summary, that is 7.5 hours extra time per week where children are engaged in structured in-school activities to grow self-esteem, develop social and communication skills or to just extend their creativity and knowledge.

In contrast to a commonly held view that the extended day is unpopular with pupils, the children appear to thrive on meeting the challenges of these additional opportunities. Proof, I suppose, that children will work at the level of the challenges you put in front of them. Setting the bar and hence expectation higher means they will strive to participate and achieve more. This type of culture brings them up with the belief that accepting average or just ticking over to deliver the bare minimum is not an option, particularly where boys are concerned. A sound lesson for success in future life, in my view.

Parents on the other hand have the advantage of a guaranteed longer working day during term-time, leaving more quality family time at the evenings and weekends. Less parent taxi service since activities are offered in situ. There are no concerns that mum’s day may suddenly have to be rearranged due to a cancelled sports fixture or after school club, since this is all delivered as part of the compulsory timetabled school day.

So how can parents with children at other schools learn from this model? My advice would be to take a refreshed look at the optional after school programme offered by your child’s school. Discuss what is on offer and encourage your child to get involved in something new. Enthuse about the value of an all-round education, highlighting the benefits they will reap when it comes to making a higher education or job application upon leaving school. It might mean taking a different approach to the school run or lift shares, but these are only logistics which are easily solved with a bit of creative thinking.

Come on parents, let’s commit to encouraging our children to put their smartphones down for a few hours and make an effort to engage more fully in some of the hugely valuable and extensive extra-curricular opportunities offered by our schools. Whether optional or compulsory, let’s get children more involved!

Catherine Stoker is Managing Director of the Independent Education Consultants, offering timely advice for parents on all aspects of education.

From choosing a school, transition at 7+, 11+, 13+ and 16+ to career planning and applying to university, they have a team of education experts who collectively have years of experience in offering advice and guidance to parents.

For more details about their services and how they support parents in making the right education choices, visit their website. www.independenteducationconsultants.co.uk

Top 10 reasons for #parents to choose #boarding

Quite a number of parents have recently asked me why choose boarding? Often I find that Dad is keen, but Mum says ‘over my dead body.’ It seems to be a widely mis-understood concept which parents either love or hate. Those who are of a negative opinion have usually arrived at this conclusion as a result of out-of-date opinions formed through personal experience or hearing stories told by family or other parent contacts.

Here are a few points below which some parents feel have helped them to get a grasp of why boarding might be worth considering, when they might have previously dismissed it.

No. 1 Watch confidence grow through time doing sport, music, drama, art instead of commuting.

No. 2 Leave work-week nagging of your soon to be hormonal teenager to the professionals.

No. 3 Expand your independent or grammar school choice options, especially where siblings have different needs, without moving house.

No. 4 Develop independence, an ability to think for themselves, coupled with a lasting network of useful contacts for the future.

No. 5 Retire the parent taxi service for after school activities or play dates. It’s all there in situ!

No. 6 Solve childcare challenges in busy professional families. Access to a long school day programme and plenty to get involved in at weekends too.

No. 7 A source of stability and pastoral support whilst there may be difficult relationship issues between parents at home.

No. 8 Access to the best British Education, even when work commitments require travel overseas or a fixed-contract move abroad.

No. 9 Accelerated achievement through 7 day a week access to the library, art room, specialist help with homework and a huge breadth of other facilities and resources.

No. 10 Gain cultural understanding and tolerance of others, to facilitate future success in a Global career world.

For advice and guidance on choosing the right boarding school for your individual child please call our team of experienced expert education consultants.

We do not receive any commission from boarding schools, so are able to offer you bespoke advice which is completely independent.

For more details visit our website http://independenteducationconsultants.co.uk/choosing-a-school-age-5-7-11-13-or-16/

So, what makes a meaningful work experience placement?

As the mid-way point in the exam season approaches many parents are starting to turn their thoughts to the long summer holidays ahead. Some may be considering how they might arrange to engage their teenagers in a bit of meaningful work, to acquire useful skills and experience to help them on the path towards a successful future career.

If this is your plan, bear in mind that spending their summer holidays in the company of a photocopier or with their head in a filing cabinet may well result in the acquisition of useful office skills as well as resilience in executing mundane day-to-day tasks in the work environment. However, too much time spent in this way may also de-motivate. Creativity is needed in finding and making the most of interesting opportunities.

Challenging pre-conceptions is the first point to emphasise. Working in a supermarket, department store or bar enhances communication and people skills, proves trustworthiness, reliability and an ability to work with people from all walks of life. It also demonstrates a willingness to learn what makes a business tick from the bottom up.

Planning clear objectives in advance may well be the key to a constructive experience and hence a positive outcome. Clarify in advance what activities will be undertaken each day, making sure that if at all possible there is the opportunity to see all areas of the workplace-finance, sales, marketing, customer relations, legal, human resources and information technology.

Don’t forget shadowing can be an excellent way to step into the shoes of a particular career to experience what the working week looks like for a particular profession. As long as there are no issues of confidentiality or sensitivity, observation and listening while a professional goes about their working week can be an excellent way to learn. This takes less management and organisation time to set up. As such, it may be more appealing to the employers, friends, relatives, work colleagues, whose arms you plan to twist into offering your youngster this opportunity.

For advice on planning work experience as part of making a successful UCAS application to study at a British University in the next couple of years, please give us a call to speak to one of our education consultant experts. 

Telephone 01865 522066 or Email consultants@independenteducationconsultants.co.uk

Survival skills for parents facing an exam stressed home environment this half term

Isn’t it typical that just as the exam season gets into full swing, the sun emerges and temperatures heat up after what seems like months of wind and rain, tempting exam candidates of all ages away from their books? I do wonder sometimes why we take exams during the summer term instead of in the depth of winter when no-one minds being cooped up inside with their head in a book. Wouldn’t exams in the lead up to Easter make more sense?

Despite idealistic observations, there is no doubt about it-we are now mid-exam season and many homes will be touched by at least one of their offspring facing important future defining exams over the next few weeks. School exams, Common Entrance, GCSE’s, AS and A Levels, IB, Pre U all mean the approaching half term holiday will not, for many, be a holiday at all. How can parents keep the ship on an even keel and make sure that the time is used wisely to enhance performance in the coming weeks?

Coping with exam-stressed hormonal teenagers can be quite tricky. Use planning, environment, reassurance, motivation and fun as the main survival techniques.

Firstly plan the family timetable for half term carefully allocating time for revision, interspersed with time for brain-food, social media, rest and relaxation. Discuss this in advance, so expectations are agreed at the outset.

Make sure their workspace environment has fresh air, enough light, water and they have everything they need for revision to hand-books, files, post-it notes, highlighter pens. Try not to tidy or over organise. Remove social media temptations such as smart phones and keep these for outside study times. Remember we all learn in different ways. Some find it easier to take in information if walking around or listening to background music.

Inject a bit of motivation. Take a bit of time to discuss why the current exams are important as part of the bigger picture for the future. Particularly with boys, understanding the reason why they must work hard to achieve certain marks or grades goes a long way to motivating them to put in the effort. Set challenging but realistic goals and if you feel appropriate, dangle a few carrots.

Engage in conversation over meals to discreetly eke out how things are going. Talk through any issues in a calm and reassuring way. Boosting confidence is critical.

Have some fun. Working hard in concentrated periods is far easier if there are opportunities to get away from the revision environment for some occasional rest and recuperation. Good Luck

If things don't go to plan with approaching exams, give our team of education consultant experts a call. We can assist with planning exam re-takes or looking at alternative school or university options through Clearing.

Visit our website for details www.independenteducationconsultants.co.uk

Tips on applying to an independent senior school with entry at 13+ through pre-testing and common entrance

The application process for independent senior schools is a bit of a mine-field as all schools handle it a bit differently and there aren’t any hard and fast rules. Some schools ask for pre-testing and/or interview prior to offering the opportunity to sit for places at 13+ through Common Entrance and other schools do not. One rule doesn’t cover all schools – sadly!

As a general rule of thumb, with some exceptions meaning parents should always check carefully with the schools they are considering, registration with the senior school and visiting it to review the suitability of its provision for your individual child, should be made while the child is in School Year 5 (Age 9 on 31st August) or School Year 6 (Age 10 on 31st August) and a final decision as to your first choice of senior school should be made by School Year 7 (Age 11 on 31st August). Deposits to confirm places, conditional on Common Entrance results, are generally paid by parents between 12 and 18 months prior to entry to the senior school. Parents, in conjunction with the advice of the prep school, really should know their senior school choice decision by this time.

If the school has a pre-testing process, you and your child will be invited to the school during year 6 or 7 depending on the school, to take part in a pre-assessment day. This is likely to involve your child sitting some tests in Maths and English or possibly a more general aptitude test such as Verbal and/or Non-Verbal reasoning tests which may be in paper or online format. It is also likely that they will have an interview with a Housemaster or Housemistress, so it is important to prepare them in advance to answer questions with confidence about their interests, strengths, what they hope to try that is new and why they would like to attend this school in particular. If their first language is not English, they will also need to demonstrate that they have a good enough grasp of spoken and written English to assure the school that they will be able to access the curriculum fully. The school is also likely to contact the Head of their current school to ask for a report on their aptitude, attitude and potential. For this reason, it is very important to listen to the advice of the Head of your child’s current school when making a short-list of potential senior schools. They know your child well and experience of working with senior schools over many years means they are best able to evaluate which school best meets the individual interests and capabilities of your child.

If successful in the pre-test, your child will be offered a place at the school, conditional on their passing the Common Entrance test at the end of year 8. If the school does not have a pre-testing process, you will be asked to confirm that they are your first choice of school and that your child will be sitting Common Entrance for a place at this school.

In addition to the above, it is also possible after pre-test that your child may be offered a place on the waiting list, or declined a place at all. With this in mind, you will need to make sure that you have back-up options ready, should your child not be offered a place nearer to the time from the waiting list, or if they are declined a place at time of pre-test.

Common Entrance, often shortened to CE, is the collective name for the examinations taken at age 11 or 13 for entry into independent senior or public school.

Examinations are taken by all children in English, Maths and Science. History, Geography, French, German, Spanish, Religious Studies, Greek or Latin are also offered. The number and range of subjects taken depends on the entry criteria for the chosen senior school and the capability of the candidate. For example, children who do not have English as their first language are often required to sit fewer subjects, but this is dependent on how long they have been studying in the UK prior to sitting the CE exams.

The syllabus and question papers are set and monitored by the Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB) The exams are supervised by the prep schools and take place in November, January or most commonly June. The papers are marked by the parents' chosen senior school and each senior school has an accepted CE pass mark, which they expect children to reach to gain entry.

A report from the Head of the child's current school is also required.

Resources for Common Entrance exam practice at home can be found on the Galore Park website www.galorepark.co.uk

The relationship between the prep school and parent is key to this process and they are the ones who should be advising on which school is right for the child and if it is worth trying for a scholarship. A parent might feel that their child is fantastic at sport and is in all the first teams. However, he might be at a small prep school where most of the children have to be in the first team! Without comparisons it is difficult for parents to gauge their children’s abilities against expectations and so it is best to take advice from the prep school, who should know all about the scholarships their senior schools offer. Parents can find information about scholarships on school websites and should take note of what the senior schools require for a child to be eligible as well as looking at past papers to gauge the level.

The Common Entrance list (i.e. the senior school for which the child is sitting Common Entrance) is published centrally so all senior schools can access it. A child can only be down on this list for one first-choice senior school, as this is the school that will mark their CE papers.

This list is published on 1 March of the year of entry.

If a child doesn’t appear on the list of a school where the parents have paid a deposit to confirm the offer of a place, perhaps because it is considered to be their ‘back up’ option, there is a risk in doing this that their child may be taken off the ‘back up’ school list and is unlikely that there will be a refund of the deposit. The place may then be allocated to another child from the waiting list. Honesty is often the best policy here so the senior schools know exactly where they are in your ‘pecking’ order and why. They can then open up the possibility of that place to another child.

We support 100's of families each year with the transition process between prep and senior school. As well as choosing the right senior school for your individual child, we can help with interview and pre-test preparation, understanding the timeline for applications as well as calming parent nerves! For more details of how we can help visit our website by clicking this link Choosing the right UK senior school