Expats: How to future-proof your child's education in the face of redundancies

The worry over job stability and continued funding for a child's education can be daunting for any parent. People who live and work abroad, however have additional concerns that can make an already stressful time for the family even more overwhelming.

Losing a job abroad often means losing the right to remain in that country. Some countries give foreigners as little as 14 days to exit the country after their work permit has been canceled. That means fourteen days to terminate your lease, sell your car, pack up your belongings, find a place to live "back home", and find a school for your child. Most people would struggle to get all that done in fourteen weeks, let alone fourteen days. 

Well I can't help you with your lease, your car, your belongings, or your new home, but here are a few tips to ease the burden of finding a school for your child, when a redundancy may be imminent:

- Gather your child's school reports in one place, and be sure to have access over them when the desktop and filing cabinet are both in the shipping container

- Acquire references from teachers - better to do this in person than by email, especially if the teachers aren't aware of your expectations.

- Find out whether it is possible for the child to remain in the country on a student visa in order to finish the term or school year, especially during the teen years when moving mid year can be disruptive at a crucial time.

- Consider whether you can ask a close friend to 'host' your child while he/she completes the term/year. It's a big ask, but you never know unless you ask.

- Consider whether you can go back to the country you left, whether your home country or a previous expat posting? Sometimes schools prioritise former students in their wait lists, and some countries may have less onerous immigration restrictions.

- Call your dream schools for your child - you never know if a place has opened up but no one else wants to take it mid-term.

- Consider whether home-schooling is an option for you and your child. There are vast resources online to assist in home-schooling, and you can even brush up on your own algebra!

- Consider whether you can make lemonade from lemons: world-schooling can be an amazing opportunity for you and your child to travel for extended periods in new or old territory. You could immerse your child in a French school and ski every afternoon, volunteer to build houses and teach children in Cambodia, go tramping and explore new sports in New Zealand, spend an extended period on an agritourism farm learning how farmers live, spend a few months with extended family you don't often get to see,....

- Contact TIEC and find out how we can help you find places mid-year or mid-term. Often schools will have places open up when students leave unexpectedly. 

Don't despair. Children are resilient, and often unexpected or unwelcome changes can lead to unforeseen opportunities.

Click here to register for your FREE TICKETS to the Expat Fair in July 2016 

Country Life Future Schools Fairs are the perfect opportunity to get all your questions about education answered. Taking place around the country - starting with the EXPAT FAIR in London on July 16th - these events will be packed with representatives from top schools from all over the UK, as well as seminars on entry requirements, curriculum, boarding school worries and more. TIEC will be on hand to answer your queries and better still - the whole event is free to attend. Tickets are limited so be sure to click the link above and register for your FREE tickets to the Expat Fair today.

Check out more information at www.futureschoolfairs.com or get in contact below:

If you are a parent with questions about the fair, email Claire at Claire@futureschoolsfair.com

If you are a school, email Exhibitors@futureschoolsfair.com

This post by Christina Benson.

We offer a wide range of services and expert advice on your child's education.

Email consultants@independenteducationconsultants.co.uk or contact Claire on 01865 522066 for an informal discussion on how we can help.

For more information, www.independenteducationconsultants.co.uk

The Benefits of Educational Trips for School Children

The School Trip – it is an event most children look forward to all term, whether it is an educational visit to a historical monument, a day out at a Wetlands Centre, a visit to the theatre or a weekend away at an adventure camp. For the children, it’s a chance to get away from the school grounds, from their parents, and from their routine. An afternoon outside of the classroom feels like a hard-won prize at the end of a long term.

But school trips are more than a reward. Whilst important academic learning is done in class, it can hardly be compared to the wealth of real life experiences, simply because the two things are so very different. Life is full of challenges and opportunities that cannot be understood in theory the same way they can in practice. Whatever the nature of the outing, it is bound to teach them some very important skills and knowledge that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives, regardless of whether that is through adventure activities, sports, or written on the exhibits at a museum.

There is a new culture in parents and in schools – perhaps simply in society – that demands we be fully conscious of all the risks involved in every choice we make, especially for our children. This can lead to some serious molly coddling, with overprotective parents panicking about children catching something whilst playing in the dirt and fretful teachers banning playground games over scraped knees and elbows. Some people are concerned school trips put children at too much risk of harm. This kind of worry comes hand in hand with concerns over absorption in technology and obsession with phones, computers and games. Sometimes it seems like people argue against one as much as they argue against the other, and yet they are so very contradictory. If children cannot play outside in the real world in fear of the risks, but should not sit inside watching television or going online either, we’re left with a very limited spectrum of activities for them to enjoy and take part in.

The truth is, the benefits outweigh the risks for almost all of the modern worries, but this is particularly true for educational outings. The opportunity for children to experience a vast range of situations and challenges they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to is key to their personal development. Educators on trips are often experts in their field, providing more in-depth knowledge for the children on the trip than could be conveyed in the classroom. Learning and interacting in groups provides a chance to build a community between them and their peers, to learn interpersonal skills and teamwork, respect and trust, and these strengths translate to the classroom, the playground, and beyond into the world. Teachers have noted that children who struggle in the classroom with speaking up frequently come into their own on educational trips, developing confidence, resilience and self-esteem that bolster performance in every area in school.

Psychologically, this is not the only benefit either. The routine of learning in a classroom week after week can cause lessons to blur into one another in the mind, making the retention of information more difficult. If you’re anything like me, you can probably think back and remember a single holiday or outing from your childhood far better than any of the school weeks surrounding it. Individual events like this create what are known as ‘Episodic Memories’ – autobiographical collections of experiences that can be explicitly recalled. Times, places, knowledge, and associated emotions are stored better in the mind during these events, and so time away spent learning in a manner and environment different from normal routine means children will remember more of what they learned than on any other day.

Aside from bonding with their peers and better learning, school trips can really open children’s eyes to the world around them. Visiting places they would never usually go, particularly for those children who aren’t fortunate enough to travel often outside of school, can provide a whole new perspective on the world. Activities they may have never tried can become lifelong interests. Places they visit can lead to future professions – hospitals, local businesses, University science centers. These visits can teach children more than information, helping them understand why the knowledge is important and how it pertains to real life. They will learn better behaviour too – responsibility and respect not just in the presence of an established figure of authority, but to the public, their peers and communities, and the environment.

The benefits of these trips are vast and the risks – particularly with our modern culture of rules and regulations at every turn – are containable and very carefully assessed by the schools. Of course, there is always a danger of injury. It can’t be denied – accidents happen. But they can happen anywhere, at any time, and it is important to keep this danger in perspective. If you ever find yourself weighing up whether to permit your child onto a school trip, remember this – giving in to your worries about the risks is denying them an opportunity to discover a future hobby or career, to expand their mind and realise their potential.

Educational days out are real adventures for children, and the memories will last a lifetime. I have treasured memories of my field trips. Some of them were disappointing, of course – the highlight of one visit to Waltham Abbey as a child was feeding my worksheets to the goats there – but some turned out to be undeniably important. I still explicitly remember what to do in the event of a house fire – and to check my smoke alarms regularly – all because of a few fun activities and a short lecture given by the local Fire Department on a school visit when I was nine years old. Others were simply awe-inspiring: a lecture at University College London on the concept of Virgin Galactic when spaceflight was only an inkling of a realistic idea, a visit to a Victorian London surgery where the tour guide demonstrated to us how a doctor in 1866 would have performed an amputation on a gangrenous leg, and on one life-changing Senior trip, a theatre acting class on Broadway in New York City. There can be no denying that these adventures helped define me as the person I grew up to be. They were as important as any factor in my school years.

School trips provide children with a reason to believe that the pursuit of knowledge is fun, worthwhile, and above all else – endless. Education does not begin and end in the classroom, nor should it, and these outings help children to see that the world around them is trying to teach them things every day, if they are only willing to open their eyes and take it in.

This post by Lauren Bowman.

We offer a wide range of services and expert advice on your child's education.

Email consultants@independenteducationconsultants.co.uk or contact Claire on 01865 522066 for an informal discussion on how we can help.

For more information, www.independenteducationconsultants.co.uk

Celebrating World Book Day 2016: The Importance of Reading with your Child

World Book Day 2016 is tomorrow and it always reminds me of being a child, the one day of the year when everyone around me would celebrate and adore books as much as I did. I doubt I ever knew the full influence reading had over me some twenty-odd years ago, but what I did know was that nothing else was ever as exciting or inspiring as reading a book with my parents.

Everyone knows reading to their child is an important part of early development. When working as a babysitter, this was always the highlight of their evening and of mine – watching their faces light up as we brought a story to life together. Sometimes I would read their favourite books, and sometimes they would read aloud the books their school had given them. I’d ask them the next time I saw them how far they’d read and what I had missed in the story, and it’s astonishing how much they’d learn just by reading.

Less people know how important it is to keep reading to your children even as they get older. In a study by Scholastic (“Kids & FamilyReading Report”) it was found that 83% of parents stopped reading to their child before the age of 11, with 75% of those parents saying they’d stopped because their child was old enough to read alone. And yet the same study found that 83% of children as old as 17, loved to be read aloud to. Somewhere along the way, the message is getting lost that reading out loud to your children continues to be beneficial long into their teenage years.

Here’s our shortlist of reasons why reading to your children is so important, whatever their age:

1. Building Awareness of the World Around Them

For younger children, this is about experiences they have not yet had themselves. Books are a tool for you to teach your children how to (and how not to) respond to the encounters they have. For older children this is still very much true – books contain life lessons in a format that is much easier to absorb than a lecture, and reading them together can bring about discussions that are difficult to have otherwise – about culture, social issues, emotions and belief.

2. Academic Advancement

Reading to very young children is one of the most important ways of teaching them to create sentences and critical enunciation skills as well as other necessities, such as how to cope with coming to a word you don’t know how to pronounce (even if you really do).

A strong grasp on language and learning paves the way for a successful formal education. But for older children, it can be just as educational. Children don’t read as well as they listen until they are 14 or 15, and reading higher level books will have them mastering a more sophisticated vocabulary. This can help older children put their thoughts into words in and out of the classroom. Reading aloud teaches reading skills, and children who read well also write and communicate well, and do better in school.

3. Improving Concentration and Expanding the Mind

Whatever their age, learning to concentrate well is going to put them at an educational advantage. Being read to develops a strong sense of self-discipline to stay put for the duration of the story, as well as an improved attention span and memory that will definitely benefit your child (and maybe you too!) Reading aloud can ease your child into genres and series that they never would have considered picking up on their own. Even reading the first chapter out loud can be enough to inspire your child to pick up a book and continue it on their own. Get them hooked on reading and you won’t be able to hold them back.

4. Experiencing the Joy of Being Told a Story

Verbal Storytelling is the oldest and longest standing method of learning, from the earliest records of human civilization. The goal of reading fiction at all is to enjoy it and take what it has to teach to heart. Struggling readers of all ages especially love to listen, as it takes out the frustration of understanding the words themselves. Audiobooks are also fantastic for readers who need that extra push to enjoy stories and in time, they will learn to understand difficult words on their own. But recordings too are missing the one thing that reading aloud to your child will never fail to do…

5. Bringing You and Your Child Together

The physical closeness of reading together is something anyone of any age can enjoy. At any age, reading aloud to your children can provide a sense of security and belonging just from being close to them. Especially as they get older, when the world becomes bigger and more confusing than ever. Children can be so full of energy (and sometimes attitude) that reading time allows everyone to slow down and relax, and continue to relish that closeness you enjoyed when they were a baby. It’s no secret that these moments dwindle the older children get – but the longer you continue to read aloud, the more of this precious time you’ll share together.

Hopefully this has inspired you to pick up a book to read with your child this World Book Day! If you need a little nudge in the right direction, here’s a couple of titles I enjoyed having read to me when I was younger (which I probably never would have picked up on my own!):

• Boy by Roald Dahl – this is Dahl’s first autobiographical book, telling – in his famous comedic style – the story of his life from birth to leaving school.

• Northern Lights by Philip Pullman – the story of a parallel universe where a smart young girl and her sentient animal spirit head to the arctic to rescue her uncle and her friend from a treacherous experiment

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – an infamous southern gothic by one of history’s most influential writers (rest her soul) that touches on hard-hitting issues in a gentle and humorous tone

• Holes by Louis Sachar – a mystery comedy, which is a fantastic sub-genre for young adults – about a boy who is wrongly convicted of stealing shoes and sent to a juvenile camp and made to dig holes all day to find an undisclosed treasure.

This post by Lauren Bowman.

We offer a wide range of services and expert advice on your child's education.

Email consultants@independenteducationconsultants.co.uk or contact Claire on 01865 522066 for an informal discussion on how we can help.

For more information, www.independenteducationconsultants.co.uk

Senior school entry pre-tests and assessments or 11+ - why a rejection letter is not the end of the world.

At this time of year, many parents are faced with results from their child’s recent senior school entry pre-tests, interviews, assessments or for some, the 11+. Our consultants have been congratulating many who have received the good news they were hoping for from their first choice school.

However, sadly there have also been parents who have come to us to ask for help since their outcome was not so positive. Here are a few tips from our team of consultants which have come in handy recently, while we have been offering advice and support to parents at what can be a very tricky time for all.

Bad news on the result front presents a confusing challenge for parents as to choosing the right alternative. It tends to lead to a worried frenzy of reviewing your child’s academic potential. Asking if you applied to the right schools, seeking to identify curriculum areas where your child may have struggled in the entry process, questioning whether you should have prepared or tutored them more, are all factors which seem to spring into parents’ minds at this time.

Coupled with questioning your school application and preparation strategy, there’s also the primary concern of how you support your child through the sense of rejection they may feel at a young and sensitive age. This can be a knock to both confidence and self-esteem for some and needs careful handling.

Always talk about your list of potential school choices in a positive way. Until you have a confirmed outcome, it is important for your child to believe they will succeed and you will be proud of them, whatever school they join. Your child will thrive better if they attend a school which challenges at the right level, rather than scraping in by their finger nails and battling their way through the next 5 years, just to keep their head above water.

Phil Hallworth adds a few key points on supporting your child at this tricky time below:

Don't confuse your own feelings of disappointment with those your child - they are very different things. However you feel about it remember that he or she will be feeling wretched about letting you down and will feel a 'failure' - however hard they tried and however bright they are. Don't allow your own crushed aspirations to prevent you from doing the right thing for your child by way of love and support at this difficult time. He or she needs to know that there is a right school for them where they will be happy and where they will succeed (and remember, TIEC can help you find it!)

Finally, Phil suggests accepting that maybe you chose the wrong school in the first place and now need to re-think school choice more realistically in the light of this rejection.

To start this process, the first port of call should be your prep school Head or senior schools adviser. If the results are unexpected or there are unusual circumstances which may have affected your child’s performance, these are better presented to the senior school admissions team as an objective opinion from your current school, rather than the emotional pleas of a worried parent. Prep schools are called this for a reason, so ask them to use their relationship to support your appeal, if they confirm that one is appropriate. Hence, as soon as possible, seek guidance on the next steps from your current school and follow their advice.

If they advise revisiting your school choices, try to disregard confusing dinner party banter and school gate chatter. Torturing yourself with the success stories of others while you are handling disappointment will not help your mood. Your child will have different strengths, interests, personality and learning needs compared with many of their peers. Remain positive, think through pros and cons of alternative schools via evidence from your own experience of visits to the schools and you will more quickly find a way to resolve things.

For those yet to face the gauntlet of 11+ or senior school pre-test, interview or assessment results, the most important advice of all is to be realistic from the outset and plan your senior school applications accordingly. Listen to advice from their current Head and other senior staff and make every effort to match up their academic level or other talents and interests, to the right senior school choices. Aiming high is important as children will often respond to a challenge by performing better. However, make the goals and challenge realistic, not pie in the sky.

We are blessed with a whole range of senior school choices across both the state and independent sectors. Whatever your child’s strengths, interests and learning needs there is a right school for them, if you remain open-minded and realistic.

Do you need some advice on planning your senior school choices after a recent rejection letter? Our friendly team of consultants are here, waiting for your call.

Call Claire on +44 (0)1865 522066

Email consultants@inependenteducationconsultants.co.uk

Visit our website via the link http://independenteducationconsultants.co.uk/prep-to-senior-school-choices-at-11-or-13/

Choosing the best #school for your child's #education

Gathered from his own experiences as both a teacher and parent, here are some thoughts on State vs. Independent schools from Brian McGee, our Director of Consultancy Services.

With many parents in the middle of the annual round of open days and school visits, the issue of how to choose the best school for your child is at the forefront of our minds.

With so many leading figures in our society coming from independent schools, it seems that the 7% of pupils attending these schools gain an enormous advantage later on. This would lead us to think that paying for an independent education is an obvious step up for our child – if we can afford it. Independent schools offer academic excellence, confidence and a well-rounded approach to sport, the arts and culture. The recent TV programme ‘School Swap – the Class Divide’ could not have highlighted more effectively the difference in opportunity between the young people from the good state school and the obviously successful independent school.

My own experience as a parent, having sent my children to both state and independent schools, is somewhat mixed, however, and as a head of Sixth Form in an excellent state school, I frequently came across pupils who needed to be rescued from a damaged experience at an independent school. This was not a fault of the schools, but simply that a particular school may quite simply be wrong for the child. All schools, state or independent, have their own character and this gives them their ability to offer a child a nurturing environment. But sometimes the style of the school creates an environment which is just not right for the child, perhaps because they react badly to academic hothousing or the pressure to achieve on the sports field.

Of course, money is also a huge factor. I recently spoke to a family who had decided that, rather than spend the considerable cost of school fees at an independent school, they were choosing good state schools and topping up their child’s education with private lessons and clubs, and high quality family holidays. Others who have decided that a boarding education will offer their child the all-round education they will thrive on have chosen one of the many excellent state boarding schools (see www.sbsa.org) which offer outstanding opportunities at a third of the price of an independent school.

The key is to make good use of the visit or open day opportunities and gauge your child’s feelings carefully. The fixed open days are often a showcase event which gives some insight and information, but to truly get the feel for the school it is important to visit on a normal day and walk around while classes are on. Meet some teachers and talk to pupils – they are very honest! Of course, talking to other parents is also valuable, but do remember that your child is an individual and what is right for someone else’s child may not be right for them. We ended up sending our children to different schools because their needs were different. Start with your child and who they are and what they enjoy and you will not go far wrong.

For details of how our team of friendly, experienced consultants give advice on choosing the right school for your child, please give us a call on +44 (0)1865 522066

Or you can email Claire Coker on consultants@indepedenteducationconsultants.co.uk 

Or visit our website via this link http://independenteducationconsultants.co.uk/choosing-a-school/choosing-a-school-age-5-7-11-13-or-16/

10 Tips for getting started on the framework and first draft of your Personal Statement for #UCAS application

Now the Sept term is in full swing, many year 13 students will be turning their minds to university courses for next year and getting started on draafting a personal statement for their university application. 

Here are our 10 quick tips to get you started. Often first putting pen to paper can be the hardest part.

1. Start with your interest in the course. This is your chance to show why this course is what you want. This should take 60-75% of your statement.
2. Be reflective. Where did your interest in the subject start? Don’t say ‘From an early age’! Be specific. A little narrative here is good, but get into some detail which is academic.
3. Give some detail: books you’ve read which have deepened your knowledge or thinking; lectures or TED talks you’ve heard. Don’t just list them, engage with the subject and ideas. Don’t lie – only cite books you have actually read.
4. DO talk about your A levels or IB! You are applying for an academic subject and these reflect your academic interest and experience. Relate them to the course without forcing the connection.
5. Broader experience related to the course is very valuable indeed. If you haven’t had a chance to set some up before applying it’s still worth trying to organise it and say what you’re planning, as this could come up at interview.
6. Relate your Work Experience to the course. Even if it’s a retail job you will have learnt transferable skills.
7. The UCAS plagiarism software is incredibly sensitive. DO NOT copy models from the internet.
8. Write in a formal style but DO NOT get your Mum to write it – it will be obvious.
9. If you can, give some idea of your career aspirations, even if these are likely to change. It gives an insight into who you are.
10. Don’t mention any problems or health issues – the statement should all be positive. These issues should be dealt with in the reference.

We are offering one lucky winner the chance to win a free hour with one of our team of consultants to kick-start the draft of their personal statement. To enter before the closing date of the 24th September enter your email address by CLICKING HERE

For more details about our services to support teenagers with making a strong application to a UK University through UCAS, visit our website by CLICKING HERE

#Parents - Is your child starting #boardingschool this September? A few tips from our experts on handling #homesickness.

Receiving countless sobbing phone calls and miserable emails from your child when they have just started at boarding school for the first time is a heart wrenching experience for parents. The mobile phone call, text and email has made this particularly challenging to manage as a parent, since it makes contact with home so easy and available at times of sadness. 

Here are a few pointers below which may be useful in terms of coping with this situation as a distressed parent which may help to see your child settled and happy at boarding school as soon as possible:

1. On the first drop off day, try not to hang around in the boarding house for too long before saying your goodbyes. Help your child to unpack and to make their space feel homely, ensure they have met up with someone else in their dorm to chat to and then, with as little fuss as possible, take your leave.
2. Listen to your child’s Housemaster or Housemistress and trust their experience and competence in supporting homesick children. If they are in regular communication with you to reassure you that there is no need for concern as they have the situation well in hand, then believe them. Houseparents take their responsibilities very seriously indeed and you can rest assured that if, in their experience, they felt there was a need for concern as your child was experiencing greater distress than is usual for a child who is away from home for the first time, they will immediately let you know and discuss with you how best to address the situation.
3. Children are kept very active and engaged during their first few weeks at boarding school. They will be taking part in a very busy programme of study and extra-curricular activity. It is only in the odd few moments of downtime that your child will start to feel sad and to miss home, since there really isn’t opportunity for this most of the time. Sadly, it is in these occasional miserable moments when your child will tend to phone, text or email you, leading you to believe that they are feeling sad and distressed all of the time.
4. Don’t give in to emotional blackmail. You have chosen to give your child an amazing opportunity to develop independence and experience a diverse range of opportunities within their education. They will make close friends that last a lifetime. You have made this choice for the right reasons so try not to take seriously any miserable communications from your child, which may imply that you do not care or are in some way cruel. Quite the opposite. You have made a self-less decision in giving your child what you believe to be an amazing opportunity. Your child will look back on their time when they are older and thank you for the decision you made, you just have to hang in there through the rough part at the beginning.
5. Never let your child know that you are upset too. If you can feel yourself welling up when talking to them on the phone, let them know quickly that you must hang up the phone as you have a pan boiling over, someone is at the door or something similar. If you are worried that this may happen try to communicate with your child by email when they cannot see that the happy cheerful messages from you are written through sobbing eyes!
6. Likewise try not to get cross and angry, rather provide a listening ear as to how your child is feeling. Getting cross may lead to your child thinking that you are not on their side in dealing with their homesickness. They must know that you are aware and understand the difficulties they are facing and that they have your full support in learning to cope.
7. Try not to contact your child too often during their first few weeks. Some boarding schools do not allow phone calls to and from home in the first few weeks, but even if the one your child attends does, try to resist the temptation to do this too often. You are bound to be worried about how they are settling in, worrying if they have made friends and what they are up to. Remember, if your child is happy and busy, it can be very unsettling and upsetting to suddenly take a call from home, reminding them that they are away from you for the first time. If you are worried or feeling out of the loop as you have not had any contact with your child for a while, get in touch with their Housemaster or Housemistress, who will happily update you on their progress in settling in. The school will call you if they are in any way concerned. Ask yourself are you contacting your child for your benefit as you are missing them, or for their benefit?
8. If you have family friends with an older child at the same school, try to seek discreet information via them as to your child’s welfare.  It may reassure you to know there is an older student looking out for them. Hearing from another pupil that they experienced the same feelings of homesickness and got through it and are now happy, can sometimes be more convincing than hearing it from you. They may be able to share some gems of information as to how they coped. Children can often respond better to peers who are closer to the experience and who command respect.
9. Try to avoid discussions with your child over the phone about what you have been up to with their younger siblings who are still at home, as this only emphasises what they are missing out on in being away. Instead focus your conversations on asking your child what they have been doing, who are their teachers, what friends have they made, what sport and other activities have they been doing, and what are they looking forward to in the following week?
10. Set benchmarks of things for your child to look forward to so the first term can be divided into small chunks of time that is easier to cope with at the start. E.g. Give them a calendar for their wall and write on it the first time you can go to school to see them play in a sports match, the first exeat and the exciting things you have planned for them when they come home.
11. Never make a promise you have no intention of keeping, for example to take them away from the school if they are still unhappy at half term, Christmas etc. Once your child feels that there is a way out for them if they do not settle, they may dig their heels in and be determined to remain miserable until your deadline has passed so they can come home. Better to let them know that there is no alternative in terms of school option and that they need to try harder to settle in.
12. Praise and reward your child and let them know how proud you are of their efforts and achievements. 
13. Most importantly of all, remember you are not alone in supporting your homesick child. Try to meet up with friends over a coffee and share your experiences and concerns. Knowing that you are not alone and what you and are child are going through has been faced and overcome before will be a great reassurance and support at what can be a very difficult and challenging time for any parent.

Do you need some help with reviewing boarding school options for your child at age 11+, 13+, or 16+? 

Give Claire a call on 01865 522066 to find out how our team of friendly experts can help you or email her via consultants@independenteducationconsultants.co.uk

Visit our website for more details http://independenteducationconsultants.co.uk/international-parents-choosing-the-right-boarding-school/