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Blog posts exploring the importance of effective education partnerships, collaboration and communication within and beyond schools when developing and maintaining high-quality policy and practice for more able learners, and challenge for all. Includes examples of effective school-to-school collaborations, and opportunities to get involved in education partnerships and collaborative initiatives involving fellow NACE member schools and NACE partner organisations.

 

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Supporting your child with high ability: guidance for parents and carers
Posted By Hilary Lowe, 26 April 2022
Updated: 21 April 2022
Hilary Lowe, NACE Research & Development Director, introduces the NACE Essentials guide on this topic – now freely available for all families.
 
Parents and carers have a lasting impact on their children’s lives. They can have a great influence on their children’s achievement and success through providing early experiences which encourage children to enjoy and develop their learning. By exposing their children to new experiences, by engaging with them through talk and discussion, by giving them encouragement and support, parents enhance their children’s ability to think creatively and critically, and stimulate their curiosity about the world.
 
Parental support is one of the most important factors in a child’s success in school. Children whose parents are interested and involved in their education – for example, by supporting their learning at home and working with the school – do better academically and socially. This is true for all children, but parents sometimes find it difficult to know how to best support a child who has a special need or exceptional abilities. What they can do, however, makes a big difference, and our NACE Essentials guide on this topic aims to help parents and carers provide that support.
 
This guide has been recently updated, and is now freely available to all families, alongside a new mini-guide aimed at parents and carers of children in the early years foundation stage.
 
Being the parent or carer of a more able or exceptionally able child can be both a delight and a challenge. In some cases that challenge can last well into adolescence, when peer pressure, personal identity crises and an exceptional intellect or precocious talent can lead to tensions and conflict.
 
Living with an able child can raise many questions for parents and the rest of the family. A parent’s responses to a child’s exceptional needs will, to a large extent, depend on the parent’s values, their own experiences of education, and what they believe about their own abilities. But it is important that parents and carers think through their response, in order to support their child to develop and express their ability, to find balance, emotional harmony and personal fulfilment – and to live as a child.
 
Our NACE Essentials guide for parents and carers aims to provide answers to some of the most common questions about caring for and supporting a more able child:
  • What does it mean to be “more able”?
  • How do you know if you have a more able child?
  • How do schools identify children with special abilities?
  • What is the current approach to children with high ability?
  • What should schools provide for more able children?
  • What information about your child and the school’s provision can you expect to be given?
  • What questions could you ask of the school?
  • How do you overcome barriers and difficulties?
  • What can you do to help your child at home?
In addition, the guide includes a glossary of words frequently used when discussing the education of children with high ability.
 
The NACE Essentials guide for parents and carers is available to download now, free for all families. Get your copy.

Tags:  collaboration  early years foundation stage  enrichment  free resources  parents and carers 

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9 ways parents can support their child’s education at home
Posted By Emma Tibbitts, 25 April 2022
Updated: 21 April 2022
Emma Tibbitts, NACE Curriculum Adviser (Early Years), shares nine ways parents and carers can support their child’s education at home.
 
This blog post is an excerpt from the new NACE Essentials guide for parents and carers of children in the early years – now freely available for all families. Get your free copy here.
 
The biggest contribution a parent can make to their child’s education is to be interested in and appreciate what they are doing, know what they are interested in, and support them in what they do.
 
Gentle encouragement, interested questioning, concern when you feel there is a problem, and a habit of showing curiosity about the world yourself are all very important. Talking with and listening to your child are among the most important factors in the development of language.
 
Specifically, you could: 

1. Support your child to develop language 

Read with and to your child as often as possible. Have a new word of the day or week at home. Puzzles, logic games, word games and board games all help to develop language.

2. Support your child to extend their knowledge of the world and encourage discussion 

Talk through your day and theirs, and encourage family discussions. Introduce an interesting fact of the week. Give them a broad range of experiences, e.g. exhibitions, music, food.

3. Support your child to develop a range of skills and a balanced perspective 

Do not always focus on their obvious skills – encourage them to sample new activities. Praise and value effort and persistence, not just achievement.

4. Support your child to experiment

Give them space and free time to play, experiment and develop hobbies and interests of their own.

5. Support your child to develop their social and emotional needs 

Children need to know that you are proud of who they are and not what they achieve. They need to be allowed to fail and make mistakes, and develop strategies to cope when they get it wrong.

6. Support your child by spending regular special time together

Setting aside special quality one-on-one time with your child will show them you value and appreciate them and will increase the connection between you.

7. Support your child by showing an interest in their activities

By playing with your child you show them you are interested in their activities. This will give them the confidence to explore and make mistakes and will give you an insight into what interests them.

8. Support your child by developing a warm, loving parent-child relationship

When you respond to your child’s needs in a warm, loving and consistent manner you strengthen the attachment you have with them. This provides a foundation to allow children to grow confidently and learn to manage their own feelings and behaviours.

9. Support your child to develop good two-way communication

Role modelling good communication skills is essential. Be an active listener, let your child voice their opinion and respond to any questions they may have. Ask questions to show them you understand their viewpoint.
 
This blog post is an excerpt from the new NACE Essentials guide for parents and carers of children in the early years – now freely available for all families, along with our full guide for parents and carers of children at all ages. Get your free copy here. 

Tags:  early years foundation stage  enrichment  language  parents and carers  wellbeing 

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