PARENTS’ GUIDE - HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED AT SCHOOL.

Attend parent-teacher meetings and keep in touch with your child's teacher. If you have any difficulty understanding English, you can bring a friend to interpret for you or ask the school to provide an interpreter. You can also ask to meet with your child's teachers any time during the year. If you have a concern and can't meet face-to-face, send the teacher a short note or arrange an appointment to talk on the phone.

Find out how your child is doing. Ask the teachers how well your child is doing in class compared to other students. If your child is not keeping up, ask what you or the school can do to help. It's important to act early before your child gets too far behind. Also, be sure to review your child's school journal/diary regularly and their school report each time it comes out.

Make sure that your child gets homework done. Let your child know that you think education is important and that homework needs to be done each day. You can help your child with homework by setting aside a special place to study, establishing a regular time for homework, and removing distractions such as the television, smartphones, Xbox/Playstation and other intrusions during homework time.

If you are reluctant to help your child with homework because you feel that you don't know the subject well enough or because you don't speak or read English, you can help by showing that you are interested, helping your child get organized, providing the necessary materials, asking your children about daily assignments, monitoring their Journal to make sure work is completed, and praising all of their efforts. Remember that doing your children's homework for them won't help them in the long run.

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Help your child prepare for tests. Tests and examinations play an important role in determining a student’s success in final Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate State examinations. Your child will take multiple tests across most subjects during the school year. As with helping with homework above, there are many ways that you can support and encourage your child before and after tests and examinations.

Demonstrate a positive attitude about education to your children. What we say and do in our daily lives can help them to develop positive attitudes toward school and learning and to build confidence in themselves as learners. Showing our children that we both value education and use it in our daily lives provides them with powerful models and contributes greatly to their success in school.

In addition, by showing interest in their children's education, parents and families can spark enthusiasm in them and lead them to a very important understanding -that learning can be enjoyable as well as rewarding and is well worth the effort required.

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Monitor your child's television, video game and Internet use.

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Children on average spend far more time watching TV, playing video games and using the Internet than they do completing homework or other school-related activities. A multitude of studies have found that too much screen time negatively affects children’s learning abilities.

Encourage your child to read. Helping your child become a reader is the single most important thing that you can do to help the child to succeed in school-and in life. The importance of reading simply can't be overstated. Reading helps children in all school subjects. More important, it is the key to lifelong learning.

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Talk with your child. Talking and listening play major roles in children's school success. It's through hearing parents and family members talk and through responding to that talk that young children begin to pick up the language skills they will need if they are to do well. For example, children who don't hear a lot of talk and who aren't encouraged to talk themselves often have problems learning to read, which can lead to other school problems. In addition, children who haven't learned to listen carefully often have trouble following directions and paying attention in class. It's also important for you to show your child that you're interested in what they have to say.

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Encourage your child to use the library. Libraries are places of learning and discovery for everyone. Helping your child find out about libraries will set him on the road to being an independent learner. Remember that libraries also offer a quiet place for students to complete homework, assignments and project work, and are often open in the evening.

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Teach and encourage the 3 Rs – Respect, Responsibility & Resilience. These significantly enhance your child’s ability to learn:

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Respect is fundamental to developing positive relationships with teachers and fellow students. Respect in your relationships builds feelings of trust, safety, and well-being. It can be taught through role modelling and the coaching of ‘good manners’ or ‘proper conduct’. This involves listening to, having consideration for and supporting others, showing kindness and being polite.

Resilience is the ability to adapt and bounce back when things don't go as planned. Resilient children don't wallow or dwell on failures; they acknowledge the situation, learn from their mistakes, and then move forward. You can help build resilience in your child by

Making connections – i.e. having one-to-one time with them to talk with and listen to them without distractions
Making sure they have adequate sleep i.e. at least 9 hours
Getting adequate physical exercise, especially outdoors
Providing a healthy diet
Teaching delayed gratification i.e. that they can’t always have what they want as soon as they want it.
Teaching gratitude – sometimes it’s as simple as saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
Promoting healthy risk-taking and resisting the urge to “fix it” for them
Role modelling of coping skills and embracing mistakes
Getting them to do chores
Being positive when faced with problems

Responsibility and being able to work independently are important qualities for school success. You can help your child to develop these qualities by establish reasonable rules that you enforce consistently, making it clear to your child that he has to take responsibility for what he/she does, both at home and at school, showing your child how to break a job down into small steps, and monitor what your child does after school, in the evenings and on weekends. If you can't be there when your child gets home, give him/her the responsibility of checking in with you by phone to discuss their plans.

Encourage active learning. Children need active learning as well as quiet learning such as reading and doing homework. Active learning involves asking and answering questions, solving problems and exploring interests. Active learning also can take place when your child plays sports, spends time with friends, acts in a school play, plays a musical instrument or visits museums and libraries. To promote active learning, listen to your child's ideas and respond to them. Let him/her jump in with questions and opinions when you read books together. When you encourage this type of give-and-take at home, your child's participation and interest in school is likely to increase.

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MAGH ENE COLLEGE PARENT-TEACHER MEETINGS

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TIPS FOR PARENTS

Before the meeting ask your child if there is anything that [s]he would like you to discuss with the teacher.

If you have any difficulty understanding English, you can bring a friend to interpret for you or ask the school to provide an interpreter.

Arrive as early as possible – it takes a considerable amount of time to get around all the subject teachers. There may be long queues in the seating area.

Teachers should be in seated alphabetical order around the walls in the meeting area with their names & subjects clearly displayed.

Bring his/her most recent School Report

When you meet the teachers tell them:

your name & your child’s name
his/her class / year group

Ask how well he/she is engaging in class and how he/she can improve.

Be open-minded to suggestions from the teacher.

Ask how you can support your child’s progress at home.

Take notes on what has been discussed to bring back as feedback to your child.

Avoid discussion of topics that are not related to the purpose of the meeting.

Emphasise the importance of homework and planned study at home and help your child to implement his/her teachers’ recommendations.