Any little ideas that supplement a state school education?

[Iamwaiting]

My daughter goes to our local village school and is so happy, she loves it! And at her age (Y1) that is the most important thing as far as we are concerned.

However having attended private school myself with class sizes of 15, I can't pretend that the quality of education she is receiving is brilliant. Her teacher is wonderful, but realistically there is only so much she can do in a class of 30 with two children requiring 1 to 1 support (that they can't currently recruit for.)

It's no-ones fault, just the way it is. But we have a little disposable income (not enough to afford private plus the nearest is 40 mins away!) but enough to fund extras to help with this side.

So for instance we have a Reading Chest subscription so she has unlimited books of an appropriate to supplement the one a week she gets from school. She attends Stagecoach to help with her confidence.

Both those ideas came from here, so I was wondering what little extras other people do to support their child's education?

Just to be clear that this is not a state vs private school debate. Both are what they are, and as I said my DD's happiness is the most important thing right now. But at the same time I feel like maybe there is a bit of a middle ground to help support her in areas the school simply doesn't have the funding to be able to.

Thanks!

The biggest predictor of academic success is having dinner with your child.
Learn an instrument, do swimming etc but spend time with her, talk about the world, life etc.

Can't say more than this, really.

Except I'd add keep reading to her long, long after she can read herself. You can read them stuff they would struggle (or be reluctant) to read themselves, gaining vocabulary, a sense of how to read aloud, concepts of narrative etc. I'm reading the Swallows and Amazons series to my 8yo. She wouldn't read those alone, though she would probably be capable of it. I've older children too and I read a chapter of a book each night to them until they were about 11 and 13.

I always made a point of looking at the topic they were covering at school, and expanding it. So reading around it, chatting about it, trips where possible and not too pricey. Could be as simple as looking for a waterfall.

Music - do you have a local music centre? They often start little classes at reception age, and then expand as the children grow. The dcs then get to choose orchestral instruments later on, which leads into their orchestras. Supplements piano, which is quite solitary.

One thing my dd and I did last summer is found an ancient, cheap cupboard in the small ads, bought it, cleaned and painted it together, including choosing the paint (specifically from an eco-paint type shop - pricey but affordable for just a cupboard) and mixing it. Now she has a lovely cupboard in her room that she painted herself. That sort of being resourceful and creative has great benefits.

Oh, yes absolutely to dinner as well. We discuss "news", so what is in their news and the actual news. But very informally.

Get a Mrs Wordsmith set

Make sure you keep it up in my advice.

When they are young these enrichment trips are easy to manage but as they get older and their learning become more specific you have to put yourself out more. If they are doing the history of medicine you have to go to Leeds or wherever it is to go to the right museum.

It's all fine learning ballet/clarinet/diving when they are six but it's harder when they are fifteen and diving is three times a week and they don't finish until nine thirty.

In terms of academic achievement, the main thing you need to supplement in a state school education, especially to get off to a strong start in KS1 and LKS2, is reading. Children need to read at least 4 times a week and as per a pp read more challenging books to your child as well.

Hello OP, I've taught across both sectors and would agree with what's already been said on here, particularly about learning and instrument (or two). Here are some more thoughts:

• Order a weekly child non-fiction magazine or newspaper and discuss it over the table.
• Language lessons (although the state primary school where I'm a governor does language lessons currently actually). Lots of the private schools round here, the kids are learning mandarin from Year 1.
• Be prepared to pay for a tutor at times where you feel your child isn't thriving in a subject, e.g. extra maths tuition. Particularly when they get to secondary and, for example, the school hasn't recruited enough science teachers (although this happens in private schools as well) or your child feels like they aren't learning well from a particular teacher.
• One of the biggest differences in the private vs state experience comes from the small classes, specifically how many times every day a child speaks in class and interacts with an adult. So think about how you can make up that gap, for example with the private drama lessons you are doing, speech and drama/LAMDA, how often they chat with you and also with other adults. Debating club when they get older is another good one. That confidence at interview, at speaking up in university tutorials, at giving presentations etc. is built up over years and it doesn't just come from "entitlement" as some people would assume.

@Iamwaiting Yr 5 + 6 prep at DDs school they are standing up giving presentations to the whole school and Yr 7 + 8 have public speaking lessons (plus debate clubs etc) so as @lapsedrdwhoenthusiast says, this is taught and built into them early on then reinforced throughout secondary school.
Drama and LAMDA lessons are a great alternate way of achieving this.

I have taken on board some of these suggestions for my DD.

A question to those suggesting supplementing Maths learning. Doesn't this run the risk of the child being even more bored in lessons and disengaging at school?

DD (6) is able at Maths and her school are good at focusing on the depth of knowledge of whatever they are doing and having enough extended questions to ensure the kids don't run out of work in the lesson.

At home I suppose her maths learning is supported by playing games like Monopoly where she likes being the banker and can work out how much change to give etc. We bake together and half the recipe and she does the sums.

In terms of formal maths tutoring or supplementing learning with an online programme or books, it'll just mean the gap between her ability and what she does at school will grow. Isn't this problematic?

Drama. Always drama. But not any of the franchise Stagecoach type things. See if your nearest theatre has a youth group. Scouts. Well, Cubs or Brownies at her age. A musical instrument. Maybe a language?

If you think she's still a bit young for formal instrument lessons, an alternative you could look into is Kodaly-based music classes - they teach music theory in a child-friendly way. My DD is also year 1 and is learning to read music, the difference between beat and rhythm, etc, which I figure will be a great foundation for any instrument lessons further down the line. In the mean time, she has a toy keyboard to play around with and has figured out of her own accord how to play a few nursery rhymes on it, so I can really see how it's developing her ear for music.

Having read all this .. dont forget to give her time for free play, crafts, or just mooching. Boredom sparks creativity.

@INeedNewShoes I'm not an expert... but can say that making sure their mental maths is good will always help. My DD is dyslexic and struggled with time tables, number bonds etc and it was holding her maths back... when she cracked those eventually she shot to the top end of the class for Maths. So even if you don't push on with new maths, constant reinforcement is good.

It shouldn't be problematic with maths @INeedNewShoes. I teach this age group. It's not difficult from a teaching point of view to extend maths lessons for more able children.

Just make sure she's tackling properly any extended work she is given. For example there might be a challenge type question at the end that asks how many different ways something can be done and there might be one obvious way and ten more challenging answers. And most children could do the one way but the point is to challenge yourself to do the harder maths.

Let her see you reading for your own enjoyment too, not just reading with her.

The cultural capital thing is important & does not have to cost a lot of money, just effort. I come across a lot of kids who have never been taken into London which is literally 20 minutes on the train from where I live. Free museums or just walking around looking at things.

Depending on where you live, travel to other countries if it’s affordable. When mine were little we had some very cheap holidays in France/Belgium/The Netherlands— cheaper than a UK holiday.

Oh, and my very non mathematical dd says that,while she hated it at the time, me insisting on her knowing her tables up to 15x15 has proved incredibly useful all her life. She's 27 now!

Very good point above about letting them see you read too - I'd extend that to other interests. Seeing people around them being 'joiners-in' and following interests for the love of it is excellent role modelling. I'm a goodish amateur singer, mainly in churches, and my children have sat in on various choir rehearsals/services etc over the years (and done the odd bit of choral stuff themselves) and gained exposure to music and singing that way, although none of them sing themselves currently. .They've all learned various instruments at various times and the older two have played in bands/ensembles.

We've also taken care to model 'pitching in' in various ways in groups and communities we are involved in. Eldest ds is now a volunteer firefighter - it's not something either of us ever did but I think that sense of civic/community spirit was modelled at least in part by us.

I think the two main things are to read, read, read - anything and everything, with them, to them, listen to them

The other is to talk - answer their questions, encourage them to look up answers (books, how to use the internet, help them learn reliable sources etc), ask for their ideas and opinions, chat about what you see out and about, discuss TV programmes, teach them how to talk to strangers, how to buy things in shops, ask for help etc. Always chat at mealtimes. Encourage inquisitiveness.

Yes, all the formal extra curricular activities are great, but you can do a lot by yourself, much cheaper/free.

Ex curriculum activities, sports in particular and alway allow a try with the promise of if it’s not what she likes she doesn’t have to continue.

sports offers a lot of extra, apart from the sports itself and it’s why many private and public schools offer so much. Sports makes learning easier in class

There's a Michael Rosen book called good ideas that might help.

The gist is that helping your child to be inquisitive about the world and supporting them to learn how to learn is the best thing, and if you engage fully and learn a thing or two plus have fun then that's ideal.

You're your child's absolute best resource. Helping them understand the world around them can be fascinating (how do taps work, how do you paint a wall, what's the best way to write a shopping list, how do you peel a banana etc etc) external support like tuition is nice but not essential.

Was going to say travel (not holiday 😊) is the best form of education. Learning a foreign language is also really important and something they seem to do very early on private. One of my dc was interested in French aged 8/9 and I found a native speaking French girl who used to charge £10 per hour via Skype and she made it really fun. She had one lesson per week until secondary school and her French teacher thought she had a parent who was French as her accent was so good.

Oh and as you said it's a village school, I'm assuming it is fairly non diverse. Make an afford to take her to cities/places in the UK where it is very diverse and normalize this. Go to Asian/Arab/Mexican/Chinese etc supermarkets and discover new foods, vegetables, hear people speaking other languages.

Music, preferably some kind of Kodaly-Dalcroze type musicianship lessons.

Musical Steps is one franchise to look at, also Colourstrings depending on location.

Maths Factor App is great with my DD. Aligns with the English curriculum.

Museums, child friendly concerts, walks outside, multisports activities (or just any reputable sport where the activities are based on movement and fun rather than entirely focussed on that sport).

Exposure to foreign languages - language clubs.

I think extra curricular activities are important regardless of education sector. The best thing I ever did for my children (now late teens) was get them into a sport/activity they could excel in. School sports almost entirely favour the tall, strong, and fast, and my kids are none of those things; they are small, and bendy, and agile. If I hadn’t got them into (variously) martial arts, ballet, gymnastics, and the like, they would have gone through school thinking they were rubbish at sport. Instead their names are on the school ‘Wall of Fame’ for competing at national level, and those sorts of achievements have a huge impact on their confidence, resilience, and sense of self. It also gives them the opportunity to meet people with different backgrounds and the same interests, and some of their strongest friendships have come from their clubs.