What's most important to you when it comes to your child’s education? Share with the GDST for the chance to win a £300 John Lewis voucher!

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We all know that education is important and the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), a family of 25 schools across the UK, would like to know what’s most important to you when it comes to your children’s education. Please share your thoughts below to be entered into the voucher prize draw.

When thinking about 'what makes a good education', what do you think is most important? Are strong academic results what make a good education? Or do you think there is too much focus on exams in schools? Does a well-rounded education involve sports and creative arts? Does learning languages and communication skills give children better life skills?

Whatever you think is important for your children’s education, please share it below and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Terms and conditions apply

My children both have significant special needs and, to me, it is important that their schools provide a caring environment where they can grow emotionally and be the best they can be.

I think life skills are important as well as learning kindness and acceptance. I really would like my sons to grow up to be happy, kind and considerate as well as being able to stand in their own two feet. I want them to feel supported in whatever they choose to do.

I went to a GDST school (admittedly many years ago) and was bullied for years by the posh kids (I was a scholarship girl) I am certain it has coloured my whole life in a negative way.

What I wanted for my children was a true sense of their own worth, positive reinforcement of their strengths and skills, a safe environment, to be listened to and heard and to truly fulfil their potential. And of course, to be happy.

It's important to have good teachers so my children are interested in learning. Good choice of extra curricular activities are also important and that they are taught to be a decent human being that can communicate well and respect others.

The most important thing for me is that my children are both happy and enjoy being at school. All I want is for their needs to be supported by the staff and for their abilities be nurtured and encouraged along the way encouraging them to do the best they possibly can.

Definitely that they enjoy school and don't find it stressful, that they get the opportunity to be who they are, skills recognised and support when they need it.

To me, the most important thing is that they are constantly being challenged. My worst fear is that my children are not really noticed by the teachers and then just cruise along without anyone knowing what they are capable of or if they are falling behind in anything.

We chose our daughter's school because she considered it to be 'like a family' and 'like coming home'. It also happens to have good facilities and good academic standards but knowing that she would be happy there was the key for us as that will facilitate her growth. It happens to be a GDST school and with that comes an even larger family of schools that I feel will be a benefit too.

Learning how to learn and to love learning. Confidence that they are as important as anyone else. Respect for all, no matter how different from ourselves.

Academic expectation, but accepting each child as they are. Values. A community at the school..

For my children I've chosen a broad and balanced education which is available to all in my community regardless of academic ability, or parental income of and which gives all children the opportunity to thrive in an environment which reflects the real world they have to live in.

This means a co-ed comprehensive. Not in a green and leafy middle class suburb either.

And thus diametrically opposed to the values of the GDST.

We are an academic family and DD1 has gone on to Oxbridge from said bog-standard comp. I just feel that a decent compulsory state education is a basic human right.

And I know there is a mistake in that post, academic family or not. :D

I took my children out of school after my son had a long term sickness and he was penalised for work he was missing. To cut a long depressing story short, we changed it up!
Mainly, I want my four kids to have a childhood they loved, not worried over, and I think I'm succeeding so far!
No tests to stress over, no exam worries when you should be worrying about what games to play with your friends, we learn about what takes their interest and meet up with other home ed families and let the kids have fun and learn together, and its fantastic. xx

An education that teaches the child to believe in themselves, whether that be through academic, vocational, creative or social skills and achievement. Combine that with measurable achievements.

Being happy with the social environment and enjoying being educated is equally important to me. I think both are needed for a successful education.

For me the most important thing is the learning environment. I wanted my children to be at a school where everyone wanted to learn. Where it was cool to succeed, cool to aim high, cool to work hard. Where exploring outside the curriculum, because you find learning fun, was encouraged by staff and accepted by peers. Equal to this is a school that has first rate pastoral care, where every child is nurtured, bullying isn't tolerated in any form, and there is a wide acceptances of and respect for different social types.

We chose an academic private school for these reasons and our children have flourished there, they are happier, more secure, more self-confident than they were at primary, which was a lively school but had an underlying ethos of 'don't stand out from the crowd, don't get ahead.'

Being able to home educate and teach them how to think for themselves, rather than just thinking what they're told to think is paramount for me.

I want them to learn social skills from adults and children of a wide range of ages, not just their equally socially-unskilled peers.

I want them to be able to develop and be themselves without being pressured by the expectations of the group around them.

I want them to spend lots of time outdoors rather than being stuck in a classroom.

Teachers who are really passionate about their subjects are the ones that inspire children to learn. You just can't fake enthusiasm like it. Happiness and encouraging friendship and a familial atmosphere are important to us too.

I used to think academic learning was so important - being able to read, write and do Math. Then after a year in a mainstream school things weren't working out for my son and he was moved to a SILC and it was whilst looking at new schools that a learning mentor said something to me that suddenly rang so true.

You can go to school, do all your exams, fail them and redo them as an adult. The academic stuff can be learnt later on in life.

Social skills and life skills need to be learnt from the beginning, you can't comfortably get to adulthood without them. Those are the important things for now.

Then when we started to apply for an EHCP we had to write a statement about what my son wanted and needed from his placement.
To be safe
To be equal
To be encouraged
To be understood
To be listened to
To be able to make friends
To learn
To be happy

Those are the important things for me about my sons education and his new school tick every box and he has gone from a boy who hated school and wasn't learning doing 2 hours a day to a boy doing full days who loves learning and is actually doing really well, he's still doing phonics and math and learning but the focus has shifted somewhat and in our case, its all for the better.

It's important to me that the school take a holisitic approach to education - school should be about so much more than test scores. Our children in the UK go to school at a younger age that many other countries & it's a big change for them. Getting the right balance between traditional learning, socialisation, health & wellbeing & fun (!) is key for me.
Learning about maintaining a healthy body & a healthy mind, expressing yourself through creative arts & drama, learning to navigate your way through the complex paths of human relationships & building & maintaining healthy relationships - they're all such important skills, just as important to me as maths, english & science.

I want my child to be happy and not schooled in a highly pressurised environment, however, I believe that schools should focus on academic attainment. I want my child to grow up with a rounded education but am happy to provide social and moral education at home. I would expect my son to work hard and attain well at school but I wouldn't want him to miss out on his childhood whilst doing this

id like more mental health and wellbeing being considered and educated on at school.it such a fraight and changing time for kids.you are basically parenting them for much of their days and see more than some parents do in terms of how they are growing and ineracting and fridnships etc.life skills and self worth.
to help them strive but feel appreciated and able to feel confident in all they are good at no matter what...I think in todays world the people who will do well now are the peple treated with respect and kindess and will the push to be better and do better at anything they can.there is too much else to contend with without school becoming this added pressure it seems to now be to achieve grades.

I think that any parent paying for their daughter's education expects excellent teaching in classes small enough to allow for personalisation and strong relationships, with any necessary interventions provided promptly.

Alongside this, of course excellent pastoral support and opportunities for enrichment, firm policies to deal with bullying and any other unwanted behaviour.

Fundamentally we all want our children to be happy and excited to attend school. An ethos where it's ok to make mistakes, where effort and hard work are admired and rewarded as much as talent, where being different is seen as positive, where the hidden less-obvious strengths are noticed and encouraged, where teachers accept that there are many pathways to success and happy productive adulthood.

I think good role models in educational settings are whats needed to help children thrive. For children to succeed academically they need teachers that engage them and encourage them. Its the staff that are the most important when it comes to my childrens education not the subjects. If you can get children interested in the stuff they dislike then you are worth your weight in gold and then some.

I want my child to become a well-rounded, confident, sympathetic and understanding individual. As far as academic achievement is concerned, I would like him to have an analytical mind. If he has this, he should be able to deal with many life situations in later years.