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

I think it's about the right balance of creative and more structured subjects. But at a basic level I just want my DD to be happy at school.

I do think it's important to support all children in the class and give additional support to those with SEN. However I equally think it's important to stretch and challenge those who are gifted and talented and I think some schools don't do this very well.

I want my child to be happy. That covers everything: I want him to have a level of education that allows him to have a career that makes him happy (whatever that may be). I want him to be happy with his health (and so Learn to enjoy sports etc). I really, really want him to be content at school - to be comfortable and looked after and cared for. To be happy, that is everything.

Balanced curriculum that enables the development of soft skills and a range of opportunities such as: art club, sport, work placement

I'm an old girl - as a non-academic pupil I was grateful that my creative development was encouraged and I still think that's a very important part of education. It worries me that in so many schools the arts are being cut to make way for targets and league tables.

Good communication with home; reporting should be personalised and reflect the child's character and wellbeing, not just their academic progress.

The learning / teaching style suits the, they are happy. Having a balance of subjects so they can more easily find their strengths and interests

Me and my husband are both only children and only my husband’s father is still alive so our children have a small family. This means that I’d like school to be a really nurturing supportive place. We also both work full time so the wrap around care and after school clubs are so important to us and is why we chose our DC school.

Teachers who love their subjects. They are infectious.

I want my children to be happy at school, if they are happy they learn.

All the things that seem to be falling off the Curriculum unfortunately: PE, music, drama. Free play, free play, free play.

The freedom to explore the world, to pursue the subjects that they are interested in and develop a life-long love of learning which will allow them to thrive in whatever they do.

Obviously exam results are important because this is what gives the child access to further education and jobs, but I want a school that will take a holistic approach and considers the mental health of their pupils - a school which can strike the balance between nurture and challenge has it right in my opinion. I would also like a school that offered curriculum enrichment as education should be about becoming a rounded person.

A good education involves the child learning how to inquire and how to find reliable sources of information. They need to learn to experiment and take academic risks, how to self-motivate, and how best to respond to “failure”. What I absolutely don’t want is a sausage-factory education that traches to the test but leaves children with no curiosity or independent research skills whatsoever.

It's important that children learn the basics of numeracy and literacy, but also have the chance to be creative and flourish. I understand that testing is a way for education to be quantified to other establishments/governing bodies to show that the method being employed works, but it's being introduced too early to the children and causes unnecessary stress. We're at the beginning of our education journey with my kids as the oldest is nearly 4, and the amount she has learned at nursery (and home!) in the past year is amazing. What I don't want to see if her spark for learning diminished if they change to learning by tick boxes when she goes to primary school next year. I have a very creative child who would spend the whole day with her craft box given half a chance, and I hope this isn't lost as she moves up to school.

It would be disingenuous to say that the school's exam results didn't reassure me when we moved to the area we live in, but over the years that I have had 3 kids pass through it, I have come to realise that the most outstanding thing they have done is nurtured them as individuals and given them a host of opportunities. One of my children has learning difficulties that mean a traditional academic route wasn't appropriate, so the school created a bespoke education just for them. Admitting mistakes is so important too, things happen, but apologising and rectifying is the solution, not covering up. It's a school of 1400 students and the head has known all my kids' names.

That children are happy. I think this is achieved through offering them a broad education that provides opportunities for all, not through pursuing outcomes and results. Whilst results are important, they're not the only thing that's important.

What’s important to me is that children feel safe and secure in their relationships with the adults at school. Trust is so important to get right for so many reasons.

If a child trusts the adults, they know that they can take risks, they can experience failure and they can share their creative ideas without worrying that anyone thinks any less of them.

Good relationships in schools are the key to good lessons and good lessons = good academic achievement.

Probably a bit of all of the things you mention in your original post are important to a good education, also the chance to explore the world and understand the role you can have in it. Creating an environment where children are free to debate and challenge ideas and to find their voice.

I believe child specific marking is also beneficial - judge a child by their own potential not that of their class mates.

And definitely creativity is very important for all subjects not just the creative ones.

I was lucky enough to go to a GDST school that was quite good at all of these things.

A well rounded education, which includes all curriculum subjects, promotes knowledge and understanding but also creativity, teamwork, innovation, resilience etc.

Happiness.

To not be hideously bullied, and have the school tell me it was 'all part of life'.

At a GDST school within the last 15 years.

I think education needs to be well rounded obviously kids need to be able to pass exams but they also need the softer skills that will help if going onto further study and the work place.

The thing that’s most important to me for my children, when it comes to their education, is ensuring they learn how to question things, how to think critically. I think a good education is a broad one, with children instilled with the sense that they are capable of and entitled to learn about and do pretty much anything they want to.

That they are happy & confident from day 1 to the end.
That they leave school feeling prepared for the next step.
That they are balanced, well rounded individuals- kind to themselves & others.

I could lie and say that i want them to just be happy and enjoy school but that's just a base level lf what I expect. Also, they won't always enjoy it. I expect them to knuckle down, do what needs to be done without a truck load of support from me. I always help them if they ask or are really struggling but generally want them to be independent learners. I want them to excel at something - i'm not truthfully too bothered about what that is, whether that's overall academically able or great in one particular subject or all sports / one sport or music. I just want them to have a sense that they are really good at something and the confidence that this brings. Education is also about how to fit into society so that it entails.