Learning can be difficult for some children and may cause them to avoid school. Identifying and removing barriers to learning is key to help children thrive at school
When we think of school, we often think about learning. This is the main reason children go to school. However, learning isn’t easy for everyone and can be a barrier to attendance for many children, especially if they find a particular lesson hard or they have a test they feel they’ll do badly at.
Feelings of school failure, embarrassment of getting things wrong and struggling to understand what is being taught in lessons are all uncomfortable feelings. When experiencing uncomfortable feelings, some children will try to avoid them. This can mean children might try to avoid certain lessons, feel unwell and ask to leave the class, or not want to go to school at all.
How to support your child’s learning
Feeling ok about making mistakes, learning from them and asking for help, are essential skills for lifelong learning. Parent carers can support children to feel more confident with their learning by trying things at home such as:
- make learning as enjoyable as possible at home, showing creative ways that activities can be done, such as learning times tables using pictures or drawings, acting out history events to remember them, or use Lego to support maths development.
- help your child to learn and develop things they’re interested in
- share in their learning by learning a new skill or hobby together. You can show them that learning is a lifelong skill, as well as showing them any struggles you might have in learning the new skill and how you overcome these
- make subjects taught at school feel relevant to your child such as cooking tasty food to help with weighing and measuring skills.
- use daily affirmations to boost your child’s positive feelings about learning. A daily affirmation is a short statement that you say to yourself or with others each day. For example, your child may choose ‘I’m going to try my hardest today, even when things get difficult’ or ‘I am capable of doing well in Science’
- provide support around homework, making this a regular part of their week.
If your child is not attending school, it will be important to consider how they keep up with their learning. Falling behind with learning can be a source of additional worry to children making it harder to go back to school.
You can ask your child’s school to send work home that is at their level, giving them an opportunity to stay up to date with what their peers are learning in school and get feedback on the work they’ve completed.
Asking your school’s SENCO for help
If you think your child might have difficulty with learning, or special educational needs that are impacting on their learning, you can speak to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) at your child’s school.
Together, you’ll be able to consider if your child needs:
- a different approach to learning or adjustments made for them within lessons
- a school support plan that outlines the specific support that your child needs in school
- further assessment of their needs in school or from a professional such as an advisory teacher, Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist to better understand your child’s needs and the support which they require.