Parent Page
The Parent page is where you can find (and add ) articles, books recommendations, hints and tips; on all things home education.
Health and Well-being
Home Education - the interesting bits
Barnet Integrated Clinical Services (BICS)
BICS provides mild to moderate mental health services to children, young people and families in the borough. If you live in the borough or attend a Barnet school and are struggling with social, emotional, or behavioral difficulties, BICS might be able to help.
support line: 07926 085 495
Email: BICS@barnet.gov.uk
BBC Headroom
As part of BBC Headroom, the Bitesize Parents' Toolkit brings you tips and advice on mental health and wellbeing for parents of children, teens and children with SEND.
BBC Headroom - Parents' tips for mental health - BBC Bitesize
Mental Health Foundation:
Since 1949, the Mental Health Foundation has been the UK’s leading charity for everyone’s mental health. With prevention at the heart of what we do, we aim to find and address the sources of mental health problems so that people and communities can thrive.
Mental Health Foundation | Good mental health for all
Black women's Health and family Support (BWAFS)
The BWAFS is a charity set up to support women and their families, from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic cultures, with health issues, English as a second language and black youth groups.
Barnet Libraries Health and Wellbeing - READ WELL
It is even more important than ever to ensure that you take care of your mental health.
Reading Well gives practical information to help develop strategies to improve their overall health and wellbeing. The books are recommended by health professionals. Self-help books can be very effective when read on their own or when used with prescribed medication, counselling or therapy.
You can borrow the books via our Select and Collect service or from our eBook or eAudiobook collections.
There are 5 Reading Well schemes which Barnet libraries take part in:
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Reading Well for Children
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Shelf help for Young People's mental health.
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Reading Well for mental health.
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Reading Well books on prescriptions for Dementia
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Reading Well for long term conditions.
https://www.barnet.gov.uk/libraries-0/libraries-health-and-wellbeing
DONT HIDE YOUR MIND TALK ABOUT IT
Barnet has just launched a large-scale Mental Health and Wellbeing Campaign for children and young people across the borough.
The campaign was co-produced by children and young people from conception to creation. The group of local young people are aged between 13 and 21. Young people were involved in focus groups to scripting, from filming and creating graphics to marketing plans for the launch event. The strapline - Don’t Hide Your Mind - Talk About It, sums up the aim of the campaign.
Click on the YouTube link below to watch the: Don't Hide Your Mind campaign video:
Follow the TRELLO link to find further resources to help support you and your mental health:
ADCS Articles:
ADCS (The Association of Directors of Children's Services) has been surveying local authorities since 2016 to capture the number and characteristics of children and young people who are known to be home educated. The surveys have developed to understand the reasons behind a family’s decision to home educate, how LAs across the country are supporting these families, and how available resources are being deployed in this area:
https://adcs.org.uk/education/article/elective-home-education
IPSEA
Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (known as IPSEA) is a registered charity (number 327691) operating in England. IPSEA offers free and independent legally based information, advice and support to help get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We also provide training on the SEND legal framework to parents and carers, professionals and other organisations.
Below is the link to an interesting article that explains different learning styles and how to connect with them:
Teaching Strategies for the 8 Different Learning Styles:
https://virtualspeech.com/blog/teaching-strategies-different-learning-styles
Below is a link to a lovely article about motivating your children to learn:
12 strategies to motivate your child to learn:
The BBC also take you through some strategies to sustain motivation:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfb2dp3
Below are links to some articles on the importance of socialisation and what that really means to the development of a child or Young Person:
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/the-importance-of-socialization.php
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/primary-and-secondary-socialisation.php
How do we learn? Below you'll find links to articles that may help answer that very question!
BBC discuss 6 myths about how we learn:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zqvxjsg
New York Times Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/education/edlife/how-we-learn.html
BOOK CORNER:
Take a look at these books covering a range of themes that support teaching and learning in all it's guises.
Changing Our Minds - How children can take control of their own learning. Naomi Fisher:
preface: Children are born of curiosity, eager to participate in the world. They learn as they live, with enthusiasm and joy. Then we send them to school. we stop them from playing and actively exploring their interests, telling them it's more important to sit still and listen. The result is that for many children, their motivation to learn drops dramatically. Changing our minds brings together research, theory and practice on learning. This essential guide will give you an understanding of why self-directed education makes sense, how it works and what to do to out it into action.
Good Ideas - How to be your child's (and your own) best teacher. Michael Rosen:
Preface: We live in a world surrounded by all the stuff that education is supposed to be about: machines, bodies, languages, cities, votes, mountains, energy, movement, plays, food, liquids, collisions, protests, stones, windows. But the way we've been taught often excludes all sorts of practical ways of finding out about ideas, knowledge, and culture - anything from cooking to fixing loo cisterns, from dance to model making, from collecting leaves to playing 'Who and I?' . The great thing is that you really can use everything around you to learn more.
What every Parent Needs to Know - How to help your child get the most out of Primary school. Toby Young and Miranda Thomas
Preface: What every parent needs to know is an essential guide to the first stage of your child's education, based on the new primary school curriculum launched in September 2014.
The Element - How finding your passion changes everything. Ken Robinson.
Preface: The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. In this groundbreaking book, world-renowned creativity expert Ken Robinson considers the child bored in class, the disillusioned employee and those of us who feel frustrated but cant quite explain why - and shows how we all need to reach our Element.
How we Learn - Throw out the rule book and unlock your brain's potential. Benedict Carey:
Preface: From and early age, it is drilled into us: learning is about self-discipline. We are told we must confine ourselves to solitary study areas, turn off the music and retain a strict routine if we are to ace that test, memorise that presentation or nail that piano recital. But in How we Learn, Benedict Carey shows how some of the qualities we think of as our worst enemies - laziness, ignorance, distraction - can actually work in our favour.
The Science of Everyday Things - Why teapots dribble, toast burns and light bulbs shine. Marty Jopson:
Preface: Have you ever wondered: How lightbulbs work ? Why boomerangs come back ? Why ice is slippery? Why leaves go brown ? - Well, wonder no more, because, this book has all the answers to these and many other fascinating questions about the things we use and experience every day. ( Great link to project work).
Unlocking Formative Assessment - Practical strategies for enhancing pupils' learning in the primary classroom. Shirley Clarke.
Preface: This highly practical guide explains how to implement assessment strategies that will engage with and support children's learning, improve progress and raise confidence and self-esteem. (Although created to support classroom practice, this guide is effective for monitoring individual children's progress - particularly useful if you are new to the concept of measuring progress and assessment).