Educational matters
It’s a harsh world out there in the new global economy. Competition is fierce. If we’re high achievers, we expect our children to be the same. If we didn’t make the most of our educational opportunities, we’re determined our children won’t make the same mistakes. Choosing a nanny, a nursery or a school are all areas where Carlyle Key can help parents make educational decisions that are right for your child. Learn how to play and communicate, find out about developmental milestones and the school curriculum, how to encourage literacy and numeracy, help with homework, prepare your child for the next educational stage. The Directors of Carlyle Key have considerable experience of teaching and of running independent nurseries and schools. They understand parents’ high expectations and know best how to fulfill them.
Choosing a nursery
How does a parent know what to look for in a nursery? You need to be able to entrust your precious child to the nursery with complete confidence, but how can you judge one from another? Uniformed staff and quiet children, or scruffy books and toys everywhere? Typed daily reports on diet and rests at the end of the day, or messy paintings? Carlyle Key’s Directors will accompany you to your shortlisted nurseries, or visit on your behalf, and help you to choose the setting that most suits your child.
Educational play
Some parents find playing with babies and young children easy-it just comes naturally. For others, it’s difficult to know what to do, or they find it boring. Carlyle Key has a curriculum of educational play activities for parents, nannies and childcarers to follow. With lots of suggestions for creative fun, the time will go quickly by with valuable learning for adult and child.
Nannies and childminders
You interview a new nanny and she seems sweet enough, but will she be right for your child and the family? It’s a difficult decision to make in a short interview. With many years’ experience of employing childcare staff, Carlyle Key can provide helpful questions for parents to ask prospective carers, sit in on interviews, conduct observations of the carer with the child and offer impartial advice on the most suitable childcare arrangements for your family.
Choosing a school
Parents are under immense pressure to achieve the best school place for their child, whether it’s the top-ranking primary of their choice or a sought-after independent school. It is Carlyle Key’s goal to help parents and children to aim for the school that best suits their needs but how do you choose a school where your child has the best opportunity to flourish? Most schools teach the same subjects, but they don’t all do it in the same way. You know what is important for you, and we are here to help you decide. We’ll advise on what to look for, and what questions to ask on the first visit.
And once you’ve decided, Carlyle Key will help you give your child the best preparation for any entry tests or interviews. We can help prepare children to look forward to success in an exciting new phase in their lives; whether that’s a selection process, starting a new school or moving on to the next educational stage.
We give independent, unbiased advice based on years of experience in education. Carlyle Key will help you make the right choice.
Starting school
Can you remember how you felt when you started school? Or how you feel now when you start a new job or project? That step into the unknown, alone, can be frightening. It’s a big occasion for both of you; your child and you as parents.
You desperately want them to be happy, to develop a love of learning and make friends. We cannot guarantee another’s happiness but we can make it easier for them and Carlyle Key is here to help. We can give you simple ideas to help your child be prepared and feel as confident as possible. Before they start school and in those first weeks, when everything is new, we’ll give you advice on how to support and help them make a happy start to a lifetime of learning.
Helping with learning and homework
Carlyle Key understands why so many parents are reluctant to help with their child’s learning and homework-it’s not that they don’t want to help, they’re not sure how to help. Parents are anxious about getting it wrong and this anxiety can contribute to a child’s disinclination to learn.
The Directors of Carlyle Key can help parents and children make educational progress together. By explaining children’s developmental stages to parents, how children learn and how different subjects are taught in the Foundation and Primary Stages, Carlyle Key can give parents the confidence to encourage their child with clear guidance and positive praise: early foundations of learning that will benefit children throughout their entire lives.
The literate and numerate child
Literacy: As your child progresses, how do you support and encourage them? How do you help them in the beginning stages of reading? You will probably be asked to hear them read; this is an art in itself. How do you know if what you are doing is correct? How can you really help? You can make your child a reluctant reader without saying a word. But you can also play a vital part in helping your child discover the magic of reading, working with the teachers to make them readers whose success will be judged not by the level they reach at seven but by what they read at eleven, into their teens, adulthood and even old age. Learning is a journey not a race.
Numeracy: Do you spend your life working with numbers yet worry about how to help your child with maths at school? It can be confusing and it often seems so different from when we were at school. We at Carlyle Key can help. We can show you fun ways to help your child understand maths. We can help you give them the experiences that will build a real understanding of the different aspects and help them enjoy learning about numbers.
New to the UK?
Finding the best education and care for your child is extremely difficult if you are new to the country and unfamiliar with how the educational system works. Getting childcare and school right is a most vital aspect of a successful family stay in the UK - Carlyle Key is here to help you.