In a little over a week's time, bells and buzzers will sound the start of another school year. In preparation, Shane Gilchrist seeks some advice.
Get physical...
Want your child to do better in school?
Exercise can help.
According to a recent international study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, children who get more exercise tend to perform better in class, whether the exercise comes during lunchtimes or intervals, physical education classes or on the way to or from school.
Researchers reviewed 14 studies that compared children's physical activity with their marks in maths, language, general thinking and memory tests.
Those included "observational studies", in which researchers asked parents, teachers or pupils themselves how active they were, then followed them for a few months to a few years to track their academic performance.
In other studies, one group was given extra time for physical education classes and other health and fitness exercises, and their test scores were later compared against a group of children who did not get extra exercise.
Researchers found those with higher rates of physical activity did better in the classroom.
Three of the four studies involving an exercise intervention found pupils who exercised more scored higher on measures of academic performance.
In one report from the United States, children around the age of six and seven who had an extra 90 minutes of physical activity per week did better in spelling, reading and maths.
That may be because children are better behaved and can concentrate better when they get enough exercise, or because physical activity improves blood flow to the brain and boosts mood, the researchers wrote.
But beware ... other research suggests that for many young children traditional fitness activities (such as running) are not necessarily ones that stimulate a love of physical activity, says Lisette Burrows, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago's School of Physical Education.
"Regimented fitness activities engage children who are already physically active and enjoy the challenge of improving their scores and so on.
"For some, however, physical activity for "fitness" is a turn-off, reinforcing already negative dispositions towards physical activity," Dr Burrows points out.
"One of the problems with physical activity research is defining what counts as physical activity.
"Sometimes children others may classify as sedentary (because they do not engage in formal physical activity, do any sports etc) are actually very physically active in their daily lives.
"It's just that their activities - for example playing with their mates, creating games, swimming at the beach, helping out with chores - don't necessarily get reported as 'exercise'.
"I think for primary school children, it is informal, fun activity that is important rather than deliberate exercise for health or fitness reasons. The school health and physical education curriculum, of course, is about so much more than fitness.
"Rather, it hopes to help children learn about movement, through movement and in movement - to understand lots of aspects of movement culture, the role of movement in their own and others' lives, how to move in ways that contribute to their mental, social, and physical wellbeing," Dr Burrows said.
"Of course, there are many outcomes of physical activity that have little to do with physical development. For example, learning to co-operate, respecting each others' differences, addressing challenges, dealing with disappointment and so on.
"So, in short, an excessive focus on fitness may hinder rather than help children develop a desire to be physically active. It may also mean other equally important learning outcomes go by the wayside."
My brain hurts...
What do you get when you combine the challenges of literacy, mathematics, problem-solving and the development of fine motor skills with other competencies such as communication, perseverance, social interaction and personal responsibility?
Answer: a tired child.
For new entrants in particular, but also for other schoolchildren, the learning curve is steep.
The impact of learning the ropes - i.e. all those school rules, be it in the classroom or playground - should not be underestimated.
An international study by Méard, Bertone and Flavier in 2008 showed how quickly children aged between 6 and 8 internalise "rules" at school, such as getting to class on time, not speaking unless being called to and lining up.
"There are rules for learning to read, learning to write, how to hold a pencil, and there are rules governing academic subjects. Some rules are explicit and others are negotiated daily by teacher and learner," the study's authors state.
The varying abilities of new-entrant children are worth considering, too. They do not come in as carbon copies of each other. Some parents will have already been reading to children at home; others might know how to write their names and do basic arithmetic; and others could have difficulty learning or socialising.
Homework...
Different schools have different homework policies. Some set homework for older students but not younger ones, while others set homework for all.
Discuss the homework policy with the school. If your child is not being set homework, that's OK - your child will still be learning. However, if a child is getting homework and is struggling with it, talk to the teacher in charge.
Here are some ways you can help with homework:Let children have some time to unwind after school before they begin homework; decide how long they should take to complete homework; give them a drink or snack before they start; choose a space that is comfortable and reasonably quiet (some children work better with music or background noise, but turn off the TV).
If they get stuck, help children problem-solve by explaining the steps required to complete a task. However, don't be tempted to help them so much that you end up doing it for them.
Strategies to help might include:
• Making up a similar question or task as an example.
• Giving clues rather than the answer.
• Connecting a homework task to something they have already learned.
• Encouraging them to backtrack and start from a point of knowledge.
• Explain where and how to find information, rather than giving them the information.
The effectiveness of homework can vary greatly.
In 2009, the Ministry of Education released the results of research that found homework can be both beneficial and detrimental to academic progress.
It found homework designed by teachers and aimed at involving parents works best. However, despite all good intentions, parental help can backfire "especially if their support conflicts with classroom practices, interferes with the child's independence, imposes controls, and/or is critical in nature", the study found.
"The evidence suggests that the effectiveness of homework depends primarily on the teacher's ability to design ... and provide feedback on developmentally appropriate homework tasks that support learning without unnecessarily fatiguing and frustrating students."
A new start ...
For most children, safety is the primary issue when starting school, changing schools or going up a year.
"Most students go from a home life where they have personal attention from a parent/caregiver and are surrounded by family members," says Steven Sexton, a lecturer in primary education at the University of Otago's College of Education.
"School is generally not the same situation, especially if the school is urban and has a large student population. So most new students go to school with a primary concern of how physically safe are they going to be.
"The school is more than likely going to be larger than their preschool or home environment. They are going to be in a strange place with strange people doing things that are not what they have been doing for the first five years of their lives.
"Now they are being asked to follow directions, take turns, share resources. They are not the centre of attention. This can be rather traumatic for some students," Dr Sexton notes.
"Boys especially have a hard time adjusting as, generally, they are not ready to sit still for the time required for the teacher to get things sorted and deal with the rest of the class. This will more than likely generate negative attention and a 5-year-old boy is now starting to form negative impressions of schooling - which makes for a very long year when you are 5.
"As students get a sense of physical safety in the classroom, they then move on to wider school settings to know where it is safe to play and who it is safe to play with. Only once physical safety issues are met do students then move on to issues of emotional and mental safety."
Emotional safety raises questions such as "Does the teacher actually care if I'm in the room?" or "Do I matter as an individual?" Mental safety is more concerned with, "Does what I say matter?", "Can I ask a question without being growled at?" or "Can I make a statement that may not be very relevant to what is being discussed and not be ridiculed as a result?"
Dr Sexton says such issues do not go away as schoolchildren age.
"Each year is a repeat of that first year of school and students go through these three safety steps each and every year. As students get older, they know which teachers they do and do not want to get - based on physical, emotional or mental safety."
Such concerns become paramount when children move from primary to intermediate school but more so when they enter secondary school, Dr Sexton says.
"They are no longer the oldest and, probably, the biggest students any more. They are going back to being the new boy or girl and the smallest and youngest again.
"Peer groups help tremendously with these issues as students go through primary school. The circle of friends they develop plays a significant role in how they will be able to handle each new year and each new situation that they encounter. What they think about their teacher and how they approach school and the schooling environment has a great deal to do with their circle of friends."
You are what you eat ...
Research has found that school attendance and classroom behaviour are improved when poorly nourished children are given a healthier diet.
National nutrition surveys have shown significant numbers of Kiwi kids don't have adequate diets, having low intakes of several important nutrients, says nutritionist and dietitian Nicky McCarthy, of Wanaka practice Central Nutrition.
"This seems to become more and more of a problem as children get older, so it's important to try to establish good healthy habits early on.
"Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for such a complicated problem, as we really need the whole of society on board to tackle the issue of poor nutrition. Government funding to proactively address nutrition issues in children, particularly around health promotion in schools, has been reduced," Ms McCarthy says.
"Even when parents are well-educated about nutrition, when choosing foods for their kids they have to deal with the sheer volume of unhealthy food that is available as well as slick marketing campaigns that promote these foods constantly. Kids are great at nagging for something new."
If you can ignore the nagging, stick to the tried and true for breakfast (and other meals), Ms McCarthy stresses.
"Breakfast is really important for a lot of reasons. Nutrition surveys demonstrate that children who eat breakfast are more likely to eat foods from the key healthy food groups and less likely to eat unhealthy snack foods during the day.
"There is a lot of research that shows that children who eat breakfast perform better academically at school.
"A typical, good Kiwi breakfast would consist of grainy cereal like porridge or Weet-Bix, fruit, milk and/or yoghurt and maybe some toast. However, it could just as easily be leftovers from tea the night before that include a starchy fuel food like rice or potatoes, some protein food like beans, meat or egg and vegetables or fruit."
As for lunches, they should contain some fruit and/or vegetables, grainy foods such as bread, rice, noodles or crackers and some protein, including cheese, yoghurt, meat, egg, nuts, beans or tofu.
Importantly, limit the amount of processed and packaged items.
"The amounts of different foods to put in depend on the age and appetite of the child but it's a good idea not to overfill a lunchbox, as only the yummiest bits will get eaten."
On days when children have extra activities before, during or after school, they will need extra "fuel" foods such as sandwiches, buns and crackers.
Morning and afternoon snacks could be mini fruit muffins, plain biscuits, crackers with cheese or hummus, scones or pikelets, vegetable sticks, dried or fresh fruit.
"The important thing about snacks is that they should also contribute to a healthy diet. Especially for children, they need to be a fuel top-up to get them through to the next meal, so shouldn't usually be high-fat, salty, sugary processed foods - although these are OK from time to time."
