Every parent dreams of seeing their child thrive academically, reaching new heights in their academic attainment levels and learning journey. However, the path to success is often riddled with challenges, both external and internal. This is something I have been feeling keenly recently and I’ve been mulling over how this could affect my daughter’s potential. Quite honestly, I’ve been feeling a bit perplexed. Here’s why…..

Our daughter is bright but then she will often run herself down, particularly in the area of maths where we often seem to come across a particular stumbling block that feels a lot like self-sabotage.

I’ve puzzled over this many a time. Where does this come from? And how can we get a handle on it before she moves on to secondary school where it could affect academic attainment levels? I’ve spoken to her about it, and I’ve spoken to her teachers about it. It doesn’t matter how much I cheerlead her, or coach here, it’s there and it won’t go away.

Cue Performance Learning

But then I heard from Performance Learning, which focuses on a blend of skills, behaviour and well-being: delivered by cutting-edge technology plus live coaching backed by 12 years of research, development, and evidence.

Performance Learning is used by over 100 academic institutions ranging from schools to colleges and, most recently, Prisons.  Founder Tej also coaches privately at Eton College, Rugby, Stowe and St Edwards Oxford (to name a few).

They’ve dismantled the barriers to learning by providing the tools students need to thrive, focusing on well-being and skills enhancement. By integrating behavioural and well-being indicators with academic data, they offer valuable insights to transform learning habits and proactively intervene when necessary.

They extended an offer of a complimentary assessment for her – which she did – and then all became clear.

Thoughts on the assessment

The online assessment was very quick and didn’t take much persuading or prodding to do. The assessment looks at three core areas of a pupil’s performance:

• Attitudes and behaviour towards learning
• Mental health and well-being;
• Progress and attainment

E found the experience quick and straightforward and enjoyed the reflective experience of self-scoring herself on the various areas of attitudes and capabilities.

For my part, of course, understanding a child’s academic abilities is the first step in nurturing their success. What I love about Performance Learning‘s approach is that they realise that mental health and well-being are also intrinsically important to a child’s attitudes and behaviour towards learning, as well as their attainment. These three things do not operate in silos but are very much all woven into an intricate web together. This is a very different approach to the pushy-pushy tutoring approach which I have always balked at.

With this comprehensive understanding, parents can focus on confidence building, fostering a growth mindset, and navigating external pressures effectively. The assessment’s insights empower parents to identify and address potential challenges in the three areas of focus. By aligning academic exploration in this highly individualistic way, parents can unlock the key to their children’s academic success and empower them to reach their full potential. The assessment’s role is not just evaluative but transformative, creating a roadmap for tailored and effective support.

The debrief

Now this is where things started to get interesting! When I was walked through the results in the parent debrief session, I saw that E had done well in every single section apart from one – progress and attainment. But what did this mean and how did it correlate to the sense of frustration and self-sabotage I kept seeing?

My daughter wants to “get” and be able to do stuff instantly, and when she doesn’t, things quickly descend into huffing, puffing, and a mad scribbling on everything she has worked on so far (oh dear I know where she gets that from!).

I had always thought this was due to a lack of patience inherited from me! Actually, this has a lot to do with how things are often taught at school i.e. follow these steps ABC instead of actually being taught HOW to learn.

And there lay my answer.

It was explained to me that she would benefit from learning a set of skills to show her how to Organise, Structure, Retain, Recall, Apply, Understand and Analyse information. This would really help her with the transition to secondary school and lay the foundations for later down the line in the GCSE years. Perhaps more importantly it would help to reduce the overwhelm, pressure and perceived struggle towards subjects (I’m looking at you – MATHS!).

The assessment found she has the potential to do really well academically if she could just get out of her own way and get a handle on this area of weakness.

So I thought – let’s do this!

The reports

Upon completing the online assessment, we were provided with two insightful reports – one for the parent and another tailored for the child. The parent report serves as a comprehensive overview, presenting the child’s assessment score, learning style, behaviour patterns, and an actionable plan.

To my pleasant surprise, the findings aligned seamlessly with my existing understanding of my daughter, E, but the report crystallized these insights, offering a more nuanced and structured perspective.

The learner report, designed specifically for children, served as a “junior” version of the parent report. This document facilitated a constructive walkthrough with E, presenting her assessment results and including designated sections for discussions labeled “areas to ponder.”

This child-friendly approach not only engaged E in the process but also encouraged open communication, making it an invaluable tool for parent-child dialogues about academic strengths, areas for improvement, and personal development.

When I walked through it with E it was great to see how much she wholeheartedly agreed with all the insights provided. The word “yes!” was enthusiastically exclaimed a myriad of times. I think she really appreciated the external validation and that a third party had totally “got” her. It was lovely to see.

Next steps

So now we have all this wonderfully incisive ammo at our disposal, what next? I’m excited that Emi will be taking part in a two-hour Performance Learning Coaching session where she will be working with Tej, Performance Learning Founder and brainchild of this innovative approach and I can’t wait to see the results, her change in mindset and approach to learning!

Watch this space folks……

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