How to help your child succeed at school by Dr Dominic Wyse

Dominic Wyse is a senior lecturer in Primary and Early Years Education at the University of Cambridge. In How to help your child succeed at school he emphasises that learning is lifelong and begins at birth and we are all teachers. We reviewed his earlier book How to help your child read and write which is excellent.  

 

In How to help your child succeed at school  we are taken through the  stages of education from early years to the 16 to 18 age group and university applications. That is a huge range for any book to cover and I feel that in places this book lacks substance because of this. For example in "Tips to help your bullied child" the author advises the parent to help the child  "develop ways of dealing with this situation". What many parents need is a discussion of the "ways" to help (and no mention of Kidscape in the Resources section).

Much of the advice is of the type that can be found in magazines and websites like PWT, the value of this book is that it is all brought together under one cover. Dr Wyse gives lists of questions to ask at parents' evenings, checklists for visiting schools and so on but the book lacks depth. Even the Resources section is sparse and a good index would improve accessibility.

Dr Wyse also claims this is the only  book of its type - not so. From my own bookcase there's Dr David Lewis's excellent Help your child through school which was my bible and How to help your child succeed at school by Juliet Neill-Hall.

Obviously when buying a guide like this you want the most up to date one as government initiatives on education change so very often.

How to help your child succeed at school by Dr Dominic Wyse, published by Pearson, £12.99, gives a broad overview of education and is a good starting point for new parents. To order a copy from Amazon please click the link below:

How to Help Your Child Succeed at School: The Essential Guide for Every Parent