LEH has launched a new initiative that aims to help parents understand more about the science behind teaching and learning. 

The school has worked with leading educational researcher, Dr Carl Hendrick, an author and former English teacher who now works at the Academica University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam, to develop a new content series for parents called Lessons in Learning. 

Lessons in Learning gives parents an overview of the fundamental building blocks of how children learn and shares the behavioural science that underpins successful teaching methods.  

The initiative has launched with specially targeted online content covering: 

• How the brain works 

• Meaningful learning 

• Effective study techniques 

• Activities which support learning 

LEH developed the idea after seeing how engaged parents were with its Wellbeing Wednesdays – a series of talks on mental health and wellbeing topics aimed specifically at parents, often with a focus on how to promote positive wellbeing in girls.  

School leaders wanted to add an extra dimension to this already successful programme, by helping parents to understand more about the science of learning well. The goal of Lessons in Learning is for parents to be able to gain a better understanding of why their daughters are working in a particular way, and to promote constructive conversations among families about new and different strategies to certain academic tasks. 

The videos complement some new guides on how to focus and how to revise, which have been shared with parents ahead of summer exams. LEH is often asked by parents about the best ways they can help their daughters as they prepare for end of year tests.

LEH Head Mistress, Rowena Cole, said: “Alongside the ideas shared with parents, one of the the best things we can do to support our children at this time of year is to remove the phone from the study area. Parents can model this behaviour by being less dependent on their phones themselves. We encourage our parents to talk to their children about how they are studying. Hopefully the work we’re doing with them, including our new video series, will inform discussions, relieve tensions and ultimately help students.” 

LEH Deputy Head, David James, said: “A lot of learning happens in the home so we wanted to educate our parents about how their daughters learn, help them feel better informed and also to think again about the advice they may have been given when they were doing their GCSEs and A-levels because research has moved on since they sat in the exam hall.

“As parents and teachers, we know that motivating your son or daughter to get down to work can often feel like a daily battle … Crucially, when parents did their exams they didn’t have mobile phones distracting them every 20 seconds.”

As well as supporting its parents, LEH is planning to share the content with families in the wider community through its partnership with Feltham Sixth Form College. Set up by Reach Academy in partnership with LEH and Hampton School, the College is an innovative model of post-16 education, based on an alliance of state and independent educators alongside leaders from the business and health sectors.  

 

LEH parents can watch the videos by clicking on the correct link below, which will take you through to the LEH My School Portal.

Junior School parents

Senior School parents