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If there were such a thing as a job description for being a parent, then helping your child to prepare to live independently would definitely be one of the key objectives. If you have managed to raise a happy and confident adolescent who functions well without you, you have succeeded at the most difficult aspect of parenting.
There are many skills your son or daughter will need in order to prepare for higher education. The most obvious of these is good grades in order to pass the entrance requirements. Independent schooling is highly thought of in the academic world. In 2013 the Telegraph newspaper published the A Level results for 315 independent schools in the UK. Over half of these schools achieved at least 48% of their pupils attaining A and A* grades at A-level. The highest achieving school had in excess of 93% of its pupils awarded these top -level results. This was in a year when the number of students awarded the top marks at A-level had fallen for the second year in a row.
Whilst high grades are important to ensure your child gets into their chosen course at their preferred university, there are many other skills that they will need to really excel. At an independent school, these skills are taught from nursery age and are enhanced and enriched all the way through their education, right to the last day of sixth form.
Universities look for excellent all-round candidates. This means than in addition to the required grades, your teenager will need to be able to demonstrate a range of interests and extra-curricular activities that they participate in. Independent schools excel in the range of non-academic activities they provide for their pupils. These can include excelling in their sport, drama, dance and/or music. One of the major benefits of an independent school education is that very often they have the finances and the facilities to ensure that excelling in a wide range of extra-curricular activities is possible for each pupil.
Girls' schools in particular are beneficial for the development of the girls who attend for many reasons:-
Girls can focus on the learning experience. In a co-educational situation girls can lose out to boys who tend to dominate teacher time
Girls are more likely to take intellectual risks and be less passive in a single sex class especially in their teenage years. They prefer to solve problems by team work
Subject choices are not polarised into traditional male and female subjects
Girls grow in self-esteem and confidence without constantly being placed under social pressure from boys. They have the space and security in which to build up their self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities as individuals
Girls mature physically, mentally and emotionally earlier than boys and are not held back in a single sex environment
Girls can have many opportunities for leadership roles in single sex schools.
The confidence, self-esteem and an all-round education attained at an independent school should not be underestimated in importance. Having these skills in addition to excellent grades means that your child will go off to university, or wherever their life takes them after school with the skills to succeed along their chosen path.
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For more information, please contact Saint Martin's Girls' Schools, Solihull by visiting http://www.saintmartins-school.com/who-we-are/heads-welcome or calling 0121 705 1265.
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