Students need guidance to manage their schoolwork along with everything else going on in their busy young lives. A well-organised student planner is a fantastic tool to help them stay on top of academics and develop crucial life skills.
However, a planner is even more powerful when parents actively use it to provide support. This has benefits for everyone involved—the student, parents and teachers.
What Is Parental Support?
Parental support encompasses all the ways parents can actively contribute to their children’s educational success and wellness. The role of parents goes beyond simply checking in on test scores. Examples of different types of parent involvement include:
- Helping with homework or revision
- Creating a positive learning environment at home
- Attending school events and meetings
- Encouraging open communication between parents and teachers
- Fostering organisation and time management skills
How Parents Can Make the Most of Student Planners
Here’s a deeper look at specific ways parents can use their child’s student planner to provide the right support and positively impact their academic journey:
Goal Setting and Expectations
At the start of a term or academic year, parents should sit down with their children and collaborate on defining achievable goals. Discuss both short-term goals (for example, completing weekly assignments on time or improving accuracy on maths problems) and long-term goals (for instance, raising an overall grade average or preparing for standardised tests). The planner is ideal for documenting these goals, making them visible and actionable.
Home Study Routines
Parents can play a crucial role in establishing consistent homework and study routines. Refer to the planner to schedule sessions, ensuring children have a dedicated workspace, necessary learning materials and a quiet environment conducive to focus.
Tracking Academic Progress
Regularly reviewing a student planner keeps parents informed about assignments, projects, upcoming test dates and any teacher feedback. This proactive approach empowers parents to offer timely praise for completed work and milestones achieved.
It also allows them to identify potential challenges in academic performance early on and brainstorm solutions or additional support measures if needed.
Developing Planning and Organisation Skills
Consistently using a planner teaches children the importance of forward planning, meeting deadlines and effectively managing their time. Parents should encourage their children to update their planners daily and provide guidance on prioritising tasks and dealing with any unforeseen disruptions, such as school closures or unexpected events related to extracurricular activities.
Communication with Teachers
Most student planners have dedicated spaces for teacher feedback. This provides a valuable channel for parents to see what’s happening from the school’s perspective. These comments might address work completion, behaviour, upcoming events or requests for parents’ involvement. Following up on these insights strengthens the home-school partnership.
Additional Ways Planners Increase Parental Involvement
Depending on its design, a student planner can offer even more benefits to boost a parent’s ability to provide effective support:
Student Services, Social Skills Development, and Wellness Resources
Some planners include dedicated prompts or sections for students to reflect on their mental and emotional well-being. This can encourage children to think about their feelings, track their moods and identify any areas where they might need extra support. Sharing these insights opens up a dialogue with parents, fostering open communication around mental health, which can help improve wellbeing in the classroom.
Dedicated Parent Sections
Planners may feature areas where parents can sign off on homework completion or provide weekly progress reports. This promotes a sense of shared school and parental responsibility and accountability, which benefits the student.
Finding the Perfect Planner with Penstripe
Parental support is critical for students’ overall success and well-being. A student planner provides an invaluable tool to nurture this all-important partnership between parents and children.
At Penstripe, we understand the importance of parental support in children’s education. That’s why our student planners are thoughtfully designed to facilitate collaboration between parents, students and teachers.
Our adaptable planners can include everything from homework timetables and assessment calendars to wellness and life skills development sections. These features empower students and parents, aid organisation, promote self-advocacy and facilitate open communication.To explore the endless possibilities of our bespoke student planners and how they can support students, parents and schools alike, contact the Penstripe team today. You can call us at 0113 231 0995, email info@penstripe.co.uk or complete a quick online form for more information and advice.
Olaf Surtees has been with Penstripe for ten years; what he doesn’t know about teacher planners, student planners, and lesson planners isn’t worth knowing! He’s in charge of creating our blog content, helping teachers and administrators with helpful hints and tips, as well as our socials — see the links below to find out more.
