What can you do if you feel that your child is falling behind at school? An Ashby-based education centre may be able to help.

Elite Tuition Group in Market Street has years of experience of helping students follow their path towards successful exam results and the career they want.

Interested families and students can find out more at an open day being held at the Elite Tuition Group offices on September 23 between 9am-12noon - see the poster in this article for more information.

But how can parents identify the signs of a child who may need help?

All parents know the anxiety that accompanies a child's progress through school but few realise just how significant they can be in helping. Here's step-by-step guide to supporting a struggling child, as provided by theschoolrun.com.

Elite Tuition Group's offices in Market Street, Ashby

Step one: define what you mean

If you believe your child is 'falling behind', the first thing to do is to check what you actually mean by the statement.

It is obvious that not all children will learn and develop at the same rate and that each individual pupil – like each individual adult – will have their own strengths and weaknesses.

So you have to be clear that the term 'falling behind' is about your child's own progress, not measured by the progress of other children, but measured by what is agreed to be their potential rate of progress.

Step two: identify the problem

The second thing to do is to try to identify exactly where they are lagging behind. Is it across the whole curriculum? Or is it especially in one or two areas? Can you identify these? And if so, how fundamental are they in relation to the rest of their work?

For example, if they are still having problems writing coherent sentences in well-organised paragraphs by the time they are in year 6, this would be a fundamental weakness to be carrying forward into secondary school.

Step three: speak to the teacher

Arrange to see your child's teacher, especially if the routine parents evening is not in the very near future. Spell out your anxieties clearly, concentrate on what you feel are the main issues, and see how the teacher responds.

Most schools these days use some form of individualised, personalised learning system, coupled with pupil-tracking systems, which will help the staff to respond to your worries from the basis of factual knowledge.

So, at the conclusion of the conversation you should know whether or not you were justified in being worried. You should be given clear information on the levels being achieved by your child, on what can be expected from them at this stage, and on what the school are doing to move them towards those targets.

Step four: the practical strategy

Ask your child's teacher what you might be able to do with your child at home to help them to progress.  The fact that you are showing this degree of interest will act as a strong motivator for your child. And the link between school and home will be reinforced – your child will no longer see them as two entirely separate sectors of their life.

Once you've spoken with the teacher, if they agree your child needs some extra help, you should discuss a joint strategy. Will there be some extra communications from them about homework set, class work covered, and issues arising? Would extra tuition help? 

Owner Rebecca Lewis explains how Elite Tuition Group can help students

Rebecca Lewis, owner at Elite Tuition Group, says her company, which is now an Ashby Nub News sponsor, can also provide valuable help.

She said: "We'd always invite students in to to have a chat, we spend a lot of time supporting parents in their decision-making process.

"The goal isn't always to have them to come in here, they may be looking to go down an educational psychology route. 

"But we always offer free of charge assessments, advice and support in the first instance, and we'd be able to find out what the strengths and the weaknesses are of each individual child.

"That gives both sides an idea of where they're going to go. 

"Whatever subjects they're looking at, we'll devise an individual plan for each student. They would then work with the teacher, and that's fluid. 

"They get feedback at the end of every session with the parent, of how they've got on, what the goals are and where they want to move forward. 

"If the children or the students want to add things in as they go along, that can be done. So if they've worked on algebra, and they're not getting it, they can talk to us and we'll integrate that into the programme. 

"We're trying to plug the gaps and bring them forward or get them ready for exams. As we're an exam centre, they can sit their functional skills, level one and level two. They can come and do that here with us and get a formal qualification. We do have adults that can do that. We got qualified for that last year, just at the end of last year. So that's been growing."