This is an article appearing in Oxygen Magazine in the UK:

[coralmilburn]

EDUCATING TOMORROW’S GREAT MINDS...

As author of the new book ‘How To Protect Your Child From Bullies’, former head teacher of the “Best School in England’, a school inspector, and founder of the Society of Dyslexiologists, Coral Milburn-Curtis has proved in one sentence that she truly is qualified to impart excellence in education.

It is no surprise, therefore, to discover that she is the brains behind after school clubs and summer schools, Bright Sparks, which provides courses for gifted and talented children between the ages of 6 and 11. “Schools today certainly do the best that they can under the existing National Curriculum and there are clear guidelines set out as to what each year group should be able to achieve.

However, for gifted and talented children, in some schools, the National Curriculum may not provide sufficient challenge, especially in the Primary years”. And this is where Bright Sparks comes in. If your child could do with a bit more stretching, is self motivated and enjoys a challenge, Bright Sparks can provide the facility for your child's talents to be utilised to the full.

In the younger groups (six and seven year olds), consolidating the basics gives the children a firm foundation of knowledge in mathematics, writing skills and thinking skills. Older children have the opportunity to stretch their horizons, which in turn enables parents to have a variety of secondary schools to choose from, by making sure that the children have all the skills required to pass their chosen entrance exams.

Bright Sparks strives for the children to achieve places in the top streams at secondary schools, to gain scholarships, grammar school places and bursaries at private schools. In the long term, through satisfying their thirst for knowledge and learning, children will be able to pass exams without stress and worry, having learnt amazing memory techniques which will help them for the rest of their lives. “There is nothing better than watching a child grow through learning, building the sort of self-confidence that will enable them to get ahead in life. My role is to help facilitate that, and it is a privilege to be such a major part of their growth”, says Coral.

On leaving Bright Sparks, and moving on to secondary education, children are able to continue their accelerated studies by joining the gifted and talented programmes available at schools such as The Warriner and Sibford School, thereby continuing to learn in an environment which recognises individual needs.

Having trained as a teacher, studied for further degrees and taught in a variety of schools and age groups, Coral became the first woman to hold the position of ‘Master in Charge of Choristers’ at Magdalen College, Oxford, and went on to gain notoriety as the head teacher of Shenington School, dubbed by the press as being the ‘Best School in England’, a title retained for the six years of her headship.

It was as a result of her work at Shenington that her idea for Bright Sparks was born, which now runs massively successful courses, held at Sibford Ferris and in Oxford. Stating that “Today's children are tomorrow’s leaders”, Coral works in partnership with parents to enable them to have the maximum level of choice when looking to their children’s futures. Coral’s mission is to ‘give parents what they want’. Well motivated children should have the opportunity to be high achievers. However hard most schools try, this isn’t always possible as government guidelines don’t allow for flexibility. Large classes of multi talented children cannot hope to address the needs of each and every one individual, whereas classes of no more than 10 highly motivated children are conducive to proactive learning.

Coral believes that education should be flexible, and to this end will help parents who want to opt out of the system entirely. This, of course, is not for everyone, but home education packages are available, and Coral can advise on teaching plans, provide bespoke book lists, tips on finance, etc, as well as providing the independent assessments available to Bright Sparks children.

As a pioneer of flexible education, Coral says, “The Education Act requires parents to educate their children. It is the parents choice as to whether they delegate that responsibility to a school”.

For those parents with children in mainstream education, or about to start a new school at any level, Coral’s new book, “How To Protect Your Child From Bullies”, could become an imperative purchase, with most parents having faced, at one time or another, the anguish of knowing, or even wondering, if their child has been a victim of bullying.

Bullying is one of the biggest problems in every playground, and parents will find this book a revelation. The book will benefit your child(ren) by putting them more in charge of their lives and, in effect, making them bully-proof. With a toolkit of skills, you can help your child to learn how to strengthen self-esteem, handle bullies, resist peer pressure, master the art of body language, combat cyber bullying, develop assertiveness and learn how to say ‘No.’ Your child will learn positive ways to manage negative feelings and will learn the techniques necessary to manage friendship problems, cliques and gossips – techniques which will last a lifetime.

“How To Protect Your Child From Bullies”, by Coral Milburn-Curtis is available in the US from www.lulu.com and in the UK from www.amazon.co.uk.

To find out more about Bright Sparks, visit www.brightsparksacademy.co.uk or telephone [phone].

[Kezmum]

May. 30, 2007 at 2:58 PM

Wow!  I'm talking to someone famous!!!  Hey, that looks fantastic.  I've been really lucky in that my kids are so confident that the bullies tend to leave them alone very quickly but I will recommend this book if I come across any parents with children who are struggling! 

I'm really interested in your work on dyslexia.  My hubby has it really really badly and was only able to overcome it because he is so, so clever.  He was the second person in his university to gain a 1st degree!  

Well done, again.