About Educate Your Child

My Name is Lauren Heaydon – I’m the founder of Educate Your Child.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Education (Primary).

I’m a specialist Reading Recovery Teacher.

I have over 15 years’ experience working in Special Education and Learning Support.

And I have a Diploma of Strategic Psychotherapy and Clinical Hypnotherapy.
I'm in the process of completing a Diploma of Counselling and I’m a qualified practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).

I’m also the owner of Mentor You – an education company that mentors Aussie Mums and Dads and supports young people through school and into adulthood.

Why Educate Your Child?

I started Educate Your Child because I was disgruntled with the education system.

It started back in 2004 when I graduated from The University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Education in primary school teaching.

I was a targeted graduate, so I walked straight into a classroom.

I was pumped. I had my whole career path mapped out. Teacher, executive, then principal.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) six months in I discovered that working in the school system really wasn’t for me.

I thought I was going to help young people learn.

I ended up like every other teacher – bogged down under school compliance, school politics, the institutionalisation…

It was nothing short of ridiculous.

The educational system has created a school environment where students aren’t learning in our classrooms.

The curriculum is overcrowded.

Teachers are overloaded with pointless paperwork.

And compliance is more important than teaching.

So, after 6 months I wanted out.

The only problem was… I had a passion for helping young people.

And I was good at it.

I could see things in my student’s that others couldn’t.

I decided then and there that if the school system couldn’t meet the needs of our young people then I would do something about it.

This desire grew into what is now Educate Your Child.

About Educate Your Child

Educate Your Child is based on a simple philosophy, mainly focused on children from Kindergarten to Year 12.

I believe teaching should be simple.

This is in stark contrast to what happens in schools around the country today.

By the time many students get to year 7 they struggle due to gaps in their learning. This has a flow on effect. As they move into higher grades, they find themselves at a disadvantage. This can be due to the school they attended in primary school or the teachers they had in their junior years.

Which is why I treat education a three-way partnership between parents, student, and teachers.

With parents involved the gaps in a child’s learning can be eliminated. And young people have a more successful educational experience.

Educate Your Child aims to combat many of the areas where kids fall through the cracks in the school system.

For example, is your child struggling because of any of the following interruptions to their education:

Poor teaching. Teachers may be inexperienced, they may dislike their job, they may not be able to manage their classroom or they may just not teach explicitly.
Classroom interruptions such as teachers often being away which usually results in a number of different casual teachers. Or disruptive or load classmates which makes it hard for some students to concentrate.
Poor school leadership. A principal can make or break a school. Often a teacher becomes a principal for one of two main reasons. One they have a passion and love for teaching and want to make a difference to the whole school by becoming a leader. The other reason is that they are such a poor teacher that they need to move into an administration role.
The curriculum is busy and overcrowded. Often explicit teaching is overtaken by open planned classrooms and aspects that are really not that important to your child’s learning.
Large class sizes. I have taught class sizes of 33 and 20. There is no doubt that students receive a better education in a 20-student class size than 33.
Classroom management can be an issue. At times dynamics can be tricky. Catering for a variety of needs can affect students learning. Often supports are in place but other times they are not.
A lack of early intervention. Catch a learning difficulty, disability, or condition early and usually a student is set on the path to success. Catch it when they’re older and it can be a whole other ball game. This year I have accessed a number of high school students who have come through the Mentor You program. I was able to identify 4 students who have come to me and then I referred onto psychologists and paediatricians who were diagnosed with ASD, language delays and ADD/ADHD. The whole reason why these students came to me was due to their wellbeing and behaviour at home and school. These children had moved through primary school without a diagnosis. Now I understand that sometimes parents are in denial however it also works the other way. Often teachers are not trained to recognise the signs. Not all schools have a great learning support program. Many don’t have a support program.
Missed attendance can be another factor in missing basic skills. Yes, it’s cheaper to take your family on holidays during the school term. But missing extended amounts of school can be detrimental to your child’s learning and has a flow on affect to their behaviour and mental health.

Student readiness to learn. At times students may not be ready to learn a specific skill. Last year I had a Year 4 student come to me who could not tell the time. When Mum spoke to the school the teacher said we only had one week set aside for time. So because time was taught in Term 4, Week 1 and the student developmentally wasn’t ready to tell the time in Term 4 Week 1 she missed being able to tell the time in Year, 4. Don’t blame the teacher. Blame the curriculum and the system. That’s why I left teaching and started a tutoring business. I could no longer be dictated by a scope and sequence and program that didn’t work for my class.
Student ability. All students have a range of abilities and unfortunately some kids just don’t get it or can’t learn in a classroom.

If your child struggles with any of the challenges above you’ll be pleased to know Educate Your Child works closely with you, the parent, to eliminate those issues through targeted learning at home.