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History is important 鈥� as Michael Crichton asserts, "If you don't know [your family's] history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree". The study of our history is a way to put the pieces of the past together and show how we came to be where we are today. 听Surely it is vital to include this in a well-rounded education?

However, many children leave school without having had the opportunity to gain a basic historical knowledge of this country, let alone of any others. A lot of school children from Key Stage 3 (age 11 and up) are being taught history in combination with other humanities subjects, increasingly by in the subject. 听

History has a stuffy reputation, but it doesn鈥檛 have to be like that. I enjoyed history at school, enough to pursue it to graduate level, studying History of Art. 听Not only does it give insight into modern society and how it came about, but it is also full of fantastic stories - Catherine the Great and her over-the-top antics; the beginning of modern politics with Pitt the Elder, the Whigs and the Tories; the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe. 听听

Surely that is what education is for 鈥� to enrich and delight, and to foster a desire for knowledge? 听A recent 大象传媒 series in association with the British Museum, managed to combine these elements. 听鈥楢 History of the World in 100 Objects鈥� 听took fascinating objects and told their stories in an engaging way. 听There鈥檚 no reason why this approach couldn鈥檛 be built on in schools.

Fewer than , and are apparently put off by the project-based nature of the subject. 听Michael Gove has recently promised to overhaul the history curriculum, with the help of Simon Schama.听

Gove wants all children to leave school with a basic knowledge of "narrative British history". Hopefully this means that it will be taught well and will engage students, rather than the widely taken approach of learning about historical figures from various eras, without filling the historical gaps.

History is a vital part of a well-rounded education. From explorations in Primary school, to in depth analyses at A-level, it allows pupils to explore, question and to understand the past and its impact. 听It鈥檚 frightening to think that so many will leave school without a basic knowledge of history - to paraphrase Edmund Burke, if you don鈥檛 know history you are doomed to repeat it.听

Hannah Hunter is a member of the 大象传媒 Parent Panel.

Look out for the new 大象传媒 One series, Turn Back Time: The High Street听from November 2nd.听

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It's the time of year when mums and dads are filling in school admissions forms which will shape the educational future of their son or daughter for years to come. There's no right or wrong option, but it's stressful听trying to figure out if you've made the best decision for your child.听

We won't have to submit the primary school application for our daughter until the end of 2011, but it's still something that my husband and I have been discussing quite a lot in the past year. We're in the process of buying a house and have been doing our homework on the types of school 听in our preferred neighbourhoods.

The house we're buying is well within the catchment area for a very popular primary, and (to be honest) it's one of the main reasons why we chose our new home. But six months ago we had been looking at another property a few miles away, and the catchment factor led us to backtrack.听

I don't imagine a generation ago parents would have been thinking along quite the same lines. You might have considered the kind of schools within an area when house-hunting, but you probably just assumed your child would get a place at the primary closest to home and then attend a nearby secondary (although you might perhaps have opted to choose a secondary school slightly further afield). I doubt many people 20 or 30 years ago would have been having the kind of conversations I've been having this year. The following is just one example. I've had several other similar conversations with neighbours, friends and family - even with estate agents!

"I know we're just round the corner from the house you're looking at," said one head teacher. "But we're one-form entry [30 pupils per yearly intake] and the street you mention is the wrong side of the main road, so you wouldn't actually fall into our catchment area."听

"But we could still apply?" I enquired. "Your school is definitely the closest one on the map and it would be much easier for us to drop our daughter off there before heading into work."听

She hesitated, then added: 'You could apply - we do get the occasional child from out-of-catchment - but I wouldn't like to say what your chances would be."

It's only really when you've started to dig beneath the surface veneer of 'choice' that you realise that, actually, there isn't really a lot of choice when it comes to the school applications process - especially if you take faith schools out of the equation. Well, that's what it feels like to us. The house we originally wanted to buy was pretty close to a highly-regarded Catholic primary. But we aren't religious, so the chances of our daughter getting in would be slim. And, besides, we don't really want to send her to a faith school.

So, where did it leave us? Well, there was a highly-regarded and not surprisingly, very oversubscribed community school a 10-minute walk away, but we were out of catchment. Nothing to stop us applying, but the school we were most likely to be offered a place at was a community school with an Ofsted report (and reputation) that was hardly glowing. Oh, and it was a longer walk door-to-door so not as convenient. Part of me felt guilty for not being happy just to accept what was on offer. But then the other part of me kicked in, the part that said perhaps we should be entitled to a bit more choice - and if I'm we鈥檙e not going to get it here, then we'll have to house-hunt elsewhere.听

And so that's what we did. We're fortunate that we had the option. But nothing's guaranteed. Our daughter doesn't have a sibling so doesn't fit one of the main admissions criteria. However, the school that we are well within catchment for is two-form entry, so our daughter has a very good chance of gaining a place. But we'll still have to fill in those forms at the end of next year and await the outcome. I read on the 大象传媒 News website the other day that 20% of primaries (and almost 30% of secondaries) are full to bursting point so places are in short supply.听

It's a stressful business which can seem like a total lottery to some. It's a system ripe for change. Judging by the blog entry of a fellow Parent panel member, the system north of the border in Scotland seems to be a bit more straightforward. I wish it were the case south of the border too. 听

Joanna Youngs is a member of the 大象传媒 Parent Panel.

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Find听hands on activities on Wallace and Gromit's World of听Invention website.

Autumn half-term is a welcome break in what can seem like a very long term, with days getting shorter and nights drawing in. You may be wondering how to keep the kids amused during the holidays. As it can sometimes still be quite mild, a visit to a theme park or some other outdoor activity could be an option if boredom is setting in.

Here are a few suggestions:

If you are a keen cyclist like I am, then chances are your children will also want to cycle. It is a bit scary letting them go round to friends' houses by bike. Taking a cycling course during half term will help them be better prepared to use the roads. Some LEAs offer them for free. They can achieve level 1, 2 or 3 in the cycling proficiency test. Find out if one is being run near you by going on the website and looking for your area.

Swimming is always popular with the family and a great stopgap when it鈥檚 pouring with rain. Also if life鈥檚 too busy normally to fit in weekly swimming lessons, half-term is a chance to do an intensive swimming course. Check out the for more information on what's available near you.

If you鈥檙e anything like me, exhibitions take place at local museums or galleries and by the time I hear about them, they鈥檙e over. On the , you can discover what is going on near you ahead of time and be sure not to miss out.

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Wallace and Gromit are back with their听 world of invention. And this time the website tells you how to have fun making anything from a magnetic bowling set to a balloon powered hovercraft.听Building these models should keep a budding Einstein busy for a while.

Fiona Holmer is 听Assistant Producer on 大象传媒 Parents.

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It seems pretty logical that parents are to blame for children鈥檚 misbehaviour in schools. 听Indeed that was the general premise of the education experts and teacher鈥檚 union reps who recently addressed a . And it鈥檚 not hard to see why teachers and others are up in arms about pupil behaviour, when an average of 30 minutes teaching time per teacher, per day is estimated to be lost on 鈥榣ow level disruption鈥�.听

As education consultant and former Ofsted inspector David Moore asserted that the way children behave is modeled on their parents鈥� interactions with them and other people. You can see this starting at a very early age 鈥� preschoolers who are yelled at, told to shut up and generally pushed around verbally, are the ones who behave badly and aggressively amongst their peers. 听

Whilst good manners and respectful behaviour should be taught at home, it is not always going to happen. As a trainee teacher I saw primary children who were not neglected by the standards of social services, but whose parents just weren鈥檛 teaching them basic social skills before they arrived at school. They didn鈥檛 know when to say 鈥榩lease鈥� and 鈥榯hank you鈥�, how to wait their turn or how to behave if things weren鈥檛 going their way.

Willing parents can access help through social services or other state-funded bodies like . But not all of them want to or are able to. 听

Looking to blame someone in itself is not that helpful 鈥� we should be looking at ways to solve the problem. 听School, the place where children spend most of their time, has to be one place where they learn what is socially acceptable in terms of behaviour. There is no magic wand to make all children well-behaved, but there are simple steps that can make it easier.

To start with, clear behaviour policies in school, including bullying policy should be agreed by parents, staff and pupils. 听This should be enforced rigorously, with sanctions for those who don鈥檛 comply. 听So many teachers feel disempowered when it comes to behaviour management. 听Maybe the new will help towards this.

Reducing class and school sizes would be a major improvement, but a politically difficult one 鈥� are cheaper to run.听But would you want to go to work with 2000 other people? 听This inhuman scale means that lots of students 听simply get lost in the system and behaviour issues go un-checked.听

Improving classroom management and 听better teaching methods will in turn improve pupil behaviour. Monitoring students more out of lesson times - increasing staff to pupil ratios at break times or providing space for students who have free lessons rather than expecting them to roam around.

So yes, good behaviour should begin at home, but simply blaming parents, teachers or the school system is simplistic. 听It may be a clich茅, but young people are the adults of the future and as parents, we need to give them the best start possible. 听Modeling how we expect them to behave is a major part of this.

Hannah Hunter is a member of the 大象传媒 parent panel.

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I wonder what I made of my first couple of days at nursery school? It was more than three decades ago, I had just turned 3, and it was the first time I had been left in the care of anyone outside my immediate family. When I asked my mum she said she couldn鈥檛 recall any tears (me or her) and that I probably took it all in my stride. 听

Fast forward to the present day and I have a daughter of my own. She will celebrate her 3rd birthday next month. She recently started nursery school and it proved to be more emotional than I had imagined. Part of that was probably down to the fact that we had only moved house three days before her first day. Hundreds of miles from our friends and family in a new town and everything felt a bit strange - for both of us.

There鈥檚 no doubt that starting nursery or pre-school is a big milestone in your child鈥檚 life, and a big moment for you too. And it feels like a huge milestone when that child hasn鈥檛 been in a stranger鈥檚 care before. 听(Some of my friends who have children a year or two older than my daughter, had warned me that it might be a more emotionally-charged time than I had expected.) But I guess it鈥檚 one of the inevitable parts of being the parent 鈥� having to relinquish a certain degree of control and realise that, from now on, other people are going to shape your child鈥檚 learning and development.听

The first time I ushered my daughter through the nursery鈥檚 front door, it actually felt rather liberating as well as exciting. She鈥檇 been telling me and my husband for months that she wanted to go to nursery (鈥渢o do painting, lots of playing and learn things鈥�), and I was quite looking forward to the prospect of having each morning to myself without my little shadow following me everywhere! I could start work on a freelance project, get some neglected jobs done around the house and maybe enjoy a little 鈥榤e鈥� time.听

But settling in to nursery wasn鈥檛 plain sailing. Within minutes of entering the building on the first day, I had one small trembling child clinging to my leg, tears streaming down her cheeks. I managed to prize her off with promises that it was all going to be okay, but I felt uneasy and not sure what to do. I stayed a while, she calmed down and then I slipped out.听

The next three of four sessions pretty much followed the same pattern, with my normally chilled-out child disintegrating into hysterical sobs. Heartbreaking is too strong a word, but it was distressing and not the best start to a day. Assurances that she was fine within five minutes of my departure didn鈥檛 really help. But talking to friends with older children did. I had to try not to worry, and just ride it out... 听

And they were right. It felt like a switch had flicked. It seems to be the way with children - nothing鈥檚 ever a shade of grey, it鈥檚 very much black and white. When I went to collect her the following week, I had to bribe her with chocolate to get her to climb down from the playground apparatus and come home with me!

She鈥檚 thriving, and she seems to be relishing the taste of independence and new experiences nursery can offer her. She鈥檚 proudly telling me about her latest work of art or what they all talked about in circle time, and I get a daily progress report in the form of a little diary kept by her key carer. 听

It鈥檚 no longer just the two of us going everywhere together. She鈥檚 branching out on her own, immersing herself in a different kind of routine and developing new relationships and friendships. It feels good. And 鈥� most importantly 鈥� she鈥檚 happy. 鈥淢ummy, is it nursery day today?鈥� she asks eagerly as soon as she wakes up each morning.听

Joanna Youngs听is a member of the 大象传媒 parent panel.

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As my daughter enters the sixth form, it's a relief to know that she's dropped those subjects that she found particularly challenging, in her case Maths and Science. Not only does it mean less agonising over complicated mathematical and scientific formulae 鈥� and frankly some basic problems with simple adding up - it also means fewer deductions from my bank account, which has recently been drained by tutors' fees to get her through the exams. 听I don't expect A鈥檒evels to be easy but I feel we're now on home turf. 听

I know many parents find it tough helping their child with Maths and Science revision. But when your children are taught through the medium of Welsh and your native tongue is English, it does add an extra dimension to the problem. When she started asking for help, I thought I was doing the right thing by buying Welsh language revision books. When the books remained largely unopened (she said she couldn't understand them) I tried to go through some of the notes with her, in the hope I could provide a simplified explanation.听

I did study Welsh to A'level a few years ago, but sadly the syllabus failed to equip me with adequate vocab to master instructions on how to do 鈥渉afaliadau cwadratig鈥� (quadratic equations) or 鈥渢rawsffurfiadau鈥� (transformations). We both made our way through the topics on her revision lists - again in Welsh, so unfamiliar to me and with words which you don't find in your standard Welsh/English dictionary. 听

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Faced with an increasingly despondent daughter and determined to avoid resits, I bought myself revision guides in English and took a week off work to get myself up to speed on some of the techniques I'd long forgotten since my O levels as well as others which I'm sure I never learnt in the first place.

Since I'm neither a teacher nor a mathematician/scientist, my help was of limited success. I guess I hadn't really reckoned with having to try and master aspects of subjects I never really enjoyed much at school听myself听鈥� and this time in a different language.

Luckily we're in the position where we could afford to pay for extra tuition outside school in Welsh 鈥� and found some great tutors through friends of ours, despite the huge demand. Several hundred pounds later we have what we wanted 鈥� good GCSE results and no painful retakes. Phew.

I've never regretted sending my children to Welsh medium school. They've always been incredibly happy and it's such a fantastic opportunity for them to be able to speak two languages. They like their teachers but there are always going to be subjects where some pupils are not so confident.

I'm also convinced that children are going to do better if they come from a supportive home. I really did want to help when my daughter didn't understand something but looking through the Welsh was like mental torture for me. I know parents who say their children cope fine on their own doing their GCSE revision with just a bit of encouragement - and achieve great results. That's fantastic and I'm crossing my fingers that will be the case with my 13 year old son.听

All's well that ends well so it seems the investment paid off. And one day in the future when my daughter finds the need to work out an angle within a polygram or solve a problem in Welsh using a quadratic equation she will, of course, be perfectly placed to do it 鈥� I wish!

Beccy Leach is a Producer in Interactive and Learning for 大象传媒 Cymru Wales.

To find out more about education in Welsh, go to 大象传媒 Wales School Gate page.

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