Teachers are more interested to know about your child's sleep than you realise. The amount of sleep a child gets each night is paramount to the success in the classroom. It is vital that your child arrives at school properly rested and ready for the busy day ahead. When your child arrives home and says he has done nothing at school, the truth is, he is just too tired to tell you! The demands of the primary classroom are tremendous and expectations are high. Brainpower burns more calories than you would think and it is essential that young children be taught, yes, taught to sleep properly. It is the job of the parent to structure the bedtime routine so that it is familiar and allows children the recommended amount of sleep each night.

Bedtimes are often the time when a child suddenly remembers to tell you something important like, they need a costume making for the next day, they have a book to read or spellings to learn. It is remarkable how many children when sitting vulnerably in the bath will open up and tell you that something is worrying them. It could be argued that these are merely tactics to delay the inevitable going to bed but either way, it is a chance for parent and child to communicate in a manner that is unique to that time of day. Maybe it is when they feel safe because, typically, it is one of the most structured parts of the day.

Bedtime, of course, lends itself to the favourite bedtime story and this is an essential part of fond childhood memories. It calms children to be read to, settling them perfectly for sleep and reminds them that you are close by. In addition to the educational benefits of early literacy skills (more of that in the Early Literacy section), the bond between parent and child is strengthened when sharing a story experience.

Bedrooms should be dark and without interference from TVs, computers and other screens. Remove unnecessary toys and only have a night-light on if absolutely necessary. Having a very dark bedroom can improve the quality of sleep children have and prevent them from waking during the periods of ëlightí sleep. Line curtains with blackout fabric if possible.

Visiting parents in the night is a habit that is difficult to resolve but should be nipped in the bud if both child and parent are to benefit from uninterrupted sleep. When I was a Reception teacher I asked my class how many of them creep in the night to sleep in their mum and dad's bed, and over half of the class owned up! The truth is many parents enjoy the chance to have a snuggle and it is easier to ignore it in the night than get up to return a sleepy child to their own bed. But to ensure that you are encouraging good sleeping habits for years to come, parents should do their best to eliminate these behaviours as soon as possible.

It is a joy to teach an alert child and it is a struggle to teach a tired one. Short concentration spans, refusals to co operate, a lack of robustness and sloppy outputs are all often related to lack of sleep (or diet or a combination of both) and we know as adults that terrible feeling of just having to close your eyes in the wrong place. If children get into the habit of having too little sleep, they find it hard to correct themselves and so it is vital that you set a routine in place and be consistent enough until it works. Reward good efforts and although it will take time and patience, it will pay off in the long run and guarantee that your child has a better chance of doing his best at school.