Nadia Sawalha has opened up about her decision to get her two daughters home-schooled, claiming they are "excelling" since leaving their private school education. The 51-year-old confessed she took Maddie, 14, and Kiki-Bee, nine, out of mainstream school after realising her youngest daughter was struggling to cope with the academic pressure.
In an interview with HELLO! Magazine, the Loose Women star said: "They struggled in class and really thought they wouldn't excel in anything. But ever since I took them out of school two years ago, they've become more confident and passionate and are brimming with enthusiasm to learn."
"Kiki wants to be an animator while Maddie has ambitions to act or become the first female director of a big budget action movie. The world really is their oyster. We only have to look at our girls' progress to know we made the right decision."
Nadia Sawalha opened up about her decision to get her two daughters home-schooled
Nadia and her husband, TV producer Mark Adderley, have no regrets. Talking about their experience with private school education, Nadia added: "Both my daughters went to a private prep school. I made the classic mistake of thinking that if I worked hard, I could put my girls through the best education.
"I didn't know that, although it was a good school, it was the worst school for them. Children learn in different ways and the constant stream of tests made them feel that learning was something to fear. Now they find it exciting and are keen for knowledge."
"We only have to look at our girls' progress to know we made the right decision," she told HELLO!
Kiki was first to demonstrate she was unhappy at school and her distress reached a crisis point in 2014. "She was in a terrible state," explained Nadia. "Not only was she getting thinner and paler she was also crying every day. Kiki was so anxious that she couldn't sleep or eat and when the school recommended she cram over the summer holidays, she became stressed that she couldn't learn anything."
However a few days before Kiki returned to school, a private tutor asked Nadia if she had ever considered home educating her daughter. Big sister Maddie joined the home education programme six months after Kiki. "It takes a village to bring up a child," continued Nadia. "Mark calls us all the Jedi Knights. At home we manoeuvre discussions around [the girls] to talk about plays, films, art and even politics. It's a form of osmosis and it makes knowledge fun."