Help get your kid into Oxford or Cambridge without private schooling, with these 5 tips

We all want the best for our children and grandkids - and giving them the right tools when they're young can massively increase their chances of success when they grow up. One of the most important variables is not what you do for a living, but what you do with your child. You don't need a PhD, or a big house. You certainly don't need £60,000 a year to send them to Eton. Work full-time? No problem. Think of this as the most important side hustle you'll ever have, with evidence-based benefits.

Follow these five tips to give your little one's the best chance at educational success.

1. Tune in

Remove your earpods. Put your phone away. Ready? Your first task is this: tune into your baby. Make eye contact. ''That's it?'' you ask.

Sounds strange, but making eye contact with your baby will help his brain develop. He babbles? Say something back. Point to things and name them ("there's a squirrel! In the tree!"). Something as simple as pointing and looking at something with your child establishes what researchers call "joint attention" (two people looking at the same thing, at the same time), which is crucial for language development, developing social skills, and brain development more generally.

As your child gets older, tuning in looks like asking questions and listening. Talking about memories together ("elaborative reminiscing") is associated with a range of benefits, including boosting memory and socioemotional skills.

2. Read to your child early and often

Reading to your child and giving them storybooks of their own will help them enjoy reading - which has been found to be more important for children's educational success than their family's class background. Start when they are babies.Treat it as entertainment - something fun. Point to pictures. Use different voices. Get theatrical!

Not a confident reader yourself? No worries. All parents should sing nursery rhymes to their children - even if they are off key! Studies show singing helps babies learn to speak and prepares them for phonics and learning to read, because singing slows down speech (often each syllable has a different note).

Try picture books written to be sung, with familiar songs, like The Babies on The Bus by Karen Katz. Remember that you can talk about the pictures in books even if you don't read the words. Print photographs of family members (this can be done cheaply online) to look at and talk about with your child. Reading and speaking with your child in any language will benefit them.

3. Eat together

Eating together has consistently been shown to benefit children in a variety of ways. Mealtimes are an opportunity to have conversations, thought to improve children's vocabulary, both receptive (what they understand) and expressive (what they say), academic performance and mental health. Research indicates children are also less likely to eat sugary drinks and fast food at family meals. Keep phones and tablets in the next room.

4. Hate maths? You can still help your child excel at it.

Early math skills are a very strong predictor of academic achievement. It doesn't have to be hard or "serious". Count toy cars, or little sister's toes. Encourage your child to use their fingers to count: neuroscience research shows that finger discrimination (an awareness of your pointer as distinct from your pinky) is key to developing math skills. Talk about measurement (long/short), size (big/small), spatial relationships (on/under) and shapes. Estimate how many leaves there are on a tree at the park. Don't worry about getting things wrong.

5. Play outside

Outdoor play places a natural limit on screen time and helps with language development, concentration and memory. It may also improve sleep quality - with regular bedtimes shown to improve academic performance.

Pamela Groves is a children's librarian and creator of Maya Groves, her daughter, was homeschooled until secondary school and graduated from Cambridge University.