What to keep in mind while choosing a school for your child
Choosing the right school is one of the most important decision a parent must make on behalf of their children. All parents want the best for their children and aspire them to grow as happy, kind, and caring individuals with good values and dispositions. A good education goes a long way in fulfilling these aspirations and therefore the search for the right school which offers all the above becomes even more significant.
As an educationist and a mother, I have experienced the stress and anxiety most parents go through looking for the right school. However, with careful planning and deliberation you can surely reduce the stress that comes along the way. Think of this as process which can be easily divided into three steps. Visiting the school of your choice is one of the key steps of this process. Equally important is to plan for what to do before and after you have visited the school. This makes up the other two steps in the decision-making process.
Before your plan a visit to the desired school, do your homework well. Make a list of your aspirations for your child and your expectations from the school. You may have received good recommendations from parents whose children are currently studying in the school, nonetheless, take out time to go through the school website and get to know more about the school. As you do so, carefully read through the school’s missionvision and teaching and learning philosophy. It defines the school purpose of existence. Understand the breadth and depth of various programs the school offers. If you wish your child to experience personalised learning, student-teacher ratio and class size needs to be considered. However, do bear in mind a school’s website is the window through which the world gets to know about the school and all schools like to showcase their best through this window. A school visit will help establish credibility.
Besides the regular meeting with the counsellor, most schools allow the prospective parent to a walk around the school as part of the school visit. As you take a walk around the school, try to get a feel of the school. This is the perfect opportunity to know the school provided, you know what to look and ask for. Seize this opportunity to gather evidence for all the information collected earlier from the school website. Some of the things to look out for include the school corridors, the classroom, and the playground.
A school that takes pride in its students’ achievements will celebrate its student learning. Student’s work being displayed around the foyers, in the corridors and classrooms is a reliable testament of this. A school which cares about the overall development of the child will prioritise their social emotional wellbeing alongside academic growth. Try and establish how does the school promotes social emotional well-being? Children’s happy and smiling faces as they walk along the corridors will tell a lot about what the school values.
As a young parent, I used to feel respected every time I would receive a parent workshop invite from my son’s school. It was very comforting to know that the school was thoughtful enough to invest time in educating parents on the new and more engaging ways to support their child with his learning.
Similarly, an information on the school being closed for teachers training was a reassurance that my child was in good hands. A school that cared about its teachers ongoing professional growth spoke volumes about how much the school cared for my child’s learning. Surely you would like to feel the same about your child’s prospective school as well.
Before you make the final decision, bear in mind there is no good or bad school. It’s all about choosing the right school. A school which may be the best school in the town may not necessarily be the best fit for your child if it does not match with your expectations and the aspirations. Do not rush. Give yourself time. If your child is old enough, talk to him and involve him in the decision-making process. Your child is special, so should be the school you choose for your child.