How to choose your kid’s first School – 5 important Tips

 It brings in a lot jitters to a first parent of a toddler to look out for a school for his/her kid. Frankly, it won’t be a cake walk or hassle free. But with proper planning it can be sorted.

It will be undoubtedly your life’s second important decision you will make as parent, apart from deciding to have the kid in the first place.

Right research, right planning and right decision and you could put them on a path toward lifelong learning, a reputed school, later a prestigious college education, leading to a successful career ahead.

Before selecting a good first school, few important aspects you must to look onto:

1.      Your child needs:  Never over expect or compare your kid with other kids of same age. Every child is different and special in their own way. Their physical and behavioral equation varies from each other. They have their certain emotional needs, which as a parent you got to check and figure out and act accordingly.

 Your Ground Work: Proactively try to get answers by questioning self, keeping yours kid in mind:

 

·         Does your child need more individual attention?

·         Does your child like to learn in groups or like to learn or work alone?

·         How your children prefer learning? Does your child learn by seeing how things work on or they learn best by reading about how something works? Is your child logical or mathematical? That is does he prefer the theoretical approach or the practical approach?

·         Does your child has an affinity towards music, dance?

·         Does your child need an environment that fosters creativity like working on handicrafts, paintings, science related projects

·         Does your child have interest in books, literature, arts?

·         Does your child prefer outdoor sports activities like judo, karate, skating, cricket, football or something else?

These are few major questions, I am sure there would be few more, which a parent can answer by introspecting his /her kid and self. That’s why it’s very important to spend time and build up the connect with your child to understand them inside out. By this you would have an idea of your child’s learning style, interest, and preferences. You can compare different schools, considering the schools particular approach to teaching & learning, and see if your kid is fitting in or not. It won’t be a wild goose chase for you as you now have an idea of how to freeze a suitable and appropriate school for your toddler. This will help you in finalizing a good first school for your kid.

 

2.  Do the right Research:

 As per you and your kid, what works the best, accordingly start making a list of schools and collecting information from various sources. Few reference sources can be, checking out the school’s website, prospectus and catalogs, open houses, online platforms, education fairs, magazines, journals or article on school rankings and performance. Gather information from different sources to have a fair idea, you can talk to parents of kids of different schools and get their reviews.

Hard work will be worth your while if you find a school that brings out the best in your child.

School curriculum, philosophy, policies and services are important aspects while choosing a school. Also check on the disciplinary model of the school, a disciplined institution helps to shape up a kid to a great extent, that’s mandate.

 Ø  Check out the school curriculum:

 Which board it has? Does it have boards such as CBSE, ICSE, State board etc.? Which one does the school teach? Does it have more than one curriculum? Till what grade is the school? If the school is you are enrolling yours kid into have only primary grades, then you have to look out for other school options for his /her secondary studies.

Rich curriculum, itself will provide you with a tremendous amount of information. The curriculum, preferably not tests oriented only. Focus on English language learning is important also.

 Ø  Academic Performance:

 You have to do the basic checks like, looking into the Ranks, trends. Ranks risen, fallen or remained flat and have to gather information for such change.

 Ø  Pay a visit to the School:

 Pay a visit to school. It will give you certain clarity and that will help you understand the functioning of school and you can get a sense of how the school runs. Try to attend a Parent   

- Teacher meeting/ open house/school function if allowed, that will provide info about conduct, behaviour and attitude of parents, school staffs & students.

Ø  Recreation Time: It’s one of most important thing to be taken care of and a mandate allotment. It refreshes mind and physical being kids as they need breaks.

Ø  After School Programme: Check if any special programs for interested kids are there like Sports club, A new language learning class, Music/Instrument class, or on academic enrichment for an all-round development of your child.

 Infrastructure & Security: It’s one of the most crucial things to focus on. Never compromise on the infrastructure and the security aspects as your kid will spend ample amount of time there and safety is most important.

Check the schools playground, its size. Have a close look at the classrooms. Are they well equipped with multiple black and white boards; projector availability is there or not. Is it Air conditioned or not, not mandatory though. You can always note on the hygiene and cleanliness of premises also. Washroom maintenance on regular interval is also a priority as it’s the place which might be a reason for health issues. School must have enough teachers and support staffs as per the student count, so that your kid will be well cared. Good teachers accelerate the rate of learning among their students.

For security, school should have an inspection team, guards, and CCTV cameras to abide by the security protocols of the system.

 

4.      Location: How far are you willing to drive your child to School? Does your child have any special transportation needs that must be considered in choosing a school?

 Location is crucial while choosing your kid’s first school. As your kid is too small, may be around 2.5 years to 3.5 years old, so choosing a school within proximity is really important so that it will be in your reach and you can be available there in no time, if needed. Schools within walking distance of your house would be a great choice.

 

5.      Efficient Teacher & Excellent Staff force:

 It’s the key. That’s the major driving force for a child to do well, develop sustainability, self-belief, and a sense of positivity, which will lay the required foundation to help them in shaping up a great career and a bright future.

 In preschool, it’s considered to be more important than any curriculum. Definitely, look for a preschool, where teachers are very engaging as it is going to be yours child first ever movement to a new place, for the first time they would be away from you, you won’t be around them, they won’t be able to see you or feel your warmth. They are going to spend a large portion of their day without their loved ones. So, that place should be visually attractive, with playing zones, creative works, constructive and educational yet interesting.

Storytelling, rhymes, musically inclined atmosphere is best for them. Your kid should have an idea that “learning is fun”. Music, dance, sports and engaging teachers and staffs must make them comfortable, so they will be lured enough to leave the house by smiling.

Quality of teachers and right ratio of student- teacher & student- support staffs is important for smooth functioning, and also needed to be checked by a parent. As a parent you have the right to ask regarding the no of teachers, specialized teacher(s), and support staffs availability to facilitator of the institution. You can also have a good look at the prospectus, which mentions the qualification, experience, trainings, achievements and background of teachers and Principal of the school.

         

 See if the staffs are responsive enough towards all the needs of the students, queries and issues are being addressed properly and how good their communication is with the parents. Are they concerned enough for your child? Teachers should be able to speak about their individual students, their strength and weakness and be well informed of their background, interest, emotional and academic achievements. It’s never appropriate for a preschool teacher to show anger, bark, humiliate, harsh with kids – They should be charming, smiling, for whom every day is a new day full of newness. As teachers, they should take pride in their students’ progress/development showing ownership, consistently open to their improvement.

Teachers should be open to explore the curious mind of kids, and never suppress their questioning mind.

 Always try to be connected to the school as much as possible, to understand the quality of education, facilities offered and if any up gradation happened recently. That would help you as a parent to help and guide your child in figuring out their need and requirements and concerns if any. You always try not to miss any Parent-Teacher meetings, that really important to check and review your kids good and bad points and do take teachers feedback positively and work on it.

Talk to other parents and students of your kid’s class to extract information about the true quality.

 Affordability: Affordability is a relative term and will depend on the ability, willingness and reach of the parent to spend on their kid’s first school. But most would like to give the best possible education to their kid even if they will have to compromise on other aspects. It’s important to understand here, it’s not necessary that the most expensive school will give your child the best education. Hence quality should be the first parameter to decide the school which has to be backed by the affordability factor.

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