Selecting the perfect school for your child goes to is a big decision! The more the options, the greater is the confusion. Hence, there are many questions to ask and a lot of information to sift through to make things the way you want.
To help you reach the perfect option, here’s your at-a-glance guide to choosing your child’s secondary school.
Teachers DO Matter –It’s not that a super-teacher can entirely alleviate the impact of poverty on students. The thing here is that excellent teachers besides teaching more can even accelerate the rate of learning among their students. It is said that “good schools champion great teachers”. They nurture them, actually. Hence, look for schools that have teachers with mentors, instruction and discussion of best practices. Plus, approach a school where the teachers are not being taken as ‘interchangeable resources’.
Name isn’t the Deciding Factor – There is no colloquial designation that assures quality. Words like charteror private not at all mean the school is prefect or successful. In fact, only 1 in 5 charter schools perform better than the schools they replace.
Don’t Consider Too Much Standardized-Test Scores – While, good test scores can sometimes be an indication that a school is doing good job in educating its students, it’s not the same the rest of the time; other times it can be an indication that the school is teaching only for the test. Instead, focus on schools that emphasizes more on complete education – test, moral, learning, etc.
Words of mouth – The parental grapevine is remarkably significant. School-gate opinion is mostly not only accurate, but reacts far quickly than any Ofsted hit-squad. If you don’t get any parents speaking bad about a school, probably it’s doing FINE. This is because parents are usually quite sensitive to how a school is treating their children. Moreover, inquire around your associated primary school parents for those with older children in the schools you have your eye on.
Choosing a secondary school is a big step in your child’s life. Hence, make sure you make the best efforts to find them the best school.