Choose a good preschool for your child, consider factors like curriculum, teaching methods, facilities, safety and staff-to-child ratio to find a nurturing and inspiring preschool environment.
Welcome to the world of active parenting! Where an important task to be handled when the child is 3+ years of age is to find a good pre-school for your child. Who was just a child a few days ago will become a school going child in no time. Now is the time to flex your network and sift through it for more information.
A good start is half the way and also, having good information is more than half the work done. Here are some very important tips that we are going to share with you that will help you in choosing the right school for the star of your life.
Distance
Proximity to home is the most important factor for the overall well-being of the child. A child should not take more than 20-25 minutes to travel to and from school. The time spent traveling takes a toll on a child's stamina and focus needed to enjoy all the activities at school.
If you choose to go beyond this travel time, make sure you opt for school transport. All good schools invest in safe, comfortable and convenient transport for children. This will save you a lot of time every day as a parent.
School vision
The most important aspect of the successful future of any school is the vision of the school which translates into each child reaching his or her true potential. This gives you a clear path to how the school works and what its core values are. These core values will be what you look for in your child throughout the period of their association with the school.
Educators and thinkers around the world advocate progressive, value-based, humane and responsible schools that inculcate similar qualities in their students.
The school's approach also focuses on training its students well after schooling. It can also be found through the school website. After all, the ultimate objective of the entire process is to establish the child's independence and a good professional position in the future.
Once you are sure of your choice, go to school again but this time with your child. Give them a chance to look around and see how they feel in the new environment and how they react to the environment and the teacher.
It is also important to take your child's opinion. This will not only express your respect for your child's needs but will also ensure better adjustment of the child in the new environment.
Choosing a good pre-school for your child is a whole journey of building trust with the child and the prospective new school and it will be a great experience for both of you!
School Brand – Value and Credibility
List the names of all the good schools around you. Now rate them all in order of their respective brand-populirty and value.
We will also discuss where this brand-value comes from. Based on this rating, do a little research online and see how reliable that school is in terms of parent satisfaction and academic stature. Shortlist 3 to 4 schools that you consider this way. And here is the first hint of the next steps of your treasure hunt.
Basic infrastructure
Now is the time to visit the schools you have shortlisted and rate them in order of the criteria discussed further. A good infrastructure gives you a fair idea of how pleasant it will be to invite the school to your ward and how happy your child will be when he spends one-third of his waking hours there.
Look for schools that have a formal school setup combined with pre-school. This will ensure smooth transition from one stage of learning to the next. This helps parents build better trust and rapport with the school throughout their life.
Schools are the places where real talent is spotted, be it academics or sports. Look for open space for play and other exploration activities for children.
Facilities that claim to provide children with a myriad of physical activity experiences; Where there is scope to experience different types of sports; Where equal emphasis is given to open spaces and restricted spaces for children. After all, the purpose of education is not just to hone academic skills.
A safe place in school should be your top priority.
A space that creates a feeling of being safe and protected helps children focus on learning activities and helps to grow self-confident individuals.
The transport facility that promises CCTV access and one adult accompanying children at every journey is an added advantage.
Learning spaces
Gone are the days of black-board/chalk and duster/some charts and some slides. New age schools promise much more. Colorful, safe and enriching with a view to providing diverse learning opportunities to children; Being sufficiently inviting for children to explore and learn independently and having play resources manageable by children themselves are some of the signs of good learning spaces.
An eclectic mix of natural surroundings with plenty of fresh air, sunlight and a small wet space within children's reach makes for a perfect area for children to learn. Combine this with a great color scheme and a comfortable but flexible seating area, and you have an unmatched engaging space for young learners.
Be sure to read the testimonials of previous batches of parents who may have had good/not so good experiences with the school. The 'not so good' experience is also a good reference for parents to make comparative comparisons with other schools. The 'good experiences' will definitely tell you about the credibility of the curriculum, the type of activities and the experience given to each child.
It may sound cliché, but board results are a true testament to how well a school performs on this criteria. Only the school which promises good foundation will be able to give good results in higher classes. There is no doubt about this. It is also an indicator of how closely teachers monitor each child's progress in academic areas.
Although this should not be the only thing to look at, it certainly serves as a good reference point for the teachers and the school's investment in the overall development of each child. Success stories are never written overnight. It takes years of hard work for schools to reach such a state of excellence and any school that has achieved this deserves attention!
The Faculty
In-depth interaction with the facilitators will give you accurate feedback on how capable they are in handling the children with warmth and care as well as providing the right kind of opportunities for them to explore their surroundings with ease.
If the facilitators are friendly and professionally equipped with the right skills, they help each child find his or her strengths. Every child is born with special innate abilities and deserves a chance to blossom. Facilitators should be energetic, warm and friendly. Gone are the days when 'teachers' could be authoritative. He now has to be with the energy of a child, with the curiosity of a young learner and be kind and patient like a parent.
The school that invests in training its teachers is one that believes in raising and educating children well. While shortlisting schools, one should look at the number of professional development programs conducted for teachers. The easiest way to find out is to browse the school's website and you have all the important information at your disposal.
Curriculum and Pedagogy
A child goes to school not only to learn to read and write but also to become a better person and a responsible citizen. Studies have proven time and again that good and holistic education right from the entry level ensures good values and a strong sense of responsibility in children.
It comes with curriculum and activities that are in line with the objective of overall development of the child. Broad based activities, focus on each child, global standards of learning, exposure to varied and diverse experiences and a commitment to stand the test of changing times and curriculum demands are what make any curriculum promising, futuristic and well-trained individuals. Made for the purpose of training.
Curriculum that relies heavily on new experiences, sensory learning, and differentiated instruction and objectives should be your criteria. New Age activities are not a generalized thing to see. They are more rooted in the concept of 'learning as a journey' rather than just 'learning as an outcome'.
Get more info: https://www.growinnsteps.com/pre-school/
