Choosing a school to enroll your child in can be a big decision. When there are several options available, parents should take the time to research which school is best for their family. A child’s education lays the foundation of their future and it is essentially the basic building block to a financially secure life. Even if your child isn’t starting school for a couple of years, you may find it helpful to start your search now and think about the options.
Let’s go through the following 6 factors to consider when choosing a school for your child.
(Even if your family does not have the option of choosing a school, it’s worthwhile to review the first 5 factors to have a good understanding of the school you child is to attend.)
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1. School programs
An important factor when choosing a school is looking at the school program. Nowadays there are many programs to consider such as bilingual, academic-based, catholic, public, science-based, all boys/girls etc. What type of program would align with your family’s goals?
Other things to consider:
How is their music program?
Do the kids wear uniforms?
What is their second language program?
Is there a parent council?
What after school clubs are available?
2. How to get your child to and from school
The location of the school can be a huge factor in choosing a school. The location of the school has to be convenient for your family. How would you get your kids to and from school? Does the school offer a bus service? Would the kids walk or would you be driving them? What time does school start and when are the kids let out at the end of the day?
3. School fees/tuition/costs
Determine the cost of attending a specific school. You need to ensure that you are able to afford the fees. If you know that it will be costly, then you will need to plan ahead to make sure the expenses are covered.
Possible school fees:
Tuition
Bus fees
Noon supervision
Miscellaneous (sports, yearbooks, field trip fees, school supplies)
Uniforms
Extra-curricular school activities
Child-care expenses
Related posts:
How to Budget for School Expenses
4. Attend the open house, school tour or information session
Visiting the school either through a tour or at their open house is really helpful. Even if your child isn’t starting school for a few years, I encourage you to attend the annual open houses to get insight and to give you time to decide. Many of the questions above can be answered by visiting the schools.
Prior to the visit, I highly suggest writing down a list of questions that you want to be answered. For older kids (going into middle/high school), I would ask them to also write down at least 3 things they want to find out when visiting the potential new school. Your objectives and questions may be different from your child’s. Instead of just showing up and “see how it goes,” you have the intentions of getting your questions answered and thus be able to make an informed decision.
Other things to ask or consider during a visit:
- What is the typical class size?
- Ask about the teacher turnover rate. A slow turnover rate may show stability.
- Look on the walls to see what projects the students are working on
- Have a chat with the principal
- What type of support does the school have? Do they have aides? Speech pathologist? Is there a nurse on-site? Occupational therapist?
5. School Review
You may be able to find a review online about the school. Do a Google search on the reviews of the interested schools. There may be an academic school rankings list. Talk to the parents of kids who attend the schools. Search for Facebook groups of interested schools. However, take the information from these sources lightly as it is biased.
6. When to apply/Application process
If you are interested in a school, find out how and when to apply. For some schools, you may apply to get on a waitlist as soon as your child is born. Some application processes may be more involved such as requiring an IQ test, an essay or questionnaire filled out by the parent.
For most schools, applications are done just prior to the school year. Whichever school your family is interested in, make sure you allow plenty of time to do the application properly.
Overall….
Consider the needs of your child and your family when choosing a school. It’s a tough decision! Taking the time to research and make an informed choice will help lay out the foundation of your child’s education. Perhaps there is a school across the city that appears to be best, but it would take a lot of effort to get your child there every day. Life can get really busy and long commutes are not ideal. You don’t want to be moving your child to a different school in a year or two if you don’t need to. It’s about finding balance. Consider the above 6 factors when choosing a school for your child.
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It helped that you said to consider how convenient the location of the school is for your family and the approximate class size. My sister is wanting to put my cute nephew in preschool this year and is trying to find a good one to help him learn. I’ll let her know about these tips and hope that they can find a good preschool for the boy.
I like what you said about checking online reviews for the preschool that you’re considering. My sister has been telling me about how she wants to put her son in preschool soon. I’ll share this information with her so that she can look into her options for professionals who can help her with this.
I agree that you need to be sure to consider online reviews when picking a preschool since that will determine their quality of service and education. I would add that you should check out the school to see if the personality of the teachers will be good for your child. It’s important that your child can have a good experience communicating and interacting with the teachers so they can get the most out of their preschool days.
I love the tip of meeting potential teachers to see if they would a good fit for the child! Thank you
I think it is so important that you explained that you should figure out how and when you should apply to a school for your child if you are interested in it. One of my friends from my neighborhood told me that she is in the process of finding a preschool for her daughter, and she asked me if I knew any information on local ones that she could start looking into. Personally, I do not know much about preschools but I promised her that I would do some research and share any helpful articles with her so she can… Read more »
Finding a preschool for a child is a huge first step into the world of education. As we often have to pay money for a pre-school, taking the time to do our research is important.
My son will turn five this year, and he will be going to kindergarten in the fall. I want to find a school and teacher that I can trust because my son is very shy, so he will need an understanding teacher. You make a great point that I should go to an open house to find out about the class sizes and get to know the principal. This way I can find out about the principal’s philosophy for the school as well.
Good luck with your search! It’s such an exciting time for kids entering kindergarten!
You wouldn’t believe it, Minda, but my husband and I were just talking about this last night and we don’t even have kids yet! Haha! Hopefully, I remember to come back to this post in about 5 years 😀
This school business is a lot of work but enjoyable at the same time 🙂
This is such a helpful post. My son is only in pre-school and it was a process finding him the best school. Happy we did, but will save these tips as he gets older!
I’m glad it was helpful! Good luck with finding a grade school in the future 🙂
Very helpful and informative post. Thank you so much. Pinned for future reference.
I’m in the midst of choosing a new preschool for my little one, and I feel so much pressure to pick the best one! Definitely saving this to reread before I tour!