Are you at the stage of choosing a school for your child? If so, surely you are concerned about selecting the right one for your education.
As children grow up they begin new stages that involve parents having to make important decisions that influence their children's growth and learning. From the moment they are born, even during pregnancy, parents are thinking about the school in which they would like their children to go to school. There are many questions that are raised and when they are first timers in most cases the doubts are greater. Parents think about the future of their children, their professional development, teaching, languages and new technologies. As in all aspects of life, they want to give them the best so that they can develop a professional career that gives them stability and they also want their child to be happy during their childhood.
If you are choosing an educational center for your child, you surely have many questions in your head. Here They have selected a series of points that They consider important, which can help you assess, question your priorities and select a school for your child.
1. Visit the educational center
Currently, new technologies allow you to see from any device, on the school's web and social networks, what the facilities are like, the explanation of your educational project, the activities or the excursions that take place during the course. In addition to making these inquiries, They recommend that you attend the open days so that they can tell you everything first-hand. You will be able to speak with your child's future teachers and ask questions about any questions you may have. You will also be able to see the facilities, that is, the dining room, the patio, the gym or the library. When you visit the computer classrooms and classes you will check the material, the type of computers and the quantity, if there are projectors and digital whiteboards and you will get an idea of whether the center is up to date in new technologies.
Visiting the school will help you calculate the distance from your home to the center to see if you can walk, by car or by public transport. During the visit you can also ask about the places they offer, the classes in each course, if there are support teachers, the children in each course and the schedules.
2. Educational project
This point is very important because it is the way in which your child will learn throughout the teaching. There are centers in which teaching continues to be through traditional methods, in others learning has been implemented through projects that, according to the magazine 'Temas para la Educación', is a methodology in which «The teacher helps and guides the students. children to think and investigate, constantly creating situations in the classroom that stimulate them to make decisions, analyze, reflect, debate, contrast, seek information, etc ”. There are also schools in which the method is through research, the difference with respect to the previous one is that while project education arises from a topic, it arises from a question.
When the children's project is explained to you, also find out about the project that will follow in the different stages. In addition, it is also interesting to consult until which course the school covers to know if at some point in the educational stage you will have to change the center.
3. Public, private or concerted center
In addition to the educational project that they offer, depending on the type of school, there are some differences when it comes to accessing. If you are interested in a public or subsidized school, you should consult the criteria established by each Autonomous Community, as for the private ones you should ask at the center itself.
The economic differences is an aspect that each family must value according to their situation. Find out about the expenses that each center may entail in terms of tuition, dining room, transportation, extracurricular activities, material and other expenses that you may have.
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Public: they are free, they are managed by the public administration.
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Private: parents finance all expenses.
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Concerted: it is an intermediate model, between public and private, it is the parents who pay part of the costs.
4. Values and Internal Projects of the Center
You must know well the values that will be transmitted to your child, know if the school is religious or secular, and other aspects such as whether emotional education is worked because it will mark the learning that your child receives.
In addition to the educational methodology that is followed in the center, some schools develop projects that add values to students and that involve parents within the school. Some interesting activities are interactive groups in which teachers, students and adults participate, to develop the learning of different subjects, values, emotions and friendship. Also the promotion of reading, the creation of a school garden, a choir, a theater workshop, music, the promotion of equality of students and activities to prevent bullying, the service of guidance for minors, etc.
5. Languages
Knowing languages is essential to have more job opportunities in the future, therefore, this point is key. Parents always have the doubt if it is important to introduce English from a young age and you should know that children are sponges, up to 7 years they can learn any other language as if it were their mother tongue, and also learning a language favors their cognitive development.
From there you must assess the characteristics of bilingual schools or know well the educational method and the hours that the center dedicates to languages. You can also find out about the characteristics of foreign schools, such as the German School or the French Lyceum among others, in which you will have to assess that your child, in addition to learning another language, will follow a different educational method and another culture.
6. Services after school hours
You will be interested in knowing the services managed by the Association of Mothers and Parents of Students, because they are usually activities that are outside of school hours and will help you reconcile work life with childcare. Some questions you are interested in asking:
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Ask if there is morning schedule to find out if your children will be able to enter school before 9 o'clock, if they have a monitor to monitor them, if they do activities, in which classroom they are and if they are with children their age or older.
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Dining room service: you are interested in knowing if the school has its own food or catering service, the menu they follow and the number of monitors the children have.
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Extracurricular activities: check the schedules and the type of activities, in addition to helping you reconcile, they are part of the education and the values that you transmit to your children since they are small.
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Bus to go to school: if you live far from school and neither of you can take your children to class, this service can make your life easier.
7. Teachers
When you go to the open days you can have a first contact with the teachers. It is very interesting to know their education and if the center promotes the improvement and recycling of teachers in the different educational subjects and techniques because this will give you an idea of the methods and teachings that are given.
School is the place where your child will spend a large part of his life and will meet people who will accompany him in the different stages of his life. Parents, whenever they have to make decisions, demand a lot of themselves. The educational model is very important, but also that it be happy, the values and the different capacities that it can develop because they will form you as a person.