Deciding which school to send your child to is one of the most important decisions a parent can make. It’s not just about academic performance, but also about finding the right environment for their development and growth.
This article will assess what we ought to know about a child starting school, preferably before it happens. Answering the question about when will your child start school, can be as easy as using an online calculator, but do you know what will be involved once they start? How much can you prepare? Which school is best for our child? We shall try to answer these questions and more during this article. Firstly, we will try to understand more about the significance of school league tables as these can be key to our child’s success.
Contents
Using Tables to Help Select a Good School
One way to evaluate school performance is by looking at school league tables, which provide key insights into how well schools are performing in terms of student achievement and success. They can be the measure of the quality of a school’s teaching.
However, several other factors should be taken into consideration when choosing a school, such as commuting distances and where siblings and friends are educated. If your child is travelling long distances to school, for instance, then tiredness may play its part in learning. Also, they will have less time to work on homework if they are getting home later than other children they are in a sense competing with for results.
The advantage of school league tables is that you can see at a glance the schools to choose between. Then use the other factors to finally decide.
Extra Curricular Activities Provide an Additional Learning Experience
In addition to school league tables, it is important to consider any extracurricular activities the school may offer. This could be a great way for your child to develop their skills outside of the classroom and gain confidence in new areas. The school should also look into providing good pastoral care and support for the students which will help them thrive in their educational environment.
In other words, learning is not just about the academic side. A well-rounded individual is nurtured from the complete school experience. You can assess this by visiting the school before they start to assess if the environment and the opportunities match the academic achievements the results tables show. Unhappy children do not make the best learners.
Sports achievements will be evident from trophy cabinets which are seen while you visit a school. A school will be just as proud of these as its published exam tables. Many professional sportspersons have come from schools that provided them with the early opportunity to play certain sports.
Parental Tips
Parents can do a lot to prepare their children for the school experience. This includes having them mix with children the same age in advance in more of a fun situation before formal academic learning starting.
Making sure that a child is at the same level as other children can be down to a little extra tuition at home. It is a case, though, of recognising just what level your child is at. This can be discovered from a previous teacher’s comments or by comparing your child to children of a similar age. The two most useful skills a parent can teach will be to make sure that their children can read and count. Talking with a teacher can help you to know just how much to progress your child while at home.
School league tables are one way to assess school performances but several other factors should be taken into consideration when choosing a school for your child. It is important to look at the school’s extracurricular results and consider those as a learning experience too. Then by preparing your child for the school experience, you can give your child the edge when it comes to them contributing to the highest position of a school’s league table.
Know your school and know your child for the best results. Use other children as a guide as well as what is published about a school. But then, think beyond that in terms of your child thriving within the environment you choose for them. No two children are alike, just similar.
