Top Tips for Choosing a School for Your Child

Choosing the right school for your child is a huge responsibility and can be an incredibly stressful time for parents. There are so many considerations, such as familiar friends, location, facilities and school inspection results.

To help relieve some of the pressure involved in choosing the right school for your child, Rowan Preparatory School have put together these top tips…

Make a list

Start your search for the right school by making a list of what is most important to you and your child. Talk to your child about possible options and listen to your child’s opinions and feelings about each school. After all, they are the ones who will be spending most of their time there – For example, the most important factor to your child may be going to the same school as their existing friends, even if this school doesn’t have the best facilities. Try to include your child as much as possible in your decision making.

Do your research

Once you have made a shortlist, you can then start to research your most suitable schools. You can look up school league tables and Ofsted reports online and you can also learn about each school’s curriculum and values. Other important factors to research are class sizes and additional enrichment opportunities, such as language and music lessons. You may also wish to speak to other parents about their knowledge or experience with your shortlisted schools.

Plan your visit

The best way to choose the right school for your child is by visiting them together with your child. If possible, try and arrange a tour of the school on a normal school day. This will give you a true insight into daily life at the school, as opposed to an open day, which is normally held outside of school hours. When visiting prospective schools it is important to consider how welcoming they feel, how well the children interact with the teachers and how safe and clean the school grounds are.