Picking a Good Foundation School for Your Child

Picking a Good Foundation School for Your Child

There is no better time to start the look-out for a school for your child than close to the end of a school year. A lot of parents will be thinking of changing their children’s school either because of relocation, increase in earnings, the child is starting a proper school because he or she is old enough or dissatisfaction with the present school the child is attending.

It is important to have it in mind that a school helps build the foundation of a good education for the children and the decision will be fundamental to the future of the children.

Four years ago, I had to look for a school for my 4 year old daughter because the family was relocating to Abuja. It was the formative period in the life of my daughter and I was determined to get the best school for her at an affordable price. I had a working sheet and wrote some salient things I was looking for in a school.

 The following are the salient points I jotted and I considered important on deciding on the school I eventually enroll my child into:

Location of the school: It is important that the school should be close to the home and probably to your working place in order to ease the logistics needing in carrying out school pick-up. It is not safe to enroll your child in a school that is in another town or states except boarding facilities are available.

Educational Curriculum: There are a lot of curriculums that are being used to teach in schools all around the world. It is important that you carry out your research on the different curriculum and then decide on the one you want your children to be taught with.

Security: Security of your child during the school period is very important. You need to find out how secured the school premises is, what is the school policy on picking a child from school and the security put in place when the children are going outside the school premises on excursion or site seeing.

Affordability: The school fee is very important in deciding the school to enroll your child. You need to find out what the school fees had been in previous years so that you can determine the level of increase of the school fees and how frequent it is being reviewed. (Some schools in Abuja also require Development fee which, truthfully does not make any sense to me *wink**). Does the school have discount for more than a child? Do you have to pay school fees at once or can you pay in more than two installments?

Flexibility of pickup and drop-off: How flexible is the school in terms of drop-off of your children in school and also pick-ups? Can you drop your child before resumption time just to make an official meeting or is the school rigid about it? Does the school have plans for late pick-up of children especially for working parents that do not have someone at home to attend to the child after school?

Conducive environment for learning: Children have a very short concentration span and their environment need to be appealing for them to enjoy learning? How many pupils to a teacher and how many arms does a grade have? How many assistant teachers does a class have; are the classes comfortable enough for learning? What about learning tools for children?

Extra-curricular activities: Learning nowadays includes extracurricular activities. Parent will need to find out what extra-curricular activities is the school offering? for example, if the school offer swimming, where is the pool, what condition is the pool, is the pool far from the school and are there professional swimmers around when the children are learning swimming?

School Visit: it is important that you visit the school during school period, open day and activity day when you can interact with everyone and find out how the school is being run etc.

Retention of Teachers: Continuity is very important in the life of a child so it is important to know the turnover of teachers in a school which will automatically tell you how the teachers are being treated by the school management.

Parents: It is very important to talk to as many parents of children already attending the school for you to know their experiences and relate it to the children. You need to also find out how demanding the school is from the parents.

Pupils: Talk to a child presently in a class your child will be. Find out what the child like about school and his or her friends in school? Check the child up for confidence and ability to express himself or herself. It is a reflection of how the teachers are handling the children.

This list is not exhaustive but with these, you are sure not to make a mistake.

The following are the list of top schools that you can consider in Abuja (In no particular order):

                                                                                                                                    

1.      American International School, Abuja

2.      InternationalCommunity School, Abuja

3.      Springhall British school.

4.      Whiteplains british School

5.      The Regent School

6.      Delphia Kiddies

7.      Tender Years Preparatory School.

8.      Centagon International School.

9.      Abigail School

10.  The French School

11.  FAMAK International Schools

 Happy school hunting!!