consulting children about schools

[Phteven]

I left Imran with DH for a while this morning while I grabbed a coffee. While I was at the cafe I happened to read an article about choosing schools. The journalist claimed that only about 10% of parents consult thier children when choosing a school. I was utterly gobsmacked!!
I wasn't suprised to find out that some parents don't discuss educational options with thier children (if they even have options open to them) but to find out that parents who do consult thier children were such a minority really shocked me.
She was discussing choosing a secondary school but IMO even primary aged children are capable of visiting 2 or 3 schools and offering an opinion.
Anyway, I'm just wondering if maybe that figure is a bit inaccurate.
Where do you stand on consulting children about thier school?

[Rouge]

I think if you can narrow down the choices, ie give them the 3 of your top faves to choose from thats fine. But I wouldn't recommend letting a 5 yr old choose a school.

Why? Well for example one of our local high schools is know for its "sales techniques" they have all the latest whizz bang technology a presentation to put star wars to shame and teachers than definitely know how to talk the talk. But when you speak to the principal it all comes undone, he doesn't know much about the curriculum, who make up the school council and don't even think he'll remember your kids name at any point. BUT I have many friends who's kids have had tantrums like you wouldn't believe because they assume because of the toys available its a great school. But its not its a facade, the school is crap. It has one of the worst reps of schools around.

We chose Paris' primary school based on some pretty important points, the fundamentals, the principals parenting policies and the overall feeling. But I do wonder had we visited a few of the other schools in the are which one she would choose. She loves her school now of course, but walking around its not "exciting" iykwim?

So yeah, I think there should be input, but leaving the decision purely up to the child definitely not. Especially when the majority of kids pick out clothing/toys based on what their "mates" have. They very rarely think, "oh yes thats value for money" or "Oh yes I can see myself getting hours of enjoyment/wear out of that" or even "That definitely won't go out of style"

And a schools vary on what they have to offer, some are better at IT, others sport, art etc and some don't even have art. It depends on what your child's are is. We still have our hands up in the air regarding high school because of a few things, and it won't be till I get to watch Paris develop as to what the decision will be.

*hugs*
Cailin

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Oooh, that's interesting, we were just going to put DS down for the two local ones and hope he got into one of them! We would go for L before B, but simply because his friends (or rather, my friends' children who are close in age to DS) are closer to L and therefore more likely to get into that one - it's down to the council which school you're allocated. But we would be letting DS visit both schools first (both are excellent; we considered this before moving to our current address). But then, as DS will be 3-4 when we're choosing a school I don't know if he will have an opinion - I'll certainly ask what he thinks of the schools though. I suppose my primary choice was just the local school, secondary was one of two, but if I went to the one I wanted to attend (public school) my parents wouldn't pay for me to go to Uni, so I went to the one they wanted me to attend (local state school).

Anyway, I rambled, but I never even thought about this before - you just go where you're sent! Thanks, Chloe, I'll certainly remember this in a few years when our turn comes round. It's a good idea.

[Phteven]

Maybe I phrased myself badly - I wasn't advocating letting a 5 year old choose a school lol but just giving them the chance to visit the schools on a short list and tell you what they liked and didn't like about the school.
The article was partly in referance to co-ed or single sex schools. People agonise over the desicion but often don't even ask thier child which they would prefer.
So many children have really negative experiences at school. I can't help but wonder, if for some children, starting school feeling empowered would make a differance to thier perception of school.

ETA - I might change the title to consulting children about schools.

[Rouge]

Then yes totally agree PMSL! Definitely children should be entitled to input in most decisions that are to do with their own future IYKWIM? For instance if Paris had said to us after our visit, "Mummy I HATE that school" then we would definitely have not sent her there. So I get what you mean now LOLOLOL!

*hugs*
Cailin

[Phteven]

I found the article.
I should add that usually I really disagree with this woman's opinions. She writes for the Daily Telegraph and she's quite reactionary and annoying.

It’s the child’s choice: Same sex or co-ed matters most to the student

By Maralyn Parker
Tuesday, July 03, 2007 at 05:07pm


A PARENT recently wanted advice on whether to send her daughter to an all-girl or a co-ed high school. My first question: Had she asked her daughter? No.

Apparently, parents may not ask their own child which high school they want to go to. An Association of Independent Schools Queensland survey of parents found only 10.7 per cent said the child’s own choice was very important.

Yes, this may be confined to independent schools - but I suspect not. And, no, an 11-year-old is not too young to discuss choice of school.

My advice? The co-ed or single-sex question has been around since schools began and there are hundreds of studies on which is best. And there is no one answer that is right for all girls or all boys.

As for academic performance single-sex schools take eight of the top 10 places in the HSC merit list of students scoring 90 or better in a course. And three of the top five are all-girl selective schools - Hornsby Girls, Sydney Girls and North Sydney Girls in order. In the top 50, 27 are single-sex - not all selective.

However, educational research shows clearly it is not the gender of classmates or the gender of the teacher that matters, it is the quality of the teaching.

And quality varies most - not between schools - but between classrooms. The state’s best and worst teacher could be in the same school.

Meanwhile, during the past decade there has been a trend to develop ways to teach boys.

But most of the methods touted would work with any child - especially one having problems academically.

And as we know some boys like to read and some girls would rather play football, I would be worried if a school offered teaching methods generalised for boys or girls.

That said, some girls will thrive away from the bullying and harrassment of some boys and some boys will thrive when they don’t feel they have to show off or shut up around girls.

Girls in all-girl schools will often take the hard maths and science courses they may not have if it meant being in a class full of boys. Then again, some all-girl schools do not offer those courses and some all-boy schools do not offer the range of humanities courses.

But as far as socialising goes, there is no lesson as good as growing up and learning with the mix of genders in a co-ed school.

Mind you, some so-called co-ed schools nowadays are not at all - with grades having a ratio of up to 90 per cent boys.

But the bottom line?

Ask the person it matters most to - your child. Then you can tell me, are you surprised?

[Astrolady]

In our case, cause I walk everywhere by day, Kameron had to go to the school that it closest. So he didn't get a say in it. His school is a R-12 school as well so that is where he will say till he finishes his schooling

Love

[Tracey]

With Maddy the Primary schol is actually across the road from where she attended Kinder! It's also the Primary school myself & sisters went to.
When she was doing the last half of the year of 4yr old kinder, I went back to work a few days & so my friend whose oldest son was in Prep at the school, was looking after maddy, maddy went along with her to pick up her son etc & she does reading& extra activities at the school & so Maddy was very familira & comfortable at the school.
It had 120ish students in total & Maddy wanted to go there, we did go to another where more of her kinder mates were going but she wanted the smaller school... I am extremely happy with the school..

In regards to Secondary schools, I prefer 1, but when the time comes we will go to 4 or so in our area & discuss the Opportunities etc with Maddy.

[Pandora]

I agree, giving the input and taking them to the school with you wehn you go is a good idea, but I won't necessarily send him to the school he chooses.

If we decide to go to private school for primary, its going to come down to $$ vs travel. Both are P-12, the closer school is $7k/yr for prep, the further (and my preferred) is $1k, but a 40minute drive away, with only a few students coming from our local area, so it would mean a lot of his friends would live further away.

DH doesn't like that where I do, I think its good to have more than one group of firends (school, sport etc) not that they can't cross over, but just to enable more socialsing with different people.

anyway back on topic, if we go for public schools, he won''t be going to the schools closest to us unless there are significant changes in the next 3-4 years. There are 3 that I would consider, 1 of which has been specifcally recommended by an ex-principal (not from that school).

We will take him with us to look at them, and take his opinions on board, but ultimiately it will only be one of a number of deciding factors. If he truly hated it or seemed in any way frightened compared with other schools, it will get crossed off the list.

[Tracey]

A friend of ours just started her son (Well at the beginning of this year) to a Private school from pre kinder (he recently turned 3) that goes til yr 12.
They had to sign a contract (OMG I nearly died it's 10K this year) he's 3 & I'm sorry but Ithink that's totally ridiculous & to have to sign a contract that he will attend the school til he finishes yr 12 is just crazy who knows what he will want to do as he grows up!???

To me that puts WAY too much pressure on the child.

I am glad that $150 a year covers Maddy's schooling!!!

[Pandora]

They had to sign a contract to say he'd stay all through school? That's ridiculous! What happends if he decides he wants to do an apprenticeship, or isn't academinc, or has other issues - what penalties are in the contract? I wouldn't have thought that was legal?

Although, I know one private school south of Melbourne that is 13-14K for prep, and is pre-kinder -12. You can pay a "deposit" in pre-kinder of 2K+ to inprove your chances of getting in in prep (I think at that campus - they have more than one), but no guarantee as they only take 50, and its non-refundable if your child misses out.