Great facilities don't mean much if the teachers are crappy. Likewise, an awesome teacher can still get the best out of a child with minimal resources.
I put my DD into a mainstream independent school even though she qualifies for a ELU because I knew that because the school chooses who they hire that there would be a certain amount of consistency on their approach because they would have to fit with the school's philosophy of education which is often stricter/or more defined than a public school. In the short time DD spent in the public system I found it a bit of pot luck on the type of teacher and their approach, sometimes good sometimes not so good IYKWIM.
We are choosing at the moment & I am at a complete loss..it's a very tough decision. We are finding it hard as we've just moved here, so that is not helping as we don't know the area's etc.
I don't think you are really going to know what the teacher is like until your child has started, first impressions do count but you don't know what teacher you are going to get if there is more than one class etc.
What we have done is asked around, what do mums at playgroup etc think...many have kids at school already. Go and look at the schools, what does the clasrooms look like, what facilities do they offer. Simple things like sport (some do more than others depends what you want). What is their bullying policy? What is the teacher to student ratio. How many kids in the school, is it zoned. Is it in your area, someone made a good point....your child will make friends with these kids and you will prob be involved in play dates/parties etc you don't want to be travelling all around try and go for something in your area & then there is state or private?
My Kindy has written a list to show us where each child is going so parents can get an idea of what has been chosen. Most out of my sons class are going to a state school, and most of these are the kids he plays with & gets along with really well. So whilst we were not going to send him to a state school we are thinking this could be a good option. We've all established relationships with child/parent. The kindy teacher recommends this school, it's got great facilities but on the downside it is very big (student numbers) & this worries me.
TBH I think the bullying policy is irrelevant. All schools have a bullying policy - it is how they implement it that counts. Things like buddy systems, processes and so on.
last year we did the whole school thing with DS. The school we chose is the largest in our town, has about 300 students. I was really impressed with the Principal, she was very focused and answered our questions well. I was also impressed that as we toured the school any student that we came across she knew their name. I had confidence in her as a principal and that if I was to have concerns that she would deal with them.
I also liked that the school has a strong focus on giving the students chances to improve their leadership skills. I think that this is something that will help my son in life.
Other things I liked was that they had a variety of programs, music, performing arts, a vegetable garden etc.
Personally proximity to home is a big deal for me -too much time spent travelling to and from school limits other activities, and I figure that time can be more interestingly spent, and I think it is important to have friends who live close by. I changed secondary schools after two years because the distance and time from home was restricting in terms of social activities etc. Primary school majority of people in my village went to village school, I had to go on bus to get to mine, so had one friend in village but no others. However living here it does seem there is more variety in schools people living in certain areas attend, so maybe the friendship groups thing isn't a big deal. If the closest school was not good in other areas in relation to others though I would take that into consideration but being close would make up for some things in my opinion. E.g. Short time travelling and being able to walk to and from school would allow easy visits to library on the way home.
How cheerful the students look.
Do you feel like you would want to be involved in its community?
What activities do they have outside the classroom? Gardens, sports, music?
Demographics of the families who use it. Sadly the schools with more expensive cars parked outside at drop-off time tend to be better equipped and thus attract better teachers.
How far is the commute - how far will you have to drive or would you prefer to walk?
Will any of their pre-school/child care friends make the transition to big school with them?
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What are the most important things when looking for a school??
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