School, how to pick?

How did you decide which school to send your child to?

Was it the location i.e local, just down the road.

Or you know someone that goes there works there e.t.c Or has a good name in the community.?

Was it the school you went to?

Or did decile rating or special character the reason.( meaning catholic, or christian e.t.c)

Just wondering as having a hard time deciding where to send DS1 we have a bit of time. But may decide to move so need to look now .

How do you know it's a good school???

Thanks

i talk to teachers who have been there, in particular relief teachers who often have an interesting basis of comparison. We looked at schools last year when we were buying as a good place for jake was important, and we wanted a local neighbourhood type school.

we looked at the ERO report to see if there were any glaring issues. We also looked at staff turnover (through the education gazette), and went in to a few. The ones that treated us well and like we were welcome to have a look around were the ones we highlighted as possible areas to buy in. the ones who treated us like we were being over protective and weird, we crossed off.

I always wanted my kids to go to a Catholic school for a number of reasons but DH didn't so we did have a look around, which included an objective look at the school i wanted to send them to.

ERO we looked at and compared between schools, including how the roll was made up - as in % of PI and Maori children - it was important to me that there was a good mix of those kids, as in the real world..some schools have hardly any "other" flavours of children other than white middle class, lol.

Visit the school - we (well, I) met with the NE teachers at both schools and had a look round the classroom and play areas. Our head teacher at pre school said we should be looking for a classroom with heaps of the childrens work on the walls, that looks fun and that J would like learing about those things or doing those things. Spoke to principals as well, and other staff (office ladies etc)

Also, one selling point to me was that at the school we chose in the end there are 3 play grounds. NE to year 3 children can play in ANY of these playgrounds (but tend to stick to their own area) but big kids can't come into their space unless they are doing the "buddy" thing. I really liked that!

Spoke to parents whos children attend the school to find out good and bad points

Tried very hard not to listen to negative feedback within the community from people who don't have kids at or never had kids at that school.
Our head pre school teacher also said that as in life, negative stories get heard often as the squeky wheel gets the oil....she said sometimes its a good idea to look at the child/family as those who complain often do so with everything and she also said 90% of the time its the child - as in the school and the child might not be a good fit, not always the schools fault, and often the complainers are parents who only want to complain and lay blame, not fix stuff.

In the end I was able to "talk" DH into letting the kids be enrolled in the catholic school. To be completely honest, I like that gang kids and naughty kids from "bad families" etc don't go to this school as the fees probably put their parents off....

I love that 47% of our roll is PI, Asian and Maori

I love the values taught within the school (that is important to me, that what is taught in home is taught at school, going to church isn't a foreign concept to any of these kids, so mine won't get bullied for going)

A decile 8 school, but still has alot of "poor" families and very large families - shows these families place value on education, so more parents that "care" about that stuff, and children are exposed to kids from all kinds of backgrounds and ethnicities

Great school community feel - the whole school pitches in when needed.

All schools are probably "the same" - as in you get parents that are passionate about the school (like me) and others that aren't that bothered.

Phew. A novel!

I first got a list of all the schools in our area (zoned or not) then looked at the zoned ones.

Looked at resources at the schools. How many classrooms, how many teachers, library, sport fields everything else and noted everything.

Then I checked the Decile rating as well as the ERO reports.

I checked how many kids there was in the school and talked to parents at Playcentre that had kids at those schools.

After that I had two schools that I really loved. We made an appointment to go see each principal. Had a walk around school grounds, spoke to the new entrant teacher as well as principals and took what they gave us home.

Between all of this we chose the school we thought will be best for our family.

What was important to me was a not too low decile, smaller school was better and I loved how the bigger kids came up to McKayla and took her around and played and looked after her (with not an adult in sight asking them too). And I am talking about the 11 year olds that came up to her.

Principal was lovely and a good mix of kids.

If you do consider a catholic school be prepared to enrol now. I approached one school and the wait list was 5 years. This was because we were non -catholic and catholics get first preference which I can understand totally. I just found it funny that you needed to enrol when you were pregnant.

We have gone private with my DD in highschool and we always get people bagging our choice. We have more supporting us but we get our share of negative comments.

I go by word of mouth most of all. Ask lots of questions in kindy and daycares etc.    

Fattartsrock sounds like a great school,
where is it? Auckland south i hope!

MrsMojo wrote: I didn't look all that hard TBH. We're Catholic and DD is enrolled in our parish school.  It wasn't a tough decision for us.  It has a great ERO report.  We attend church with many of the families and teachers from her school, we know plenty of children at the school and lots of adults that went to the school and speak its praises and we know several children around DDs age from kindy and church that will be going to the same school.  I also love that it is a small school with a real family feel to it and that I know some of the teachers socially.

Sounds like why I love "our" school so much!!!!

Our school and pre school are on the same grounds as the church so many of the kids go there right through, then the college is next door! (not Catholic, though)

We enrolled a few months out, but we got in on preference. Pays to ask at the office as we got in cos my mum is a Catholic, but we nor the children are - well,i will be on the 11th of November, lol, but some schools must have a closer connection to the church. Depends, you would need to ask.

And, sorry, but "my" school is in Blenheim!

Good luck!

fattartsrock wrote: I reckon people are "intimidated" by private or "different" schools and feel like you are "judging" them and their choices by not sending your kids to the same kind of school they go to, therefore get all defensive and narky, bagging your choice to make themselves feel better about not making that choice. Dicks.

 

MrsMojo wrote:

I didn't look all that hard TBH.

We're Catholic and DD is enrolled in our parish school. It wasn't a tough decision for us. It has a great ERO report. We attend church with many of the families and teachers from her school, we know plenty of children at the school and lots of adults that went to the school and speak its praises and we know several children around DDs age from kindy and church that will be going to the same school. I also love that it is a small school with a real family feel to it and that I know some of the teachers socially.

This is what I want!

Maybe we should move to wellington!

I chose the closes school we are in zone for. It has a high decile of 9. It is a good school & I am happy with it. If my boys were not happy there I would look around.

My friends boy is at a low decile school & they get heaps, free books, breakfast, fruit, school fees are hardly anything & fund raising is only now & then if that.

Nearly ever week I am paying out for something at school & the fees are not lowered for more than 1 child.