What To Consider When Selecting A Preschool For Your Child

In today's world, with everything going the digital way and kids being pushed to the brink to excel, and education emerging as the key to a successful future, picking preprimary schools for your child can be a somewhat intimidating task. Preschools may only be the beginning ground, but are no less important than other stages of your child’s academic journey. Early childhood learning is crucial to a child's development and is built on a trusting relationship between the various stakeholders involved: you, your child, and the school and its teachers.

There are different things to look out for when picking your child's preschool. Because so much is riding on your choice — after all, you want your child to spend his/her days in an enriching, enjoyable and nurturing environment — you'll need to do your research thoroughly before making a decision. The facility should feature caring teachers, a comprehensive curriculum, and state-of-the-art facilities, and yet be priced reasonably. Or perhaps, it’s a particular learning style you’re looking for. Whatever the case may be, when you're looking for the best preschool in India, here are a few important things to keep in mind before you make this crucial decision.

1.  Budget: Budget is key. Shortlist pre-schools that fit into your budget before you start looking at other finer details. What’s the point of liking everything about a school and then having to give it up because you cannot afford it?

2. Staff: Look for how teachers interact with students.  You should see smiles and hear laughter in the classrooms. The staff members should be really listening to the students. Most importantly, the staff should love what they do. Talk to the teachers, and a love for teaching should shine through! Finding out the school's teacher turnover rate will reveal how many teachers have been there since a long time, which is a good sign.

3. Safety: Any school that claims to be the best preschool in India should have an emergency plan in place. Take a look at how safe the playground and the school transportation is. Does the school make the most of technology to notify parents when students enter and exit the vehicle? Are the backgrounds of bus drivers and other employees at the school verified?

4. Communication: Does the preprimary school keep the lines of communication open with parents? Check if the school has a handbook to fill parents in on the latest developments or if it alternatively uses monthly emails or newsletters. It's also important to know how individual teachers communicate with parents. 

5.   Teaching plan: Children learn through play. They should be holding books, touching blocks, listening to music, dancing, etc. Basically, the preschool curriculum should focus on well-rounded children!

 

6. Environment: Ensure the classrooms have proper furniture, so the students are comfortable and have enough space to move about the classroom. Preschools in Mumbai are particularly putting a lot of effort into ensuring this. Any school that claims to be the best preschool in Mumbai, will have students' art, writing, creations, and pictures all around the classroom. It should feel like a space that belongs to them.

Above all, go with your gut instinct when it comes to choosing the ideal preschool for your little one.

Factors that Make Nursery Textbooks Helpful

India is known for its phenomenal development and the future in entirely dependent not on the tools of yesterday but on the tools of tomorrow. The citizens of tomorrow must be well educated to be able to understand the difference between good and bad and right and wrong. To start with, nursery schools lay a firm foundation of a pool of education for the future citizens. Just the textbooks don’t really make a difference; kids also need other learning content that deliver the best of teaching value. Let’s scroll through the basics that go in creating textbooks of the best nursery in India integrated with multimedia content –

Deep Research of Text Books

Textbooks play a major role in the journey of learning, and they are so important that they cannot only be limited to academics. They should ideally create a team of experienced nursery teachers and child psychologists according to all the research and understanding of what the little ones need and all that they’re capable of doing. Also, it is important that the textbooks are presented in a simple, interesting style and something that covers the entire syllabus.

Focused on a Set of Objectives

At nursery level, it is important that there is enough entertainment for the little ones to want to come there every day. Every preschool and nursery come with a set of objectives that help them run the place well while also making sure the little ones benefit well and are well prepared for a better future. There are special emphasis laid on concentrating on the special skills of every individual child in practical situations. Also, the top preschool in India offers proper reinforcement of skills and knowledge that must be done with ideal use of workbooks and other available learning tools.

Choosing The Right Preschool For Your Child

When you’re on the hunt for ‘preprimary schools close to me’, it's essential to remember that preschool is the first step in your child's academic journey and can serve as the basis for all future learning. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you're making the big decision of which preschool to send your child to:

What will my child learn at preschool?

Aside from starting to learn the basics at preschool, such as the alphabet and numbers, painting, and sitting in a circle for storytime, your child will also learn important social skills such as how to be independent, share, cooperate, resolve conflicts, and follow directions. These social and emotional skills will help prepare him/her for kindergarten and life in general.

When should I start looking for a preschool?

Each preschool comes with a unique admission process and timeline. If a school has a waiting list, you may be able to add your child to it as soon as he/she is born. Some parents opt to put their kids in preschool at age two, while most others do it at three or four.

What different schools can parents choose from?

When you search for ‘preprimary schools close to me’, remember that one main difference between programmes is how structured the curriculum is. Schools have their own way to emphasize on building social and emotional skills and academic skills, how teachers interact with students, and what kind of toys and materials are used.

How do I find a good play school near me?

Word of mouth works best. You can start by talking to parents you may know from work, the neighbourhood, playgroup or the library, whose children are currently in preschool or were in preschool until recently. In particular, focus on people who have children who are similar in age to yours and, even better, who have similar personalities.

What should I look for during a visit to the school?

There should be areas for different play activities, such as a corner for reading, a puzzle table, and a make-believe corner. Look at what's hanging on the walls: are they samples of the kids' artwork? You should also ask about security procedures. If someone other than you is picking up your child, will the school check their ID and make sure they’re on the list of authorised caregivers?

Building Self Esteem In Young Kids

A quick survey of the top 10 CBSE schools in the news will reveal the rising problems in kids these days. Well, you may start your research with the CBSE schools, but the problem lies in most schools in general, and it starts much farther back - the lack of adequate self-esteem.

Problems such as bullying can be tackled very early on making a conscious effort to build healthy self esteem among kids. It might seem like the task of building self esteem should probably start when the kids are in their teens, but cognitive development research shows that the sooner the process starts, the better.

Even if your child attends the best CBSE school in India, it is not guaranteed that he or she will automatically develop a healthy self esteem. Steps need to be taken by you to ensure the same.

Here are some things you can do to ensure that your child can develop a healthy self esteem:

Strengthen your child’s sense of his family, culture and community.

Ask your child to help you with household chores and appreciate his/her support.

Get to know your child’s friends and try to spend time with them once in a while.

Plan regular one-to-one time with your child

Always treat your child with respect and never let them be the victim of misdirected anger

When your child comes to you with a problem, encourage them to come up with the solution by asking good questions.

When your child fails, be gentle with them and allow them to grieve for a little.

At all costs, avoid any comparison with other children, especially your child’s friends.

It is natural to feel tired and lack the patience to parent in the correct way at time. At times when you fail to behave the intended way, make an attempt the genuinely apologise to your child as soon as possible.

Preschool-The Start Of A Journey

While preschool may be just the starting point in a child's life, it is definitely not any less important than any other stage that follows. Early childhood learning is crucial to a child's development and helps in laying a solid foundation for a successful future ahead.

There are different things to look out for when picking your child's preprimary school. After all, apart from just learning, you want your child to spend his/her days in an enjoyable and nurturing environment.

More than just picking the right school, it's important to prepare your child for the start of this new journey. It’s also important to keep a solid sleep schedule, as you don’t want your child being sleepy when they’re off to school. 

The ability for children to play independently is also important. Having a set time each day where your child plays on their own can prepare them for life as a student in the classroom. Having play dates with kids in their age group is also a great way to see how they will adapt to having so many children around them.

Any best preprimary in India will start accepting children at around age 2½, but that doesn't mean your child is ready for preschool when she/he reaches that age. Readiness for preschool has more to do with where your child is developmentally. Is he/she socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively ready to participate in a daily, educational program with other children?

And yes, the first day of school is a big deal. It’s definitely a big deal for our children, but it’s also a big deal for us as parents. They are too young to understand our emotions and it’s best to put on a big happy smile for them. Save the tears for the car! It's the best thing you could do for your kids.

Factors To Be Considered While Choosing A Good School

An old saying goes, “A school is the second home for a child.” This is perhaps why parents are becoming increasingly cautious while choosing from the best international schools India has for their kids. A child learns a lot of what he does solely from the school. It is at the school that he interacts with someone outside his family and makes his first friends. This makes it very important to choose a good school for the kid. Let us look at the factors to be considered while choosing a good school.

Community

Consider the social and economic class of people who send their kids to the particular school. While this may seem a tad judgemental to some people, this will go on to affect your child in ways you can’t even begin to fathom. Research proves that kids belonging to affluent families are more likely to be successful in life and grow up to have less psychological issues as compared to kids who belong to marginalised families. An indicator of the economic class of the families the kids of a certain school belong to is the fees of the school. Quite naturally, marginalised families can only afford to send their kids to a school with lower fees.

School environment

There is no guarantee that a family which is well-to-do also has the values that are important in the society. Hence, it is a good thing to look at the school environment and maybe find out the reasons for which the school you are considering has been in the news. Is it because of the school won some award? Did it participate in the exchange programme? Was there some mishap - maybe a leaked MMS or something? Do thorough research about the school before finalising it.

While I don’t mean to cause you too much stress about picking the right school, I really hope you understand the importance of picking the right school for your child.