Choosing the Right Elementary School for Your Child Is Vital

Looking for the right elementary school for your child in Singapore? If so, this is a smart decision that will have a positive impact on your child’s life. For a long time, early childhood education has been an afterthought for parents. However, research shows that these schools are instrumental in a child’s social, cognitive, and physical development.  

When you choose a pre-prep school, consider the impact the school experience has on your child. The choice of early childhood school affects the quality of your child’s first interaction with education. In this post, find out the importance of elementary learning, benefits of a high-quality school and tips to find the right school for your child. 

Why Is Elementary School Important? 

Many parents don’t take time to choose the best programmes, because they consider this a transient stage, which doesn’t matter much. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

For a start, your child enjoys a solid foundation in academics when they join elementary school. These programmes have highly trained and certified teachers who create activities to facilitate learning. All the play you observe at these schools has a critical role in boosting the child’s academic development. The school prepares your child for prep school. By learning basic skills such as math, the alphabet, vocabulary, and other literacy skills, your child has a head start in their academic life. 

More importantly, pre-school becomes a second area of socialization away from the family. Your child meets new kids and they quickly learn how to interact positively. Early social development is critical for your child and early school can help. From cooperation, compromises, problem solving, to diversity, pre-school introduces invaluable skills for your child.

Another important role of elementary education programmes is in the development of motor skills. These schools have multiple activities that promote use of motor skills. From drawing, painting, writing, games to dances, a lot of activities in these schools promote development of fine and gross motor skills.

Why is the Right Elementary School Vital?

Singapore boasts many elementary schools but they’re not equal. The choice of the school matters a lot if you want your child to enjoy the whole range of benefits. Now that you appreciate the impact of early school on your child’s development, you want them to join only the best institutions. Here are reasons for this:

1. Child’s safety: A high-quality elementary education centre emphasizes your child’s safety. These facilities comply with the stringent standards set by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA). You enjoy peace of mind when you know your child is safe every day. Besides the safe environment, these institutions have the right personnel to handle emergencies.
2. The curriculum: The right elementary institution offers more than simple activities to pass time. These are professional programmes following an expertly developed curriculum. For instance, an institution that follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) will have high standards to guarantee the students achieve their Early Learning Goals (ELGs). Some crucial areas of learning include communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts and design.
3. Expertise: Teachers in the right elementary programmes have prerequisite skills and experience. The teachers are highly-trained and hold certification in early childhood teaching and other related specialisations. This team designs appropriate activities to help students learn through exploration and discovery. 
4. Professionalism: If you choose the right early childhood school, you enjoy the best experience as a parent and so does your child. All systems work seamlessly from the admission process, assessment, communication, payments, and any other interactions. You know the organisation running the programme has professionals at the helm and this gives you the confidence to enrol and leave your child here.
5. Notable progress: Once you enrol your child in a good elementary childhood programme, you can easily follow up on the progress. The child’s development is notable from their speech, positive behaviour such as taking responsibility, positive attitude and much more. The teachers keep you abreast of any changes after their assessments. 

How Do You Choose the Right Elementary School? 

Every parent wants the best for their child. A good elementary school is one such good thing that can benefit your child for life. The skills taught at this early stage impact your child in prep school and even in later stages of life. To ensure you child gets the most out of this stage of education, use these tips to choose the right school:

1. Look for licensing/accreditation from the authorities
2. Research the school’s reputation and experience
3. Confirm the experience/training of the teachers
4. Visit the school for a physical assessment of the environment
5. Ask for referrals and recommendations
6. Visit their website to learn more about the programme
7. Query the curriculum to determine if it suits your child 
8. Talk to someone in the school to learn more 

Final Thoughts 

Are you thinking that elementary schooling isn’t important? Well, this is one of the many misconceptions about early childhood education. However, with this insight, you now appreciate how critical elementary education is for your child. Go on and find the right early childhood school for your child.