Education they say is the bedrock of national development which is why schools should focus on how they can equip students with the skills they need to survive in the outside world. A school that can achieve this feat can be tagged as a good school. Being called a good school is not only about what you have in your school, or the buildings, but it all comes down to how you utilize all those available facilities to provide the best for your students. As a platform that deals with about 900 inquiries from parents monthly, we can tell you that parents are more concerned about how your school facilities can be of value to their children.
This should then tell you that a good school is not only recognized based on its facilities but also on the following;
1. Academic Outline
2. Development of Students
3. Learning Environment
4. Institutional Environment
Let us talk more about these;
1. Academics Outline
Let the academic outline of your school extend beyond how your students perform in class, but also to the academic programs you offer. Every school has its way of teaching; they employ different curricula and different teaching methods. As a good school, you should ensure that your programs are tailored with the intent to prepare the students for any career of their choice in any part of the world. A good school should also be able to introduce technology into the classroom without neglecting the basic student-teacher interaction.
2. Development of Students
Another way to identify if your school is good is by the students themselves. The major reason the school exists is to develop young minds, not only in academics but also socially and emotionally. Extra-curricular activities should definitely be invested into; let your school focus on the holistic development of students. When all boxes are checked they can discover new interests and grow. With this, they can showcase their skills both inside and outside the school.
3. Learning Environment
A good school is always driven by one thing, the interest of the students. The school should ensure that the students are exposed to a conducive learning environment that promotes their academic, physical, emotional, and social development. Parents opt for private schools because of the safe environment, but it is not just about the security of the children, but also about the students accepting one another irrespective of their ethnic and cultural background. Still on this, a good school also fosters a favorable relationship between them and the hosting community. You do not say “Since it is your school, you don’t care about what is going on out there” If you conclude this, how then do you want the community to accept you and your students? When you consider the security of the students, you will discover that it is better to maintain a strong relationship with the host community. You can encourage this by setting up programs that foster community growth during and after school hours.
4. Institutional Environment
Every school should note that the best way to develop a child is by involving every stakeholder, and when I say every, I mean the parents. A good school must have in place 2-way communication, whereby the school and the parents are in constant communication. The communication can be of various forms; phone calls, emails, newsletters, PTA meetings, etc, but whatever information is being shared must involve the progress of the students. Included in this aspect also is the facilities, no matter how affordable a school is, they must have the necessary facilities in place. Classrooms, laboratories, medical facilities, security, library, and extra-curricular facilities that are functional should be kept in place to support the learning and development of the students.
Schools are established to serve students and parents, but when you neglect this aim and focus on making profit alone, you lose sight of what it means to be a good school.
Let your aim, vision, and mission be guided by one motive; doing all these in the interest of the students.
