In a major\nnew series of video interviews with school leaders drawn from across the UAE,\nexclusively from SchoolsCompared.comTV, they have asked David Cook to guide\nparents and reveal all about how they can interrogate schools to find out just\nhow well each will really meet the needs, and deliver on the full potential, of\ntheir children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the top questions parents should ask\nschools when they visit, and what are good answers to these questions?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Cook: <\/strong>What I like to do is say come with that three\ndifferent perspectives. One perspective would definitely be about the staff.\nAll the magic that happens in a great school or an outstanding school, happens\nin the classroom. So as a parent, I want to know where do you recruit most of\nyour teachers from, and what’s your turnover rate like? You want some turnover\nwith fresh ideas, but you don’t want a teaching body that changes 50% every two\nyears. So, I’d want to know that question. The second perspective would be a\npupil perspective. Tell me about the school itself, where are the pupils from?\nAre you a genuinely international school, or does one or two nationalities\ndominate the pupil body? And the second question of course about pupils, is\nwhere do pupils go when they leave you? So, for instance, this year I had a\npupil that’s got an offer to go to Stanford, last year one of our top pupils\nwent to Oxford. So, parents are putting their trust in schools, so I’d want to\nknow where the pupils were going. And the third area if I may, is about the\nparents. We’ve discussed staff, pupils, and now parents. The great thing about\nsocial media, Which Schools Advisor, and Schools Compared, and others, is you\ncan talk directly to parents now. So, I’d be asking parents the question, I’d\nbe asking, “Why did you choose Repton?” If I’m doing a tour of the\nschool, you may very well find that quite a few staff are also parents, so if I\ngot the chance I would be asking current parents who are also staff, “What\ndo you think about the school? And why did you send– why are you happy for\nyour child to be at this school?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What really matters when parents are looking for the right school for their child?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Cook: <\/strong>That’s a brilliant question, and to sum it all\nup I would use the word, the culture of the school, the vision of the school,\nhow does the school feel to the parent? Is it authentic? After all, schools do\nthe same thing. They deliver Arabic, or maths, or English, or French, or\nscience. So, it’s why they do the things they do and how they do them. If I was\nto ask you a question, and when watching this video, what makes a great Italian\nrestaurant? It’s the quality of the food, but it’s also the host. There’s\nsomething about the atmosphere, there’s something about the ambiance, there’s\nsomething about having a great experience when you’re there. So, I would be\nsaying to parents, visit the school. And how does this feel? Does it feel\nauthentic? And does this school sell me an idea where this is a great place to\ncome, this is an outstanding school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COVID-19 is having a major impact across\nschools and revenue. Do you think all schools will survive? And should this be\na factor in parents deciding on what school to choose?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Cook: <\/strong>Well, it’s been a dreadful pandemic, and we’re\nstill in the middle of it. My heart goes out to anyone is struggling in this\ntime. One or two schools have really struggled to keep their pupil body\ntogether. Inevitably, some ex-pats have taken the difficult decision because of\ntheir own financial circumstances to go back to their home. And therefore, one\nor two schools are closing. We’re really hoping it’s only one or two. But as a\nparent, of course, you’re going to ask the question, “Does that school\nhave a deep tradition? Is it secure? If my son is just about to start in the\nsenior school, or my daughter in the early years, or maybe even starting\nA-Levels or IB, I’d want to know that that two-year course or that five-year\ntime in senior school was secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n