It's been quite a few nail-biting weeks since deciding at the end of last year to transition our eldest child from a middle school towards a secondary school. There were a few choices to consider i.e. another charter school, the local colleges/high schools, a private school or a grammar school.
So as an informed parent I went through different schools ERO (Education Review office) reports; checked through the Education counts website at the schools achievement data and paying close attention to Year 13 NCEA pass rates; looked through the league tables and compared schools performances; spoke to different parents with children at a variety of schools; checked out schools websites and then began contacting and going out to the schools to have a look.
One of the interesting things was that after the first impressions of each respective school in their 'look', meeting the front line office staff was another interesting experience. Some reception women were friendly and others were not so. This included phone manner and discussions.
In the end, we chose to enrol her in a grammar school in that the career choice that our child has had since primary school, demands a rigorous academic pathway which we thought would be supported through our chosen school. Not only that, but the school also offered soccer and art as options that our child chose excel in as well as the academic subjects. There is some discussion to be had on cultural capital but that's in another blog.
Don't get me wrong, having experienced the local high schools both as an educator, student and board member many local schools do have students who perform well at the local level but by in large most schools who are performing at a higher percentage of students passing NCEA level 3 are either from private schools, integrated schools i.e. Catholic based schools and grammar schools.
Wishing all the students who are attending new schools in the new year, like our 3 children a very prosperous new year...
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