Are boarding schools the best option for your child?

This seems to be age old debate – whether to send your kid to a boarding school or not? There is one school of though that says that boarding schools are not really the nurturers of a child’s potential and skills and then there are various experts that says, it is only in a boarding school that a child can learn the best way to take care of him or herself and live a well balanced and well organized life. In this article, we plan to bridge the gap between these two philosophies and offer a pragmatic way out to all of the confounded parents and kids. 

Go for boarding school or not?

Why to opt for a boarding school?

The prime advantage of a boarding school is that it enables your child to step out of a warm and cozy cocoon and learn to fend for himself. Of course, the family is just a call away but in that competitive, strong paced and well systematic environment, the child learns to cope up with the harsh realities of life at an early age.

Besides, the curriculum of the boarding school is highly precised and it challenges the child to grow to the maximum limit of his or her potential. The command of character, discipline of conduct and mannerisms taught in these boarding schools cannot be replicated otherwise.

Why not to opt for a boarding school?

The reasons could range from emotional distress to hefty fee structure to lack of trust worthy boarding schools. A lot of families either cannot deal with being separated from their child, especially when he or she is their only child. Besides, even if one is convinced about the boarding school, they cannot bear the expenses, which involve the school fees, other academic expenses, accommodation fees, living expenses etc. And then, parents fear that in a boarding school, the kid may get involved in bad company, as they are not there to monitor each and every move and action of the kid.

The decision depends upon the willingness of the child and financial conditions, although, there are a lot of boarding schools which offer scholarships and other rebates. Below, we shall leave you with various types of boarding school and accordingly you may wish to pick one for your kid.


Junior boarding schools – these boarding schools are meant for junior classes, primarily below standard 8th.

Same sex boarding schools – these boarding schools are strictly for either girls or boys. The focused is laid on same sex education and the school’s curriculum is laid out in a way which best meets the requirement of the particular gender group. 

Boot camp – Boot camp has turned out to be one of the best training camps which prepare the kids for higher education, colleges, and also impart in them the skills and values required to live a disciplined and well organized life. In addition to that, the stress is laid on physical education and pupils are trained in a military setting.

Religious boarding schools – the admission in such boarding schools is a matter of religious beliefs and principles of a family. In the ancient times, various princes and princesses were send off the Gurukul, where the read various ancient texts and dialects and were trained in archery and other skills. The present day version the same are religious boarding schools, where in addition to higher education, the pupils are trained in religion, theology, ancient texts and spirituality etc.

Therapeutic boarding schools – finally we have with us the therapeutic boarding schools, which take into account the needs and challenged faced by the kids who have met with difficult circumstances. The name itself suggests a sort of healing and empowering unit, and you can find special therapeutic schools for troubled teenagers, or kids that have Learning Differenced (LD) and ADD / ADHD students, kids with substance abuse issues etc.

Don’t forget to do a research about these schools before getting your child admitted. And now its just matter of time where you can search for schools online and get best information and reviews about them.

The Art of Effective Communication with Your Child’s School

These notorious little creatures are always up for some mischief or the other, and hiding various important details of the school is one of them. But, it is immensely important for you, as parents, to work closely with the responsible bodies of the school, and ensure that your child is headed in a direction of excellence and development. It is a great challenge faced by the parents to be in constant touch with the class teachers and counselors at school. 

Parent Teacher Communication

We already have busy schedules, and even busier are the roads. Hence, it becomes really difficult to reach the school in person and discuss about the overall growth and development of the child. However, with technology becoming a chief ruling factor in our lives, a lot of schools and parents are collaborating online to be updated about the progress and development of the child. In this article, we shall discuss various ways in which a parent can maintain effective communication lines with the school authorities and help the child reach out to the zenith of his or her potential.

The good old dear diary

Traditionally, it used to the good old hard bound diary, which would be govern the communication taking place between the parent and the teacher. Teachers would write remark; assign homework etc in the diary and parents would proceed accordingly at home. However, with time, these little naughty beings become real pros at hiding away the diary and hence obstructing the lines of communication between the parent and the child.

As a parent, motivate your child to share the remarks in his or her diary with you. Give him enough confidence to not the dread the diary, no matter how many red marks it contains, and try explaining to him that a problem can be solved, a weakness can be overcome, but only if he regularly maintains the diary.

The boon of the technology

Alternatively, a lot of schools have now started using online collaboration channels, where the teachers keep the parents posted about the growth and development of the child. Various achievers and high rankers are felicitated on the online collaboration channel itself, and parents can easily talk to the teachers through various websites.

Besides, schools also hand out emails and newsletters to keep the parents posted about their child and various activities and endeavors organized by the school authorities in the light of your child’s progress and development.

At the time of admission, or perhaps later, ask the school authorities in what all way they plan to touch bases with your regarding the growth and development of your child. At any moment, you should have the following information ready with you, in order to get in touch the school.

• The school’s web address
• Telephone number of the school
• Email id of the school, the class teacher or the principal or student counselor
• The periodical reports of your child’s progress – both academic and co-curricular
• Any online forum which supports parent – teacher interaction.

With the help of all this information, you will be able to communicate with the school authorities in a much more consistent, streamlined and organized manner. Also, to search out for schools for your child which are using these latest technologies for communication, you can make use of online school portals.

Best ways to find the best school for your kid

In order to make a well informed decision about any school, it is important that you have all the information in hand regarding that school. Below, we shall run you through the systematic process with the help of which you can gain significant information about the school authorities, and judge whether it is the right place for your kid to be or not. Kindly read ahead to know more: 

 

Indian School Children

• Ask your friends, colleagues and family – your most trusted circle should be the first point of source of information, especially when it comes to the schools. Ask your friends and families, know about various schools in which they have admitted their kids, ask about their satisfaction levels from the school, the facilities which they receive etc and based on that, you may find yourself a step closer to finding the right school for your kid.

• Search for a school which is nearby – ideally, the schools should be in the 2 km radius of your home. This is the school which will offer you the best peace of mind, and will rule out any commutation error. Start by searching schools in your own location and judge them on the basis of their experience, faculty members, past achievers, extra curricular activities etc.

• Survey various schools – you should survey various schools, judge their physical potential and the benefits which they are offering. Also, try to get as much information about the school as possible. You should definitely know about the teacher to student ratio of the school, its performance in the past, IQ and the age of the school, minimum qualification levels of the teachers and performance tables etc.

• Ask the local government body for help – there is a local government body in every locality, which gives you important information about various government and private institutes etc. You may use Google or other search engines to find the local governing body of your locality.

• Go online while researching about the schools – all the information that you are searching for, might be made available to you online. Search about the school on various online school portals, social media sites and search engines. You can also get involved in a dialogue with the alumni of the school, through various social networking websites and learn about the core strengths and weaknesses of it.

• Do visit the school – it is important that prior to applying in the school for the admission process, you visit its premises. A lot of schools are open till evening and so, you should try to take time off and visit the schools that you have short listed.

If the school is nearby to your home, provides secure transportation services, offers a range of extra curricular activities and have takes precedence in parent – teacher interaction etc, you can be sure that you have found a good school for your kid. Get into a good bond with the teachers and school authorities and work together with them for the overall growth and development of your child.