We’re relocating. What do we need to think about before moving our children to a new school?
We’re relocating. What do we need to think about before moving our children to a new school?
When parents learn that the family will be relocating their first concern is generally the education of their children. Here are some questions and answers that we have encountered to help parents think carefully about what matters to them – but also what matters to their children – before moving.
Q: My child is very bright. How do I know that s/he will be challenged?
A: Before jumping to conclusions, begin by finding out the curriculum in the country you are going to. Whether you are considering local or international schools, try to identify key areas in which you can match up what the child has learned at school, to date, with what s/he would be learning after s/he arrives in the new school. As often as you may identify areas where s/he is ahead, you will see others where s/he has not yet encountered the material. When you approach a prospective teacher, make sure to take a balanced approach to asking how curriculum differences are handled – including those where your child is behind as well as those where s/he is ahead.
Q: We will be moving back home in three years. How can I make sure that my child will be up to date in all academic areas when we return home?
A: Repatriation is a significant and genuine concern among relocating parents. This needs to be considered on both a macro and a micro level. One of the reasons you are considering relocating is that the overall experience provides an unparalleled opportunity for your child to learn – perhaps equivalent to an entire lifetime of schooling. Parents who can keep this in mind have less concern about the repatriation transitions, and children tend to absorb the confidence level that their parents have.
In terms of specific actions you can take to make the move home smoother, you can begin talking to the new teacher about safeguards to put in place even before you choose a school. In addition, ask your teacher at home for curriculum books to help your child remain aligned. The summer prior to your actual repatriation is a good time for offering your child tutoring or extra tuition in any subjects in which s/he may have fallen behind.
Q: Will my child make friends?
A: To a child moving to a new school, more urgent than making new friends is his/her sorrow about leaving existing friends. While, as a parent, you will want to provide him or her with tools to adapt to the new social environment, first be sure that you have given her enough opportunity to share her feelings of loss. Without mourning appropriately, your child may not be available to make new friends when you relocate. Many children feel loyalty to their old friends and worry that making new ones would be disloyal. Be sure that you have asked enough questions and addressed her genuine concerns before sharing tips for integrating socially into the new school that may fall upon deaf ears if the timing is not right.
After clarifying the child’s main concerns, it is wonderful if you can become acquainted with, and share with him, customs and rituals in their new home including how to dress, how to address the teacher, and how play dates are conducted. The less your child feels like a stranger the more comfortable he will feel during those first days.
Q: I have been a class mother at my child’s school? Can I do that after we move as well?
A: Different countries have varied customs about parental involvement at school. Before embarrassing your child and/or alienating a teacher by being too present a presence, ask other parents, school teachers and administrators about the role that parents have, both formal and informal, in the school experience. Become acquainted with the culture before jumping in and find another way to get your questions about your child answered if participation is not common.
Conversely, if you are moving from a culture where parental involvement is not encouraged, observe closely and talk with other parents about the culture of advocating for their children in your new home. Some parents making this transition feel they must say good-bye at the gate while other parents are reading to the class, volunteering at lunch and accompanying school trips. Most importantly, if you r child is having academic adjustment difficulties be sure that you are in contact – and politely persistent – with the school about these before the problem becomes exaggerated.
Q: My child only eats a few things. Will s/he have to eat what’s on her plate in the new school?
A: Food is a very important aspect of school to many children, particularly those who are fussy eaters. Even if everything else about a school seems perfect, be sure to ask before committing to a school whether your child will be forced to eat her peas if she hates peas. Something as trivial as this to parents may become a major negative influencing many other aspects of a child’s transition.
Source: School Choice International
