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Grade 8
students and parents will have a busy couple of months as local school
boards hold open houses at all of their secondary schools. The open houses
are designed to provide parents and students with a chance to look over
the facilities and discuss the various program options that are available.
In addition, Junior Kindergarten registrations will be taking place
during the next couple of months, so many schools will be offering open
houses for new parents.
It is also a time when secondary school graduates will be
considering their choices of post-secondary schools as they come closer
and closer to the end of the school year.
Grants to school boards are determined by enrolment. The greater
the enrolment, the larger the grant. Therefore, it is becoming
increasingly important for local schools to be concerned about their
community image and be continually thinking about recruitment for upcoming
years. In addition to the importance of increasing their total grant
allocation, the more students enrolled at a school, the easier it is to
offer a wider variety of programs that meet the needs of the students.
A great deal of money is spent on advertising by school boards to
promote their institutions and let the public know about open houses. It
is highly recommended that parents and students take advantage of these
open houses in order to become familiar with the options available to
them.
REFLECTION:
I have always encouraged students and parents to take advantage of
every opportunity to visit schools during the open house “season”.
Even if you are already attending your school of choice, and even if you
are satisfied, it is never a waste of time to go to one of the open houses
and see what is available. Many of us have gone into an open house that
has been arranged for the general public by real estate companies, just
out of curiousity to see what the home looked like, never intending to
buy. There is nothing wrong with doing the same thing with our education
institutions.
One thing I have encouraged with secondary school graduates is to
take a private, personal tour, without any tour guides, of post-secondary
institutions they are considering. Everyone dresses up their building
during formal open houses, so it is difficult to imagine what things are
like during a normal day. When you decide to take a “drop-in” tour,
make sure you go to the school when classes are in session and it is busy.
Spend some time at the student center and just observe. Walk around the
hallways, down in the basement, in between buildings, and around residence
areas. Check out the library and physical education facilities. And,
don’t forget to talk to students who are at the school.
Unfortunately, too many secondary school students select their
post-secondary institutions based on what they see on the internet web
sites, in colourful brochures, or during “university and college days”
organized by school boards. For parents who may be covering some or all of
the costs of post-secondary education for their children, it is well worth
a day or two off work to travel to an institution for one of these drop-in
tours before you have to sign the final application form. It may prevent
your child from being one of the thousands of students who find themselves
saying, “This is not what I expected when I applied to the school.”
If you have any doubt, whether you are looking for the right school
for your 4 year old, your 14 year old or your 17 year old, make
arrangements to drop in for a private, personal tour of the school during
a regular school day to see how the school operates on a day-to-day basis.
Talk to the administrators and guidance counselors and ask them to “sell
you on their program”. Education is not something that you should ever
take lightly.
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