My DD is due to start Prep next year, and I'm having a hard time trying to come to a decision about where she will be going to school. We had two schools picked out, one private and one public. The private school is right across the road from her Kindergarten and has an excellent reputation, plus some of her Kindy friends may be going to this school, so I had no issues with her going there as the transition would be easy. We put in an application for enrollment but unfortunately there were no spaces available. The public school also has a good reputation, and she has family who attends this school. She has also recently started dance classes which are held in the school's hall every Saturday. I would like her to go there, but DD's father has suggested another private school which currently has vacancies. This school also has a good reputation, has an extensive curriculum and a lot to offer the students. I agree that this seems like a great school and am considering it, but I'm also concerned with how she will transition and settle in. DD has told me that she wants to go to this public school (just because her cousins go there). While the public school does not have as much to offer as the private, I still feel she would do better at this school because she actually wants to go there, she has family that goes there and she attends dance classes at the school's hall every Saturday so she's familiar with the environment. Because of this I feel that the transition to Prep would be so easy for her and that she would settle in really well at this school. Now here is the issue: 1. I'm still torn about what to do - the private school which has so much to offer, or the public where she actually wants to go and would probably settle in well there and 2. for DD's father (we are separated) this public school is a last resort because he is adamant on a private education for DD. If I come to the conclusion that I want her to go to this public school, how to I get DD's father to come around? Thank you for reading. x
3 Replies
If he is happy to pay for the private I'd go private. Your daughter will settle well anywhere she goes. All schools do a really thorough orientation with little ones, have buddy systems going etc.
In the long term it sounds like it will be a great school for your daughter, very little school work actually happens in the first few weeks so it's not like she will 'fall behind'. I think you need to think long term not short term.
Plus if Dad wants this it will help keep the peace and it's really not worth digging heels in over, if he is paying!
Perhaps negotiate a private high school. I've heard numerous people who think this is more important anyway. By then she'll be old enough to plead her case if she wants to stay with friends & cousins.
Then again wouldn't it be better for her to go through without changing? So if youre undecided, go with private and don't give her a choice. She's too young to understand the full implications of that choice anyway.
Go with what your daughter wants. The best school in the whole world wouldn't even benefit her as much as a school she wants to go to. Just enroll her and the father will need to understand because its not about either of your wishes but hers.