There are many factors a parent uses to judge the best preschool in Bangkok for their child. Some of them come from the parent’s experiences with their own education. But increasingly, parents are starting to do their research. They’re reading about education methods and applying what they’ve read to the needs of their child.
With so many new international schools welcoming students and offering their versions of the best teachers, curriculum and facilities, the parent’s task of finding the best fit for their child relies on this research and their knowledge of modern, progressive education methods.
They’ve realised that to judge a preschool effectively and objectively, they have to isolate the qualities that will matter the most in their child’s ongoing education and focus on them separately to get an accurate view of the benefit of one preschool over another.
Use Four Main Factors to Find the Best Preschool in Bangkok
Parents should keep in mind four main factors to help them determine the best preschool in Bangkok for their child. These are:
- Personal development
- Curriculum
- Teaching staff
- Engaging activities
Parents who keep these factors in mind when visiting all the candidate schools in Bangkok will be able to make the best objective choices when touring the classrooms and facilities and listening to the teachers and administration talk about their programmes.
The needs of your child should also be considered. Their strengths and weaknesses should be a factor in your ultimate decision on what sort of programme will be shaping their early development.
Personal Development
Parents need to keep in mind that the main purpose of preschool is to foster personal development in young children. Your child will be encouraged to develop their physical, communication, emotional and social skills so that they can explore the world around them and engage productively in a classroom environment. A quality preschool programme should also increase a child’s attention span and work on their ability to listen and pay attention.
But preschools serve as both a developmental step and an introduction to the academic life the child will soon be entering. The preschool should offer early literacy development and maths skills. It should also approach these subjects with the aim of keeping the child interested and engaged. These lessons should be fun and entertaining to take part in. By teaching these skills in a fun way, the preschool will make an early positive impression of these subjects on the child that is likely to last throughout their education and make the subjects much less intimidating.
Curriculum
The curriculum of any preschool is a crucial factor in a parent’s decision-making. Parents naturally want to bolster their child’s strengths and work on strengthening their weaknesses.
A parent’s own education, home country, and life experiences can all affect the type of education they want their own children to receive. Some parents specifically want their child to experience an American curriculum, while others favour the British standards of education. This influences the preschool curriculum a parent chooses.
Some parents notice a strong creative side of their children and want to encourage that aspect of their child’s development and later education, while some notice their child is more logic-oriented in their thinking and interests. They imagine their child would do better in an education that focuses heavily on STEM subjects.
The curriculum of a preschool can either help or hinder a child who favours one of these paths over the other. And parents should give a lot of consideration to a preschool’s curriculum. The chosen curriculum should favour and nurture your child’s interests and strengths as much as possible.
Teaching Staff
Paying for the best curriculum in the world is worthless unless the curriculum is taught by experienced, qualified teachers. The teachers at your chosen preschool should have a passion for teaching as they will be the ones preparing the children for their educational experiences to come.
The teacher should know all the strengths and developmental areas of the children in their classrooms. They should prepare a schedule of the skills that need to be worked on and keep in close communication with the parents to let them know their child’s progress.
The preschool staff should consist of nurturing individuals who are dedicated to providing their students with the care and guidance to excel long after leaving preschool. The best of these educators focus on producing individuals who can think rationally, work well with others, are compassionate and caring, and have a genuine curiosity and interest in the world around them.
Engaging Activities
Most preschool programmes use a series of fun and recurring activities to develop young minds and bodies and keep the students engaged and curious. The ‘fun’ aspect ensures that the child stays interested and is able to satisfy the ultimate aim of the activity, thereby feeling a rewarding sense of accomplishment. The recurring aspect gives them a taste of the daily scheduling that will soon become a part of every student’s life.
Ideally, these activities should teach more than one idea, developmental skill, or discipline. For instance, the class can be divided into teams. Each team can be given a picture of a meadow filled with animals. The teams can then be tasked with identifying the types of animals and counting the number of each type of animal. This activity teaches the children to work together, thus improving their social skills. It also explores their knowledge of animal names, improving their verbal abilities. Lastly, the activity asks them to exercise their maths skills by counting.
The best preschools use these creative activities to keep young minds alert and engaged. Through these activities, the students learn almost without realising it, and further their development and their fledgling academic skills at the same time.
Visit Raintree International School
If you’re looking for the best preschool in Bangkok for your child, be sure to make an appointment to see Raintree International School’s preschool and kindergarten programme. Talk to our experienced staff members and tour our campus before making your decision.
