Makhampom

If you are exploring international schools with a curriculum and learning culture other than what is common to your school, one of the best opportunities to get a feel for the school is to attend an open house. But why is it important? What happens if you miss one? In this article, we will go over the reasons why parents should bring their children to an open house before they hope to enroll.

What is an Open House?
An Open House is essentially an event that a school provides interested parents and students to tour the school grounds, hear about the curriculum, speak with teachers, and see how the school operates. It’s a good chance for parents to see whether the school environment is a good match for their child.

Why would parents bring their kids to an open house?
1. Get a true sense of the school
As great as the information is that you can garner from a school’s website or materials, there’s no substitute for real life. A school tour lets you check out the classrooms, playgrounds, libraries, cafeterias and other facilities that affect your child’s learning.

2. Meet with teachers
School open houses allow you to meet teachers and administrators face-to-face. Their teaching style, their curriculum, their vision, how they take care of your child — all these can be asked as questions to ensure that your child gets the best possible education and attention. There’s no point in sending your child to a school that doesn’t meet your expectations.

3. Talk to current students and parents.
Nothing is better than hearing first-hand experience of alumni or parents to help give you a realistic idea of what a school is really like, from the quality of teaching to extracurricular activities to the environment in general. Just ask them directly if you have any issues.

4. Assess safety and environment
Although it is possible to evaluate whether the school has sufficient safety mechanisms and whether the atmosphere in the school is friendly and favorable for children’s learning from afar, visiting a school can give you valuable material for this evaluation.

What happens if I skip an open house?
You can read information on websites, reviews or even ask other parents, but not being able to visit a school means you can miss some important details like classroom environment, how teachers teach and the environment your child will be in every day.

Not attending an open house means you rely on second-party information sources that may not show reality in full and lead you to a wrong decision.