RIGHT AGE TO JOIN A SCHOOL – THE EARLY YEARS?

What’s right age to join a school?

is a question we often get, or comes up in conversations with parents – especially from first time parents

  • some parents seem to want to enroll a child early, say at around 6 or 9 months – often because the mother’s maternity & extended leave is getting over –   
  • many parents (especially first-time parents) are not adequately clear – what’s the correct age to join school? There’s so much chatter they hear on the subject, from friends & relatives, so its natural to be unclear.
  • and owing to the pandemic, some children have been home much longer. so this year is trickier for everyone –
this year we are seeing parents talking to us for admission of their tiny tots – their 2.5 & +year old’s or even older 4+ kids, all /most of whom have had no or negligible nursery/kindergarten schooling?  So most are trying to catch up/make up – as mentioned, a trickier than usual schooling year

But if these were normal times, what’s the ideal age, to get your child admitted in a good school

 FIRST FEW YEARS, ARE MOST IMPORTANT!

Contrary to common perception, that the early years are basically for play ; and that schooling is mainly important only during later years….i.e middle and high school (i.e good marks/success in class 10/12 @ high school), good college, etc. ; it’s actually during early years that the foundational development of the child’s mind, body & emotional capabilities is significantly  built & cast which becomes the base/pattern on which all further development & success in later years’

  • This is because the brain is developing exponentially during the first few years (especially 0 to 6 years), absorbing knowledge & skills like a sponge & growing/developing rapidly – which is why smaller children learn language and basic skills like cycling, swimming, etc so very fast. In later years also the child develops – but the pace is relatively slower as development is linear – so as an example, it can take longer for older children/adults to learn a new language/skills, etc ; and difference is so stark that in many developed countries – the preschool & primary school teachers are amongst the most well trained/highly paid professionals.
  • Hence the importance of your child enrolling a well-run & structured, engaging early/primary years schooling program, in which play, activities, music, sounds, visual perceptions, colours, coordination, conversations, storytelling & dialogue, outdoor play, projects etc, – are designed to leverage the inherent  capabilities of a young fast growing human – developing his or her language, fine & gross motor skills, cognitive capabilities – leveraging the inherent  superior learning & development capabilities of a  0-6 year old child.

HENCE VERY IMPORTANT TO CHOOSE YOUR CHILD’s FIRST SCHOOL WISELY; ITS NOT JUST FREE PLAY !

  • Our green, ecofriendly, ventilated, bright vibrant school – with a warm, friendly, caring, nurturing ethos – draws its core early years child development principles from international child development experts – Piaget, Vygostky, Bruner and Eric Erikson
  • In the Primary grades – our curriculum is further enhanced with best practices & learning modules drawn from Cambridge, CBSE & NCERT

SO WHATS THE RIGHT AGE TO JOIN A NURSERY SCHOOL

  • 18 MONTHS OR NEAR ABOUT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO JOIN A GOOD EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOLING PROGRAM.  ( before that the best approach – not always possible, we understand – is that the mother/father/grandparent/guardian invest time nurturing the child @ home, including if possible Breast Feeding the child at least for 12-18 months.)
  • Joining a nursery/ECE Primary school at around 18 months gives the child approx. 2 years of critical pre-nursery interventions/development time,
  • before joining & spending a year in the important nursery class – when the child is around 3.5 years;
    • 1 year in the next level of development i.e. KG when the child grows further to about 4.5 years
    • and finally graduating to join grade 1 at 5.5 +years of age
  • sometimes we do observe some parents a bit worried about missing a year and trying too hard to catch up – which is not the best approach. Internationally benchmarked research, including in India also brings out that a few months or a year delay, just does not matter in the long run – so no need to worry, dear parent, on this count. Let your school teacher advise you, on what’s best for your child, she has your child’s best interest always in mind.
  • Early childhood SCHOOLING is incidentally not same as DAYCARE programs for toddlers– which essentially just take “care” of the child during the day, but don’t really “school” the child proactively by structured, sophisticated & daily, process & teacher driven, diverse, engaging in major developmental interventions (for the child).

So your best option, dear parent should be to join the prenursery morning school program at the age of around 18 months; day care for your child can be in the afternoon’s (if you are working and need care & support in the afternoon for your child.

but any daycare program should ideally be a well-structured, engaging, activities enabled childcare framework, to catalyze/leverage sleep, rest & recuperation & development in the afternoon/evening too – not just a safe caring place to sleep, play & eat!

However, if your child is older and has missed out a lot during the covid months/years – no worries – let us try and help you in partnering to catch up in a structured, well designed, internationally benchmarked schooling program! 

Together, we will make it happen.

after all we’ve been doing this since 2004 (been over 18 years) and are fortunate that we have a great team of awesome teachers & great management & support staff – and run two centres of excellence @ Gurgaon – one at Southcity1 and the other at Tata Primanti, Sector 72!

Have more questions: please reach us – we’ll be glad to chat /help!! Thanks for your attention. sincerely, Team TSE.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Contact US
Contact us