Private school interviews

[Mamma Mia]

Can any seasoned private school parents give me some tips? We're taking my dd to see the school and we're going to have a chance to talk with administrators while she plays with some other students.

What should we wear, what should we ask? What will make us look good, like the kind of family they want at their school?

This school is Pre-K to 8th grade. The classrooms are small and child-led learning is a priority. It is, aside from mixed aged classrooms, the perfect school. It's nearly everything I was looking for in a school, and there isn't another private school within reasonable distance that I would even consider. This is the kind of school you move to be near and it is a short drive from our home.

I'm very nervous. What do you suppose they'll be looking for? What can we do to increase our chances? I absolutely don't want to pressure dd.

[writermommy]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Dress casual, but nice, like "business casual". Read about the curriculum or talk to other parents then ask some targeted, intelligent questions about the curriculum. This will make you look interested and concerned about your child's education. Other than that, just be yourself. I'm sure you'll do fine.

Why don't you like mixed aged classrooms? I taught a mixed K and first grade and I loved it. The kids in both grades benefit from the arrangement. I was scared to death when I was assigned to intern at the school. I thought it would be so hard to teach such a range of kids, but it was great. To me, mixed grouping is a plus. Maybe this would be a good area to ask about during the meeting?

[Mamma Mia]

What I meant was that I *want* mixed age classrooms. Students learn so well with other aged children. Students learn from other students, and the highest level of learning comes from teaching others. I also prefer a non-hierachal system within a school. Alas, this school has age based grades.

Thanks for the advice. On a board of over 30,000 I expected a little more response!

[Mirzam]

I am not sure I am a seasoned mom in this area, but we did go through this process at the beginning of the month with my youngest for 1st grade. I desperately wanted to get him into the school. They are new, very small school with 15 children in a mixed 1/2 grade class with two amazingly strong teachers, and they only had one place available in the class because all the rest of the children were remaining. The school is also the very first (that I know of) that is offering a comtemplative education at grade school level and it is just perfect for my "comtempletive" boy (he attended a similar preschool). I too was nervous and asked his preschool teacher who knows the school and the teachers, what would be some good questions, he recommended a book on which the whole principle of the school is based and to ask the most basic question, in this instance it was on "basic goodness" which is the tenent on which the Shambala teachings rests. It worked great and the lead teacher was delighted to answer the question and it lead the conversation into many other areas! I guess this is a long winded way of saying the same as the pp. I also made is clear we very, very much wanted him to attend the school.

The interview process was very informal, bascially it was in a group with other parents and their children, all of which were trying for pre K and K places, rather than 1/2 grade as we were. DS just played and one of the teachers interacted with him for a short while, but there was no pressure on him to "perform" in anyway. We just dressed in our normal clothes, it was a Saturday morning. DS had already had a chance to spend a day at the school taking full part in the kindergarten/1st grade so they did have some idea of what he was like.

Anyway, my DS got in, they actually told me at the interview they wanted him. I think they had already decided to accept him because he got an amazing assessment from his preschool teacher, who, as a graduate of the Naropa Early Childhood Ed program which the school's teachers and director are adjunct professors of, knew what they were looking for, it was an honest assesment just worded in the right language.

I wish you luck. I understand how you are feeling!