Khenysahm

How Can School Principals Create a Vision and Plan to Ensure Success?

School principals need to create a vision and develop a plan for a school system to thrive. During a job interview for a school principal position, you need to express how you will be able to create a solid strategy that details how the vision will be reached.

This plan will be the school’s brainchild but more importantly, must be driven by an excellent leader. In a school, the principal bears ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the goals of the institution are realized. In other words, the school principal is not just an administrative position but a leadership role.

There are essential characteristics an educational leader needs to possess.👇👇👇👇

👉1.Any applicant for a school principal’s role must ensure that they communicate through their resume and responses to interview questions their ability to make sure that the school’s vision is actualized.

👉2.The principal must emphasize that they cannot develop a vision and plan on their own. As a leader, the school principal should develop a standard view in consultation with all relevant stakeholders and especially other members of staff and parents.

👉3.It is important for the school principal to acknowledge that no one person has a monopoly on the ideas of how to run the school well. As a visionary, the educational leader must show preparedness to challenge the status quo while not discarding the right aspects of the school’s current plan and vision.

An understanding of what makes an excellent school is vital to leadership success.

👉4.As an educational leader, the principal must forge channels of effective communication. Plans can always be improved, and there should be ways through which stakeholders can communicate their concerns on current projects as well as their thoughts on how to change the plans for the better.

Communication channels should cater to all members of staff – from new to senior educators and department heads to the general staff. Every staff member will be somewhat affected by any plan the school settles on so no one should be shut out from giving their opinion. At the end of the day, every team member must be brought on board and buy into the vision and plans for them to succeed.

👉5.Involving fellow staff in the planning cannot be overemphasized. Remember for instance that the educators sit where the majority of the action takes place ;the classroom.

As the team members have to go through the system daily, they are usually able to identify what is wrong with the current school process and what would be the most practical solution.

Even though most school principals start their career as a teacher, they may not be privy to the current practical challenges that teachers face. Also, the principal of the school may not have the time to monitor what each staff member is going through actively. Creating a forum where staff can voice their thoughts, opinions, and fears is a fundamental aspect of the principal’s role.

Keep in mind, sometimes what a school principal may consider being a new and revolutionary vision for the school may have been tried before and failed for some reason. Speaking to staff that has been at the institution for longer or have had similar experiences in another system could help with avoiding a plan that could fail.

Thanks.✍️

Factors That Attract Parents to Schools

INTRODUCTION
Any parent who wishes to enroll his/her wards in any private school looks out for certain things which they expect in schools before deciding to take their children to any school. It is important for school owners to focus on some of these factors so as to leverage on their performances and have a better patronage from many parents. Some of the needs of parents are listed and explained below:

1. SCHOOL SECURITY:
Parents consider adequate security within the premises. Such security also entails security of children after closing time and transportation security where children are being taken home in school buses. If a school has a good security system and prospective parents are sure of the security of their wards, they will patronize your school.

2. SCHOOL BUS:
Schools having buses have advantages over those that do not have buses. It is not enough to have school buses but parents also look out for the condition of a school bus. If a school bus is rickety and breaks down on the roads, parents will not take their wards to such schools. The population of pupils in a school bus also counts a lot. If a school has a penchant for overloading its school buses with pupils, parents will be discouraged from enrolling their wards in such a school.

3. PERFORMANCES:
The academic performance of a school is another key factor any parent will look out for before enrolling their wards. If a school has a track record of outstanding performances in unified examinations such as UTME, NECO, WAEC, etc, parents will be attracted to such a school. No responsible parent will take his wards to schools with poor academic performances.

4. TECHNOLOGY:
A school that uses modern techniques of teaching pupils will have a better chance of being patronized. A good school must make use of modern techniques of teaching. The use of multi-media projector, white boards and other technological innovations are necessary to attract prospective parents.

5. FREIENDLY ATTITUDE OF TEACHERS:
A school having friendly teachers and other workers will always attract more customers to their school. Teachers must have a friendly attitude toward the pupils. Teachers must be patients with the pupils. School owners must motivate teachers and show a good example to teachers.

6. MORAL STANDARD & SEXUAL ASSUALTS:
Some parents consider moral standard of the school. Also, cases of sexual assaults by male teachers will cause a serious problem for any school and dent its corporate image. Parents are wary of schools where female pupils are assaulted. To this end, school owners must recruit responsible men in their schools.

7. CLOSED CIRCUIT CAMERAS:
Apart from serving as a security measure in a school, a school should install closed circuit cameras within and around the school and in all the class rooms. If all male teachers are aware that these cameras are installed in all the classes and around the school, none of them will attempt to rape or assault any female pupil. However, a new school might not have such financial capacity at the beginning but they should have it in their short term plans. Closed circuit cameras should also be installed at the frontage of a school, back of the school and at the reception.

8. SCHOOL FEES:
School fees should be reasonable and affordable by average parents. If a school charges exorbitant fees, they may not get many people who will patronize them except those schools that have created a niche for themselves. New school owners and those intending to start a school business should carry out a survey of school fees being charged around the area. Fees chargeable by schools differ based on locations. For instance, in Lagos State, school fees are high in places like Lekki, Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Ikeja G.R.A, VGC, Parkview estate, etc. Let your school fees be competitive in order to attract people to your school.

9. SCHOOL UNIFORM:
This might sound funny but some parents are attracted by the quality and beauty of school uniforms. A school having a fantastic school uniform will attract more customers. Please, pay attention to your school uniforms.

10. PUBLIC COMPETITIONS:
A school that allows its pupils to participate in academic competitions which are done with other schools in attendance will attract more parents to enroll their wards in the school. When parents watch these programmes on the television and see the performance of pupils from a particular school, they will be interested to take their wards to such a school. As a school owner, look for opportunities for such a competition. A good example is COWBELL MATHEMATICS programme. Participation in academic competition is another means of advertising a school.

11. RESPECT FOR PARENTS & VISITORS:
As a school owner, you must have respect for your customers. Your customers are the pupils in the school and their parents. You must not be rude to the parents that patronize your school. If parents are insulted by school owners or teachers, such a school will experience a decline in fresh enrolment of new intakes and withdrawal of existing pupils. Respect your customers. No matter how terrible the characters of your customers, remember; THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Treat your customers with respect. NOTE: Respect is a marketing strategy while disrespect is a de-marketing attitude in any organization.

Dear school owners, pay attention to the above factors and many more in order to enjoy more patronage from parents.

Tips for the New Academic Year

Hurray!! We’re at that time ⌚ of the year when we need to put everything in place for the take-off of a new academic session. As administrators, we have a vital role to play in this. Even though some planning for the new school year was done before you closed for the outgone school year, this period affords the opportunity to tidy things up for resumption.

Here are a few tips to help you as an administrator.

Communicate the Resumption Date to Parents and Staff

Even though the resumption date for the new school year had been communicated in the last newsletter for the last school year, there is a need to do a reminder on this using bulk sms and emails. You can also do so through the school’s social media platforms.

The date the teachers are expected to resume school would be different from that of the students. This is to enable adequate time for professional development and to decorate the classrooms and get things set ready for the arrival of the students.

I’m sure you do not want excuses from teachers about the resumption date. It’ll be too early in the school year for this.

Organise Training Sessions for the Teachers

There is a need to invest in the personal and professional development of your staff before the school year commences. I assume that in the performance evaluation of the staff, you must have taken note of the areas that need improvement in your school as a corporate body, and also in individual staff members, and prepared the training to address them.

Topics to include in your training would be Professional Ethics for Educators, Classroom and Behaviour Management, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building, and a host of others. Do not schedule more than two training sessions in a day to make for effectiveness. There is no need to drain the staff at the beginning of the academic year with knowledge or information that may be rather overwhelming each day, and difficult to apply.

You can never go wrong with investing in the personal and professional development of your employees.

Ensure All Teachers Know their Class Placements

You might have sent out a class placement already before going on the summer break. But this is the time to confirm what class each teacher would be taking in the new academic session, to enable them to prepare and decorate their classes. I’m sure you know how eager teachers geet about what classes they’d be teaching in a new school year.

Start Class and School Area Decorations

After the teachers have been assigned to their classes, they need to start decorating their classes to prepare for the children’s arrival. Decoring the classes and school areas also creates a welcoming environment for prospective parents who would be stopping by to make enquiries for enrollment of their children in your school. Plus it has a way of pepping up the moods of the staff while they work and train.

How prepared is your child for primary school?

10 things your 5 year olds should know before heading off to primary school.

They should be able to;

Say and read their full name.
Write their full names on their worksheets and, sign in for school activities unaided.
Orally state their home address, read and possibly write it.
Recite, write or dail both parents mobile numbers or an emergency number if need be. Parents ought to seriously take teaching this to their children. Better safe than sorry!
Capable of feeding themselves, refill their cup/ bottle and clean up after meal.
Undress before and after using the restroom and clean up throughly afterwards.
Share their opinion in a group, talk in front of their class and confidently express self.
Tie their shoe lace, buckle their footwear, wear their footwear in correct order : This life skill should be embodied early as it is useful throughout life.
Read and follow instructions of task and copy notes from the board.
Unpack bag/ lunch box, sort/ classify items accordingly, arrange/ organise desk/ locker and pack up books/ personal belonging before leaving for home daily.

Dear Parents if you can tick off all ten items, then your 5 year old is ready to embark on the next phase of their educational voyage. Less than 5 ticks means you have some grounds to cover ahead of next academic session.

Today is a good time to commence teaching them those things that they are yet to master.

I hope you found this list useful.

Before you Increase School Fees, Consider These

Questions:- “The schools around my environment are increasing their FEE. I am the only SCHOOL with less school FEES, should I increase mine too? I’m confused.

My response:-

When you grow to a stage where your shoes no longer size you, you will know.

Don’t join in the bandwagon effect of increasing your school FEES when it’s not yet time.

First, grow your landscape of the 3S.

✓ Service
✓ Solution
✓ Sales.

(In my previous post, I explain how these 3S’s can produce result in school enrollment. If you haven’t read it, kindly search for it here).

Don’t increase your school FEE when there is nothing increasing as VALUE in your school settings.

Increment responds to additional value added to the school that needs more money to run.

If your school just acquire new set of computers, new school bus, new furnitures, standard library etc; all of these are VALUE added to the school which will affect school FEE increment.

Now, back to you:-

What has just been added to your school as VALUE that can bring about INCREMENT in school FEES?

Instead of looking for ways to increase your school FEES, find ways to increase your school VALUE and it will automatically drive increment.

Your production of value will automatically bring INCREMENT in sales.

Your competitors are not the reasons you are in business but your clients, focus on them.

Once your clients are SATISFIED with your SERVICES, no matter the increment, THEY WILL COME BACK.

Create EXPERIENCE in the heart of your PARENTS.

An HAPPY CLIENT IS A PAYING CLIENT.❗

Hope this meets you WELL? 🤝

Yours truly
JUBRIL OLUWATOBI

The SWOT Analysis

Do a (SWOT) analysis on Your Kids Before You Crucified Them

S = STRENGTH
W = WEAKNESS
O = OPPORTUNITIES
T = THREATS

I have tried several times since yesterday not to talk about this, but there’s a crawcraw in my hand that keeps pushing me.

I was on my way home yesterday when I stopped by a woman’s shop to buy groundnut. I had bought this fresh banana and the only thing that kept ringing in my head after I bought it was groundnut, groundnut, almost like a nursery rhyme. Yeah, dinner was going to be a bomb! Who says good life must necessarily come expensive? Tueh!

I got to her shop, horned severally but there was no response. I was hearing muffled sounds from inside her retail store and knew she was in there. I waited a bit inside the car, too tired to get out and then shouted her name. ‘Mummy Sewa, se e wa ninu shop?’. Chai! Still no response o. I was already close to the house and had passed several supermarts. I hated buying groundnuts from those big stores bcos most of the time, it’s stale and no longer sweet as it should be. But Mummy Sewa’s own is always fresh and yummy.

Anyways, I finally got down, went into her shop, saw no one, then went in to the backyard. Some few steps from there, I started hearing Tazai, kpokam, whai, voom and a loud wailing from a small lad. Mummy please, please, I will take 1st next term. Plsss, I will not be watching TV again… Haha. Which kain wahala be this? I ran closer to the woman, blocked the boy and a whip almost landed on my back. I was madly enraged and almost landed her a slap. How dare you suffer a young child like this? Is this not the way parents unconsciously groom potential abusers? Is this what will make him be at the top position next term?

Mummy Sharon, please leave o. I must kill him today. He came 13th in his class after all my wahala on him. Shebi you know his dad has left all of us since and I’ve been the one suffering day and night. Haaa yeeeee. I must finish him o. All he does is watch TV and play ball. Nothing else.

Take it easy Ma. I told her, but she wouldn’t hear none of it. She was still shaking and vibrating like a rickety agbegilodo.

Oya, kill him na. You go soon kamdan now. What was your own grade when you were his age? By the time he lands in the hospital, I’m sure your Apollo eyes will clear. I was starting to boil up myself.

Afterwards, I told the boy to follow me in my car, left both the groundnut and the seller and zoomed off. Mission groundnut aborted!

I don’t know why Parents do this shit.

The first time I caught my son teaching his elder sister her maths assignment, I was shell-shocked. As in Se owo oti jona bayi? Sharon hated mathematics with every fibre in her and never seem to get it right. I was tempted to shout on her then but I always manage to keep my calm. Unlike Simon, she has never been first before in her class but I always encouraged her. Later I began to realise her strength and area of core competency- English. She can spell any word. She can read anything, She can narrate a whole book from beginning to ending without mincing words. She loves to dance Salsa. She likes to sing. She still hates Maths but she’s getting better. And last Session, she got the overall best in English in her grade.

We can’t all be good at everything.

Our kids can’t be the best at everything.

We need to be close to them to learn where their strengths lie.

The case of the 12 year old boy who tried to poison his fellow classmate at Lekki British international school just because he was coveting the first position always play in my mind. Who knows what the root cause is? Who knows if he was under pressure from home to get the slot otherwise they won’t take him for a vacation in Bahamas or buy him his dream bicycle or whatever…..

The pressure Parents put their kids through ehn….. You must be a doctor, you must be a lawyer, I want you to become a Pilot, an Engineer. Bla Bla Bla

Will you keep kwayet there!

We need to realise being at the first, second or third position does not guarantee success in life. Intelligence, hardwork, creative instincts all covered with Grace does.

I graduated with a Second Class upper in Computer Engineering (even though Dad did everything to make sure I studied Medicine). I have MSCE, CCNP and CompTIA certifications. By God’s grace, I have an online MSC degree. I have an OAU MBA degree. But I’m using none at my present place of work. Even with all these, I have friends who graduated with a third Class or Pass doing way way better than me. I see them and I’m grateful to God for His grace upon their lives. I feel they’ve achieved much more.

But then, what is the measure of achievement? Is it quantified in monetary terms alone? Is it by the physical assets one has acquired? No! I don’t think so.

What pushes us in life differs.

Some just want to make money.

Some just want to create history.

Some just wanted to break a jinx in their household.

Some just want to be famous

Some just want to put smiles on other people’s faces.

Some just want to be happy.

Some just want to change the status quo in the world we are.

Some just want to get married.

Some just…..

And when they get this, they have achieved all what they wanna fulfil in life. And there’s nothing you can do or say to convince them otherwise.

Let’s stop putting so much pressure on our children. Let’s encourage them to be who they wanna be. Success isn’t measured via academic pursuits alone.

Do a SWOT analysis of your kids. Strength, weakness, opportunities and threats.

Live your dream and let them live theirs. Don’t force the fulfilment of your failed dreams through these innocent souls.

With encouragement, support, prayers, they will be the best in whatever they set out to do.

Back to Mama Sewa’s case, I took the boy back to his house after about an hour and spoke some sense to the mum.

I believe she would have had a change of heart.

No Child is an Olodo! Their position last term doesn’t matter. That is not the only determinant for future success.

May our children be better and greater than us.

Amen!

Copied with slight edition

Exclusive Roles of Parents in Children’s Upbringing

Parents have four major roles to play in the life of their children.
1- INSTRUCTIONAL ROLES.
2- REBUKE ROLES.
3- EXHORTATION ROLES
4- EDUCATIVE ROLES.

1️⃣INSTRUCTIONAL ROLES.
We must instruct our children:
*To behave well in public.
*To rise up early each day.
*To pray first thing as they rise.
*To be the first to greet people.
*To clean up themselves properly.
*To clean their environment.
*To be early and timely to every daily tasks.
*To be orderly.
*To be respectful to people.
*To speak in decent language.
*To organise themselves.
*To plan their schedules.
*To have their daily timetable off hand.
*To comport themselves in quietness.
*To be articulate, reasonable and expectant.
*To ask questions when in doubt.
*To listen carefully with understanding.
*To act with decorum, courtesy and humility always.
*To defend the family name and image at all times.
*To obey elders, set rules and regulations.
*To pray before retiring to bed at night.

2️⃣REBUKE ROLES.
We must rebuke our children:
*When they portray laziness.
*When they are prayerless.
*When they appear dirty.
*When they’re insolent.
*When they speak foul languages.
*When they speak improperly.
*When they sit carelessly.
*When they participate in unsolicited discussions.
*When they come late to appointments or tasks.
*When they talk back to elders in anger.
*When you notice pride in them.
*When they become spendthrift.
*When they eat irregularly.
*When they cannot control their appetite.
*When you notice ostentatious lifestyle in them.
*When they think about materialism always.
*When they unnecessarily compare themselves with others.
*When they speak abusively of other parents or elders or mates.
*When you notice the spirit of hatred in them.
*When they make hate speeches.
*When they complain always about others.
*When they move with suspicious characters.
*When they are not extolling learning.
*When they’re not proud of academic achievements.
*When they abuse their teachers at home.
*When they discredit their school.
*When they plan to revenge or retaliate against actions.
*When they refuse to obey constituted authority.
*When they fail to pray.

3️⃣EXHORTATION ROLES.
Parents must Praise their children :
*When they do well in assignments and exams.
*When they are properly dressed.
*When they speak well in public.
*When they speak well of their institution and teachers.
*When they speak well of others.
*When their carriage is decent.
*When they express Godly values.
*When they always talk about excellence.
*When they spend less time watching TV.
*When they spend more time studying.
*When they spend less time talking.
*When they spend more time listening.
*When they spend right time praying.
*When they spend less time playing.
*When they know what to do.
*When they know what is right.
*When they refuse to do what is wrong.
*When their ambition is to be the best in good endeavours.
*When they speak of becoming Great People.
*When they take action that meets good vision.

4️⃣EDUCATIVE ROLES.
Parents must Teach their children :
*How to live honest life.
*How to live amongst people.
*How to live in comfort with others.
*How to love and appreciate others.
*How to be fair to all concerned.
*How to love their teachers, school and those in authority over them.
*How to obey rules and regulations.
*How to live in dignity and self esteem.
*How to plan their future.
*How to raise Godly homes.
*How proper education answers to most of life’s challenges.
*How to escape from bad friendship.
*How to pick a career.
*How to develop their career.
*How to pass through life successfully by depending on God and not man.
*How to pass examinations without malpractice.
*How to be studious and build their brains.
*How to set academic standards for now and their future.
*How to flaunt Excellent Achievements and not Beauty.
*How to be Intellectual Celebrities.
*How to have a vision.
*That Godliness with contentment is great gain.
*How to love GOD and their neighbor.
*How to live in fear of GOD.

When we play these roles, our children by the grace of GOD will come out great and the parents will have a good old age and memorial.

Private School Survival and the Urgent Need for Unique Selling Points

There’s no food for ” sidon they look administrators ” whose major and only business is looking for who to blame for their downfall.

If your School must survive next session, you must work for it.

The major factors that every potential successful School owner must develop in order to overcome eminent shake up in education sector is Unique Selling Points.

This is not the best time for “copy and Paste School administration but the right time to proof your hard earned administrative skills, innovation and versatility”

School survival and growth is more about what you offer not what you receive. Even if you receive #500 as School fees, it will not still grow if you have nothing tangible to offer.

use the few days left before closing to define your essence of opening a School, list what you stand for and state how you will achieve it.

This time call for sober reflection, the only School that will sail through this unimaginable shake up are those School that know their Unique Selling points and consciously maintain it.

You can never be everything successfully, you must stand for something. Your business must be known for one outstanding quality.

Have you wondered why and how some Schools successfully overcome storms, how they soared even after increasing their School fees? The answer is Unique Selling points. People love them for a particular or many unique selling points.

Dear Colleagues, going forward and upwards, your School must be known for one outstanding unique quality that has the capacity to attract students from all walks of life.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
What are your school unique selling points?

Mention one thing your School is known for in your vicinity?

In one or two sentences, can you convince yourself on why an educated and respected person in your area should choose your School over others as we prepare for next session?

How often do you communicate your unique selling points to your staff?

Apart from academics, what else do your School stand for?

Every outstanding School I know are known for one or more unique Selling Points.

This is almost new session, transfer window is open, every reasonable private school owners are seriously planning on how to retain their students and at the same time attract new ones. It’s your unique selling point that determines your strategy and approach.

You really need to consciously plan and diligently implement.

This holiday, what are those things you intend to do differently in order to move your School forward. Do you think it’s still business as usual?

By now, you are expected to know what you stand for or intend to stand for.

To be successful in this School business, you must learn to outsmart your major competitors.
You must constantly devise various ways to beat the imagination of your competitors.

I don’t need to remind you that School business is purely a game of survival of the fittest.

The fittest in School business most times is not the richest but those who understand the business in School business.

My major concern is that many School owners have refused to see themselves as the major agent of their school growth.

Every product must be known for something, we have thousand and one brands of soft drinks and beer, however, all of them have their unique tastes

Don’t be deceived, your School just like Nigeria brewing products must have a unique tastes. You can easily distinguish between coca cola coke and biggie cola. Trophy, 33 and life beer appear to be the same, however, they have their peculiarities.

HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR UNIQUE SELLING POINTS (USP)
The best way to discover your USP is through feedback. Carefully study what people are saying about your School, note those things they unanimously like about your School. develop the most prominent and impactful ones into your USP.

PROMOT YOUR UNIQUE SELLING POINTS.
Don’t stop at knowing your unique selling points, consciously, tactically and consistently promote it. Carefully and silently
draw people’s attention to your USP. Use every opportunity to promote it: PTA meeting, validitory service, meetings with teachers, students etc.

REVIEW YOUR USP.
From time to time review your unique selling points to ascertain its level of usefulness and acceptability. Once your competitors find out your USP, they will fortify their Schools in that regard.
It’s always advisable to develop multiple USPs to make it difficult for your competitors to find out.
Build your unique selling points in key sectors of your School.
Academics, finance, extracurricular activities, administration, customer care service etc.

Classic School Directors, I charge you this moment to develop your post COVID-19 pandemic USP strategies and various means you will use to promote it.

Nothing in life is by accident, not even success.

There’s no food for ” sidon they look administrators ” whose major and only business is looking for who to blame for their downfall.

If you must succeed, you must work for it.

Let that Child Finish the Process and Complete the Primary Education System

#forwarded with input

Testimonial from a parent

Dear Proprietor/ Parent !

What’s your take on this!

I WILL NEVER ALLOW MY CHILDREN TO SKIP AN ACADEMIC CLASS, NEVER!

(My son-in-law wrote and send this to me. He was a graduate of Computer Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He had first class.)

“I remember when I was in Primary school. There was this girl that sat for the First School Leaving Certificate (Primary 6) exam while at Primary 4. She passed, so she “jumped” two years and went from Primary 4 to JSS 1.

Even though I performed better and was academically smarter than this girl, my parents insisted that none of their children will skip an academic class.

Some of my classmates also went from Primary 5. Well, I did my Primary 6.

So, many of my Primary school classmates were 1,2,3 years ahead of me because my parents insisted that none of their children will “jump” a class.

When I was in SSS-1, the girl who skipped a class started writing WAEC in SSS-3. She failed twice, so I caught up and we did the WAEC same year again; my first attempt, her third attempt.
She passed enough to merge results. I got all my papers in one sitting, and in flying colours, with my head, not from any special centre.

Well, we went into University same year, and I graduated a year before her, in a more highly ranked University – Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU)

My parents are both academics. They aren’t just teachers, they both have experience in Academic and Career Guidance and Counselling.

But at the point when they made some decisions about our education (our: My siblings and I), I wasn’t happy. To me, it was all about competing with my friends about who will finish Secondary school first and gain admission first. But I now know better.

A system of education is in place for a reason. The Nigerian system is 6-3-3-4.

WHY THE RUSH TO BEAT THE SYSTEM?

I know some children are smarter and have the intellectual capacity to go faster than others.

What other developed countries with more regulated systems of education do is NOT make the children skip some curriculum. They make the gifted children cover the curriculum faster.

For instance; regular students might need 6 regular academic years to cover the high school curriculum. The talented ones are put in a separate class where the cover the whole 6-year curriculum in 5 or 4 years, or even less. They don’t usually skip these curricula.

I know the UK and US have some of such schools and classes for gifted children.

The thing I noticed in Nigeria is that it’s usually even the parents of AVERAGE or BELOW AVERAGE students that want their children to “jump” classes.

The prestige is in telling everyone that your child finished secondary school at 12. It doesn’t matter whether your child’s brain is completely empty, or whether your child wrote his or her WAEC and JAMB exams at special centres. You are just in a competition.

I was just having a random thought a few minutes ago, and I realized that *NONE of those my Primary or secondary school classmates who tried to skip classes were better or ended up more academically grounded and privileged than I am. So, *what exactly was the hurry all about?*

It’s not just about your child finishing Primary school at 7 and Secondary at 12.
The question is
“Is he/she well academically grounded”?
Can they defend those pieces of paper certificate (they were so in a rush to acquire) anywhere in the world?

What is the point producing an air-headed graduates at 18?

I would rather have my children spend more years in school and graduate well-grounded academically, than to graduate and still be too dumb to write application letters or simple essays.

Besides, I want my children to have a fun childhood.

Except any of my children demonstrates obvious signs of being academically gifted and smart (In which case I would find them a good school for gifted children), they will all finish secondary school NOT before 16, and they will all graduate NOT before the age of 20.

We are not running anywhere. We are not in a hurry to be mediocre. Anything worth doing is worth devoting sufficient time to do it well.”

Contributions:

Kiddies Palace Academy, Minna

I agree totally to the above piece.The writer is 100% right. We all know what we face with graduated University students of nowadays. Somebody sometimes said: “Nigeria University Graduate are Unemployable.” Most of them are not emotionally stable atimes. It is not about academics alone, a child needs stability on all sides.

Dideolu Adekogbe:
This is apt and we need to post this on our school platforms so that our parents can read it.

As owners and leaders of schools, I know we need to increase the population but not at the detriment of the future our children. We will not be at the future workplace when they will be struggling or not even get a job.

Our children in the Pre- school now will be in the labour market by the year 2040.

How grounded are they?

How will they be able to cope emotionally, academically, and socially?

How well are we positioning them to collaborate and network in the future?

The need to be academically and emotionally grounded can not be overemphasized.

When parents come with the idea of skipping class, please let’s discourage it.

If all schools are on the same page, they will reason and abide by our counsel and follow the education policy.

Quality is better than speed

These children carry the logo/link of our schools for life and if their performances are questionable then our brand is questionable

Points to note

Now is a good time to start the change process because this is the season for fresh admissions and transfers. Let parents know that the school is guided by policies.

✓Let’s insist that Age 6 is for primary 1, the children need to enjoy childhood.

✓Write the age bracket on the classroom doors for all to see.

✓No declaration of age for children. Birth Certificate admits.

✓No use of a year ahead textbooks. This is destroying our children’s foundation.

The responsibility is on us as Educators and Parents to help build the future that our children will live in by the decisions we make now.

Curriculum and Your School

I have decided to make this write up, to educate us on some important facts regarding the type of curriculum that we use in our schools.

Curriculum is the *centre guide* for all educators as to what is essential for teaching and learning, so that every student has access to meaningful academic experiences in accordance with the school’s *Vision and Mission.*

There are three keyword in bold format here. They are:
I. Centre guide
II. Mission
III. Vision.

*CENTRE GUIDE*
The centre guide of every curriculum should be hooked to vision and mission of the school. 21st Century schools are expected to run *Integrated Curriculum*, using the school’s mission, vision and aim of existence as the *Integrating core*. Integrating curriculum is that curriculum that contains contents carefully linked to integrating core elements in a non confusing manner.
*NB: Your school may need training for this.*

To integrate a curriculum, you need to get your integrating elements ready, brainstorm and think of how you can link each of the topics to the elements you have in place. These elements must as a matter of fact, agree with the vision and mission of your school.

*VISION*
Vision is usually written in statement. Vision statement describes the picture of the future position of the school and her learners.

*MISSION*
Mission describes the systematic approach, the school has adopted to achieve her vision. It is also written in statement called Mission statement.

As a school owner, you are required to work on the National curriculum, to suit the purpose of establishing your own school. Any one who uses the National curriculum directly without adding any value to it, is operating at the lowest and not giving his/her learners the best. On a scale of 1- 10, such school is at 0-4.

Surprise???

Look at this excerpt from the National Curriculum popularly called Green White Green:

“`The prescriptions represent the minimum content to be taught in schools in order to achieve the objectives of the new Secondary School Programme. However, teachers are encouraged to enrich the content with relevant materials and information from their immediate environment, but adapting the curriculum to their needs and aspirations.“`

With these exposure, teachers and school owners should review their curriculum, revamp and integrate it to meet the aspiration of the school.

Ismaila James
FCT CHAMPION 2020
(MALTINA TEACHER)