How to find the best school for your child - One Day You’ll Thank Me

Trying to find the right school can be a parent's toughest task. Photo / Getty

Sending your children to school is one of the toughest things for any parent to go through - not only because it’s a sign your little boy or girl is growing up, but also it can be a struggle to find the right school.

It’s a task that can be even harder these days, with strict school zones meaning some parents can have a very limited choice in their choice for state schools, facing expensive moves or fees if they want to get their child somewhere else.

On top of that, ongoing research and studies have found that New Zealand kids are recording their worst results ever in literacy, numeracy and science tests, highlighting some of the strain in our education system.

Former secondary school teacher turned university lecturer Dr Nina Hood is in that position now of finding the right school for her eldest son. Speaking to Jenni Mortimer and Rebecca Haszard on the NZ Herald’s parenting podcast, One Day You’ll Thank Me, she said there is no one solution for parents trying to find that ideal school - and test results should not be the sole factor of concern

“For me personally, it’s got to be far more holistic than that. So yes, you want to know that students are making progress at that school, but I would think you’ll want to know a lot more than that as well. And also recognising different schools are probably going to suit different children as well, that you’re not just going to have one school that’s going to suit every child,” with Hood admitting she is already contemplating sending her two boys to separate schools.

Dr Nina Hood, founder of The Education Hub and a researcher at the University of Auckland. Photo / Supplied

Hood, who founded the charity The Education Hub to connect teachers and parents with research, did have one easy-to-use tip for parents shopping around for the best school.

“For me, the number one thing I tell parents when they’re looking for a school for their child is to go into the school and see how you feel in the school. Because just by being in the school, you are gonna pick up on the environment, the vibe, the sort of set of values and the culture that underpin that school.”

While the decile system that has ranked schools for years has just been replaced - with the new Equity Index coming in at the start of this year - Hood said that parents should not consider those numbers when picking schools, as they only tell you about the socioeconomic factors of the area, not the quality of the education.

“The reality is because we have such an autonomous school system in New Zealand, each school has a huge amount of power to be able to structure their own teaching and learning programmes, their own school culture in ways that they want.

“I remember when I was a teacher at one of my schools, it was a decile four school, and I remember this year nine boy put up his hand and he said, ‘oh, miss, we’re in a decile four school, so that means we are not a very good school’. And I was like, oh, that’s heartbreaking. The decile rating has nothing to do with the quality of the school. You’re in a great school, you’re in a fabulous learning environment.”

And if you are weighing up whether to go private over state, over single sex instead of co-ed, Hood said the research does point towards private and single sex schools performing better overall.

“However, within that, if you break that down at the school level, you see a whole range of variation in terms of how students are doing... and different schools have strengths in different areas. Um, so I don’t think necessarily pitting types of schools against each other is the most helpful way of looking at it.

• For more of Dr Nina Hood’s tips for finding the right school for your children, listen to today’s episode of One Day You’ll Thank Me below

• You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are out every Thursday.
• Want to get in touch with the podcast? Email the team at odytm@nzme.co.nz.