How To Identify A Good School

When it comes to finding a good school for your child, there are all sorts of things that you need to be aware of. Overall, if you have a good understanding of how to find the right school, then that is going to make a world of difference, and you will find that you are going to notice a huge change in your child’s education and formal learning as a result. This is hugely important for your child’s ongoing development, so it’s something that you will really want to be aware of if you are keen on doing this right.

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In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the main ways to identify a good school. As long as you have done the following, you should find that you are going to have a much better chance of being able to do this, and that you are going to therefore be able to find a great school for your child in no time. Let’s take a look at some of the strongest ways to identify a good school that you will want to bear in mind.

Exam Results

This is always going to be one of the main things that you want to look out for, for obvious reasons. As long as you can be sure your child is going to a school that produces strong exam results, that is the kind of thing that you are really going to find gives you confidence in that education system. So looking at past exam results is a fairly strong indicator of that, and it also happens to be a reliable indicator of the quality of the school in general.

These days it is easier than ever to find out the overall exam results of your local schools, and you’ll find that doing so is one of the most important elements to finding the right school for your child. So this is something that you are going to want to think about for sure and which is going to be really important to consider.

Appraisals

You might also be able to find some appraisals from other students, which is a very clear and strong sign that things are moving in the right direction with that school, and that your own child is likely to benefit too if they do go there. So finding these comments from students current and past is always going to be hugely important here. Of course, they in themselves are not the be all of everything, but it is important to note if a school provides students who are happy with the school itself.

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You will find such appraisals all over the marketing materials for a school, but what you want is an honest sense of the school, which means you are going to need to go to other sources. In fact, it’s best if you can simply ask some of the local students in your area what they think, as this way you are bound to get a good response and an honest one too. All in all, if you can find a school with happy students, that is always going to be worthwhile and a good sign for the school as a whole.

Accreditation

This is something that a lot of schools and colleges aim for, but not all get it. The most common kind of accreditation is STEM accreditation, which confirms that the educational institution in question has reached a certain level of expertise in teaching STEM subjects. That’s something that you may be looking out for when it comes to your child’s education, so it’s a good idea to ensure that you are thinking about this, and that you are doing everything you can to find a school that has this kind of accreditation to its name.

If you can find such a place, you can be relatively sure that you are sending your child to a good school, and that they are going to be much more likely to actually achieve good grades - as well as having a good education overall.

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Teacher Satisfaction

It’s always really helpful too if you can get the opinions of teachers, and again if this is as honest as possible. Strong teacher satisfaction is the kind of thing that is always going to be really important because it shows that the school in question has a decent overall atmosphere, and that it really cares about its students. This is something that is always going to be really important to consider therefore, and you should find that it’s something you want to look out for.

Again, it’s best if you can get hold of teachers and find their honest opinion, so if you know any that is the best approach to take. However you do it, learning what teachers really think about the school is going to help you to figure out whether it’s the kind of school you want your kid to go to or not, so this is something that you should certainly make sure you're thinking about.

Extra-Curricular Activities

It’s not all about the traditional subjects, however. The best schools also offer a range of other things, usually referred to as extra-curricular activities, to show that they are generally a great place for your child to go. This is certainly something you will want to look out for, and especially if your child is keen on trying to pursue a particular activity that is not normally part of normal education.

So take a look on the website and brochure, and on an open day if possible at which of these are available at a school you are looking at. You should find that you are able to get a pretty good sense of the place this way, and it’s really going to make a huge difference to how likely you are to want to send kids there. This is something that you should certainly think about if you want to make this as strong a contender as possible.

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Facilities

There are usually a lot of different facilities in a school, and many of these are going to be quite important to think about. The more of these that are offered, the better the school is generally going to be, so this is something that you should make sure that you are aware of. Having lots of different facilities that are well looked after and which are effective as tools for education is hugely relevant in fact.

That can include a sports hall or gym, music rooms, or whatever else you might think is important for your child. Whatever it is, if you are seeing these kinds of facilities in the school, it’s usually a sign of a stronger school, and one that your child is probably going to get a lot more out of if they do attend.

Communal Force

The very best schools often act as a positive force in the local community. This is another quality that you might be keen to look out for, as it is likely going to make a huge difference to how you view the school and the way in which it is going to work for the child in question. If the school is known in the community as a force for good, that will mean that you have more pride in sending your child there, so this is something that you should certainly think about as best as you can.

As it happens, there are a lot of ways in which a school might do this, so it’s something you should look out for if you really want to see it. It could be one of the best things you do for your child overall.

Caring & Compassionate

You also want to know that your child is going somewhere that really cares about them, and about their education. This kind of caring and compassionate approach is really important, and it’s something that you can’t really beat or replicate at all. Not all schools give off this feeling, so you are going to find that it really makes a huge difference if you are doing all you can to try and make this a reality. The truth is that a caring and compassionate school is always going to be a much better one, so this is something that you should try to find.

It can be hard to identify this particular quality, but as long as you do, you should then have found a school that is likely to be good for your child. And that is all we are trying to do here, of course.

Those are just some of the qualities that you might be able to find in a good school. If you do see those, you should find that your school is so much more likely to be right for your child.

Supporting Your Child’s Education as an Expat Family

 

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Relocating abroad as a family can open a world of opportunities, including business and financial benefits and the once-in-a-lifetime experience of experiencing another culture. However, this lifestyle choice also comes with a few challenges that should not be overlooked–including finding the best option for your kids’ education. 

Of course, before relocating, you have taken the time to research your new home, city, and neighbourhood, learning about local crime rates, the presence of great schools, and healthcare standards. However, when it comes to guiding your kids along their academic journey, there are a few extra considerations worth making. Let’s get started in the guide below. 

Understand How The School Systems Differs

The first step to take is a thorough review of the local school system. Different countries have different education systems and standards, and understanding how they work is essential to navigate the journey ahead with confidence.

Additionally, you’ll have to choose between local and international schools. Each option has its own set of benefits. Local schools can help with integration and language learning. International options, such as KIS International School, guarantee high education standards that will support your kids wherever they decide to continue their education. 

Help Them with Language Learning

Next up, let’s talk about the importance of learning the local language. Raising multilingual children has an unparalleled set of advantages, especially as kids are naturally prone to learning languages.  

So, whether you have decided to live in your current area temporarily or permanently, be sure to encourage your little ones to learn the local language. To get started, consider local language schools, community activities, and socialization with the locals!

Find Community Support

It can be challenging to navigate the local school system and associated paperwork as an expat. The chances are that you’ll need to deal with plenty of bureaucracy and language barriers. That’s where finding a community that can provide guidance and support can be a game changer. This is especially true if you are thinking about homeschooling your children! 

To find a community to rely on, consider local boards and associations, and look for groups on Facebook or through other social media platforms. 

Mixing Culture and School Life

Of course, your choice of school is important. However, don’t forget that keeping your children happy and healthy also means mixing in with the culture and social life! Be sure your little ones have a circle of friends and acquaintances, so they can feel integrated and accepted. Of course, it is important to lead by example! Consider signing up for local classes, projects, and workshops to start building a network of contacts! 

Using Tech Tools for Learning

Last but not least, it is crucial not to overlook the power of technology! Everyday tools like iphones and tablets are more than just entertainment! They allow your children to access a library of educational resources, including YouTube videos, documentaries, tutorials, and even virtual reality tours of museums and zoos! Be sure to fine-tune parental settings and make the most  of these technologies to support your kids’ educational journey! 

Maximizing Your Child's Education Savings: Tips and Tricks

 Saving for your child's education is one of the most important investments that you can make in their future. Post-secondary education can cost quite a lot of money, and it's continuing to rise, making it important to maximize savings effectively. A registered education savings plan is a powerful tool that can help you grow funds while also utilizing government grants and tax benefits. 

Photo by Коледа Дмитрий: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-toddler-playing-with-a-wooden-toy-in-a-living-room-16145654/

Let’s have a look at some tips and tricks that will help you make the most of your child's education savings.

 

Start Early

 

One of the best things you can do is start saving as soon as possible. The more time your money has to grow, the better. An RESP allows your contributions to compound tax-free, meaning that your investment grows faster than it would if it were in a taxable account. Early savings also mean that you can take full advantage of the government matching grants over the years. Even making small, consistent contributions can add up over time, so make sure you set up an automatic deposit into your RESP to stay on track for your goals.

 

Take Advantage of Government Grants

 

One of the most attractive benefits of having an RESP is access to government grants, such as the Canada Education Savings Grant. This matches 20% of your annual contributions, up to $500 per child per year, with a lifetime maximum of $7,200. Currently, these figures might change in the future, but if you maximize your annual contributions, you can ensure that your family gets the full grant amount, which is a huge boost for your child's education savings.

 

Stay Within the Contribution Limits

 

RESPs come with specific contribution limits that you must follow to gain the most benefits. The lifetime contribution limit is $50,000 per beneficiary. If you exceed this limit, it can result in penalties, while under contributing may leave grant money on the table, too. If you don't understand these limits, you must learn more about our resp contribution limit and guidelines. Make sure you track your contributions annually to stay within the limits and make adjustments as needed.

 

Choose the Right Investment Options

RESPs allow you to invest in many different ways, including bonds, stocks, mutual funds, and GICs. If you choose to diversify your investments, you will balance risk while optimizing returns. Your investment strategy needs to consider your child's age and how soon they need access to the funds. If you have younger children, a higher-risk investment portfolio might provide better growth potential. However, as they start approaching post-secondary age, you may want to move to a lower-risk option to protect your savings.

 

Conclusion

Maximizing your child's education savings means that you need to think carefully about it—from starting early and utilizing government grants to staying within our resp contribution limit. With a plan in place and a proactive approach, you should be able to grow your savings efficiently and give your child a strong financial foundation for their education. 

resp contribution limit

4 Reasons Your Marketing Is Falling Flat

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Is your marketing lacking something? You did all the research and strategically planned all of your marketing activities based on relevant data and analysis, but something isn't quite working out for you.

There can be many factors influencing the success of your marketing campaign. Oftentimes, you might be doing everything right, but small overlooked factors such as inconsistent branding, lack of personalization, or underestimating the power of social media can be missed. These factors can be massively influential for a successful marketing campaign.

Ready to learn more? Check out the commonly overlooked factors that could be impacting your marketing efforts today.

Knowledge

Do those in charge of marketing truly understand the product and your business? This knowledge is crucial for both your in-house and external marketing teams. If they lack a comprehensive understanding of your company, its offerings, and its unique value proposition, your marketing efforts may fall short. Product training equips your team with the necessary knowledge to create compelling marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience, ultimately boosting your results.

Telling Not Showing

When it comes to marketing, you want people to see why they need what you're selling and how it fits into their lives. If you're telling people to buy something, not showing them why they need it, then it is likely impacting your success rates. For instance, instead of just saying your product is 'the best ', show how it solves a problem or makes life easier. You need to highlight benefits and show what this product or service can do and the value it brings. Focus on the customers' pain points and how you alleviate them rather than telling them they need it because x,y,z.

Thinking You're The Customer

Are you marketing as if you are selling the company to yourself? Because you are actually more likely not to be the customer or the target audience. What you want and what you think are irrelevant points, and marketing based on your own experiences and preferences is only going to alienate a large portion of your audience.

So remove yourself and your team, for all intents and purposes, from the messaging and talk directly to and appeal to those you are trying to sell to, not yourself. If your marketing team consists of 20-something males who are into fitness and eating well, yet your target audience is a 60-year-old man concerned with operating his farm, is what the team thinks is important going to be relevant to the 60-year-old farmer? Probably not.

Same Messaging and Approach

Marketing isn't a one-size-fits-all endeavor, and if you approach it this way and send out the same content across all channels, then this is why you aren't hitting the mark or your results are inconsistent.

Think of it this way: Would you wear cocktail attire to McDonald's or your sweats to a black-tie function? Probably not, and this is why your marketing needs to be individual for the channels you're using. One size doesn't fit all, and you need to appreciate the nuances between audiences to appeal to them and get the ROI you need.

Put on your radar!! Two Fall MG Titles

 

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Skye Nickson’s world changed forever when her dad went on the run with her brother, Finn. It’s been four years without Finn’s jokes, four years without her father’s old soul music, and four years of Skye filling in as Rent-a-Finn on his MIA birthdays for their mom. Finn’s birthday is always difficult, but at least Skye has her best friends, Reece and Jax, to lean on, even if Reece has started acting too cool for them.

But this year is different because after Finn’s birthday, they get a call that he’s finally been found. Tall, quiet, and secretive, this Finn is nothing like the brother she grew up with. He keeps taking late-night phone calls and losing his new expensive gifts, and he doesn’t seem to remember any of their inside jokes or secrets.

As Skye tries to make sense of it all through the lens of her old Polaroid camera, she starts to wonder: Could this Finn be someone else entirely? And if everyone else has changed, does it mean that Skye has to change too?

"This story brings lots of good discussion topics, especially related to adjusting to change and moving forward in its aftermath."

"This is a well constructed tale of family trauma and resilience that will circulate well, especially given the intriguing cover."

"Hits close to home. I cried." 

"This is a beautifully told story about an emotionally complex situation that is handled with the care it deserves. The characters are all flawed at points, but we see positive adult role models, therapy sessions, and art all used as coping strategies."

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Set at a camp over the course of six summers, this novel dives into the falling-out of two girls from different backgrounds who thought they'd be friends forever. Claire Swinarski, regional indie bestseller of the ALA Notable What Happened to Rachel Riley?, tackles privilege, perspective, and the power of friendship in this page-turning puzzle that readers will devour.

Eowyn Becker has waited all year to attend her sixth summer at Lamplighter Lake Summer Camp. Here, she’s not in the shadow of her Broadway-star older brother; she’s a stellar performer in her own right. Here, the pain of her mom’s death can’t reach her, and she gets to reunite with her best friend, Jules Marrigan—the only person in the world who understands her.

But when she gets to camp, everything seems wrong. The best-friend reunion Eowyn had been dreaming of doesn’t go as planned. Jules will barely even look at Eowyn, let alone talk to her, and Eowyn has no idea why.

Well, maybe she does…

There are two sides to every story, and if you want to understand this one, you’ll need to hear both. Told in a series of alternating chapters that dip back to past summers, the girls’ story will soon reveal how Eowyn and Jules went from being best friends to fierce foils. Can they mend ways before the curtains close on what was supposed to be the best summer of their lives?

"Readers who have theatrical aspirations will definitely want to pick up this book, and will envision themselves in the role of Glinda or Elphaba as the camp stages WICKED."

"I absolutely loved this story! Eowyn and Jules are both wonderful and wonderfully-crafted characters. "

"I think any kid who likes musical theatre will love this book with all the Mat references. It’s an early coming of age type of story where the MC needs to learn to deal with her grief, difficult friendships as well as privilege. It’s handled simply but very nicely." 

"A must read for middle grade readers who love musical theater, summer camp, and Wicked! Please check the content warnings as there are some heavy topics, including loss of a parent and grief."

FALL YA MUST READS

 

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Amateur sleuths and wannabe influencers Kerry and Annie are back on the case when a social media festival inspires some killer content—and several on-camera influencer deaths—in this page-turning and sidesplitting sequel to Murder on a School Night from author and comedian Kate Weston.

After catching the menstrual murderer red-handed, Annie and Kerry are now the Tampon Two, Barbourough’s most famous—well, only—detective duo. So Annie (and decidedly not Kerry) is enjoying her five minutes of fame.

Except life in the spotlight seems to be a magnet for death these days. After a famous prankster is found dead with a condom stretched over his entire head, the Tampon Two are on the scene at their small village’s Festival of Fame to catch another killer.

Honestly, Kerry doesn’t know how she ended up here again, but this might be her one chance to prove to the folks at the local paper that she has what it takes to be a reporter—and to prove to herself that she doesn’t need her boyfriend, Scott, to save the day. Or even Annie, who definitely has stars and hearts in her eyes investigating all these influencers.

With Annie distracted, Kerry has to work quickly, before one more live stream can be cut off by yet another grisly death. And this time, the murderer might be following her—and not just on social media—in their quest to create some truly killer content.

*Preorder TODAY! 

Award-winning author Jen Ferguson has written a powerful story about teens grappling with balancing resentment with enduring friendship—and how to move forward with a life that’s not what they’d imagined.          

Before that awful Saturday, Molly used to be inseparable from her brother, Hank, and his best friend, Tray. The indoor climbing accident that left Hank with a traumatic brain injury filled Molly with anger.

While she knows the accident wasn’t Tray’s fault, she will never forgive him for being there and failing to stop the damage. But she can’t forgive herself for not being there either.

Determined to go on the trio’s postgraduation hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, even without Hank, Molly packs her bag. But when her parents put Tray in charge of looking out for her, she is stuck backpacking with the person who incites her easy anger.

Despite all her planning, the trail she’ll walk has a few more twists and turns ahead. . . .

Discover the evocative storytelling and emotion from the author of The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, which was the winner of the Governor General's Award, a Stonewall Award honor book, and a Morris Award finalist, as well as Those Pink Mountain Nights, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year!

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It’s Black Friday—and the apocalypse is on sale!

Ever since the world filled with portals to hell and bloodthirsty demons started popping out on the reg, Jasper’s life has gotten worse and worse. A teenage nobody with no friends or family, he is plagued by the life he can’t remember and the person he’s sure he’s supposed to be.

Jasper spends his days working as a checkout clerk at the Here for You discount mart, where a hell portal in aisle nine means danger every shift. But at least here he can be near the girl he’s crushing on—Kyle Kuan, a junior member of the monster-fighting Vanguard—who seems to hate Jasper for reasons he can’t remember or understand.

But when Jasper and Kyle learn they both share a frightening vision of the impending apocalypse, they’re forced to team up and uncover the uncomfortable truth about the hell portals and the demons that haunt the world. Because the true monsters are not always what they seem, the past is not always what we wish, and like it or not, on Black Friday, all hell will break loose, starting in aisle nine.

Rising star Ian X. Cho delivers an unforgettably freaky and hilarious YA debut with Aisle Nine, perfect for fans of Grasshopper Jungle or The Last of Us.

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The first book in a thrilling mystery duology that follows Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy from the acclaimed Jane Austen Murder Mystery series!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that London’s first female solicitor in possession of the details of a deadly crime, must be in want of a suspect.

The tenacious Lizzie Bennet has earned her place at Longbourn, her father’s law firm. Her work keeps her busy, but luckily it gives her plenty of reasons to consult (and steal occasional kisses) with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a stern but secretly softhearted solicitor at Pemberley.

Lizzie is hired to investigate a deadly warehouse fire and to find the mysterious woman who was spotted at the scene moments before the flames took hold. But when the case leads to the sitting room of a woman Darcy once proposed marriage to, the delicate balance between personal and professional in their relationship is threatened.

Questions of the future are cast aside when the prime suspect is murdered and Lizzie’s own life is threatened. As the body count rises and their suspicions about what was really going on in the warehouse grow, the pressure is on for Lizzie and Darcy to uncover the truth.

Classic characters with an enthralling twist—Lizzie and Darcy, as introduced in the hit novel Pride and Premeditation, are back for more suspense, danger, and romance!

What are you most excited to read or share this fall??