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Old 03-19-2019, 05:20 PM
 
3 posts, read 3,315 times
Reputation: 10

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Hi Everyone - I am hoping some of you on here that have gone through the private school gauntlet can provide some advice here.

We submitted an application for my son (PreK3 class) for an Atlanta area private school. At this age the schools didn't really require testing and, from my understanding, admission is mostly based on observation, teacher recommendations, parent statement, etc.

We went through this process and thought that everything went smoothly. However, we just learned that one of the schools we applied to contacted our son's current school and asked to come observe him again. We found this to be a little odd because 1) an in-school observation wasn't communicated as a part of the process and 2) the school didn't reach out to us to tell us this was something they wanted to do.

We weren't 100% sure our son would get into where we wanted and so we didn't tell his current school that we were applying - if he didn't get in or we made the choice not to move him, we didn't want the school to have hurt feelings about us looking and treat our son any differently.

Now, obviously they know and my wife and I are wondering how to handle this. So some questions:

From your knowledge, is this a common occurrence?
Is there any indication of what this "extra" observation means? Is this a good thing, a bad thing, neither?
Is there anything that we should do proactively with his current school to ensure they set him up for a good observation?
Is it worth it to reach out to the private school and ask for information or clarity about the observation?

Our son's current school has had some recent teacher turnover, and the headmaster seems to be struggling a bit. Despite our son being really happy there, we weren't sure of the long-term fit viability, which is why we started looking at other options. I may be being paranoid, and I would hope this would never happen, but I worry about them not helping my son put his best foot forward so that they don't potentially lose a student.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Old 03-19-2019, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Dunwoody,GA
2,239 posts, read 5,817,006 times
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Why wouldn't the current school know you were applying out if teacher recommendations are required?
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Old 03-20-2019, 07:42 AM
 
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We had his day-to-day teacher do the recommendation. She is no longer at the school so the information that we were applying out didn't get disseminated to the administration.
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Old 03-20-2019, 07:45 AM
 
Location: Dunwoody,GA
2,239 posts, read 5,817,006 times
Reputation: 3409
I think that each school is different. I know that most of these schools will go to a student's preschool if they are a sibling of a student already at the school. I don't know if a second observation at the school is routine for any of them, but it's also possible they had a concern and wanted to give the child a second glance to see if the concern was a fluke or a consistent issue. They typically do not contact parents about that, so that part is not weird to me. But, regardless, it's nothing to get your feathers ruffled over. Just relax and let them do their work.

ETA: If the school you are applying to saw that the teacher who completed the form is no longer at the preschool, they might have contacted the preschool so that they could get their view as well. In other words, they might want to be sure that the ex-teacher didn't have an ax to grind against the preschool and somehow skew/distort her information based upon no longer being at the school. I think they will want feedback from someone official; there is usually a form for the principal to complete as well.
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Old 03-20-2019, 07:54 AM
 
Location: Dunwoody,GA
2,239 posts, read 5,817,006 times
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Oh, and I'll add one more thing. Usually, schools require returning students to re-enroll and put down a deposit before the common notification date. This tells them how many openings to anticipate for the next year for their own admissions purposes. So, if you're going to hedge your bets, you'll probably have to put down a deposit at your current school BEFORE you know whether he gets into the school you're interested in.
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Old 03-20-2019, 08:22 AM
 
3 posts, read 3,315 times
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CMMOM - thank you for the replies - that all makes sense. Hopefully its just something routine and we'll find out some positive news in a couple of weeks. We were just surprised that they would put this kind of time in, especially for a child that might be on the cusp (if there was some kind of concern). Maybe it is just also wanting something more from the pre-school as well.

We did put a deposit down for the next school year at his current school, so we are good to go on that front. Thanks!
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Old 03-20-2019, 12:17 PM
 
3,493 posts, read 7,888,478 times
Reputation: 7234
It can also be as simple as they are going to your son's current school to observe other students and know that your son is there and they would like to observe him as well. I do know that they try to "batch" observations whenever possible.

As far as how to optimize your son's chance of having a good observation, I would speak with the teacher and see what her experience with these sorts of things is. She might have a plan in place about how she handles it in the classroom/playground... or it might be completely new to her.

And obviously set your little guy up for success with a good night's sleep, relaxed morning and favorite, comfortable clothes!
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