OT: School interviewing the parents

[lg3]

dd is starting kindergarten next month at a private Christian school, which she attended for preschool and pre-k, and is affiliated with the church we are members of. All the parents of kids entering kindergarten have to go through an interview at the school, which is supposed to last around 45 minutes. Just what do they want to talk about for 45 minutes? She is already officially enrolled and has passed all the testing w/flying colors. I suppose it is for us to affirm our commitment to adhering to the school rules and morals? It seems like a long time. ........

 

[sk!mom]

If she is already accepted and enrolled, then I have no idea. Maybe they just want to seem exclusive

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

My guess is that they offer you information that you will need to know. When my DDs went to private school the interview time was something they used to explain school procedures and expectations of the families.

 

[jrandtysmom]

dd is starting kindergarten next month at a private Christian school, which she attended for preschool and pre-k, and is affiliated with the church we are members of. All the parents of kids entering kindergarten have to go through an interview at the school, which is supposed to last around 45 minutes. Just what do they want to talk about for 45 minutes? She is already officially enrolled and has passed all the testing w/flying colors. I suppose it is for us to affirm our commitment to adhering to the school rules and morals? It seems like a long time. ........

My son attends a private Christian school and I thought the same as you when they told me about the interview. They mostly talked to my son, asked him questions about himself, if he says prayers at night, questions about what he learns in church, etc. It was explained to me that they want to get to know the child, explain about the school to them and make them feel more comfortable about coming but my friend who is very involved with the school said they are also evaluating if the child had behavorial problems, if there is a dialogue about Christianity and faith or if the child appears clueless (meaning the parents are saying they are practicing Christians but there is no evidence from the child because we all know children tell things innocently that we'd be mortified by. ) I was a nervous wreck through the whole thing and he didn't talk much - was very shy, but they were very nice and understanding that he was only entering Kindergarten. My friend said they mostly have the interview in place for older children coming in from other schools to see about the behavior problems and it's a time they can ask about why they left (or in some cases were asked to leave) public school in a unbiased way.

Now my 2nd child starts next year and I'm VERY nervous about that one because Lord knows what that child will say or do - he is very unpredictable and hopefully he doesn't get us all thrown out!

 

[Stephaniecmc]

Our DS4 will be starting preschool in the fall. In order for him to start school a home interview must be conducted. We were told this is to let the kids know that the teachers are "ok". The example that was used was..."If Mommy and Daddy let my teacher into our house, we know them". I think it's a great idea and I can't wait to actually put a face with a name (we're new to the district and this is our first child in school).

 

[budbeerlady]

We had ours 2 years ago. They wanted to talk about our commitment to our church, community, etc. It was around 30-40 min by the time we introduced ourselves, told why we wanted DD there, etc. I was nervous but it went well!

 

[eeyorefan74]

We went through this too, and I was so nervous. But it turned out that it was more an information session than anything else. The interviewer told us about school policies and answered any questions we had. Very informal, and I got myself all worked up over nothing. If your child has already passed the tests, I bet you have nothing to worry about either. It might be helpful to come with a list of questions to ask them, though.

 

[gaelic grace]

We had to do the same thing before our daughter started K. It was great because she got really comfortable with the principal and we got to ask alot of questions related specifically to her.