There is no question about whether or not a private school will significantly impact your child’s intellectual, personal, and interpersonal development. However, quite often, parents ask themselves: Does it make more sense to start early, or can I “skip” the first years and start in middle school when it starts counting towards their academic resume?
Private schooling is a gift that keeps on giving, and there are numerous benefits unique to private education regardless of the grade your child is in. However, some specific benefits of private school vary with the student’s age. Here is a glimpse of how private school is advantageous to students at each age milestone.
Advantages of a Private School for Preschool Education
Most parents determine the quality of the school by test scores alone. Even though our students consistently rank in the top 1% in the nation, we are not judging ourselves by the test scores achieved. Here at Cedar Hill Prep we take a different approach. We call it the “It Takes A Village” approach.
Parental Involvement
We focus on creating a community of parents, students, and staff members that come together as one. As children go through Preschool, Elementary School, and Middle School, parents need to be an active part of the education process, just as children need individualized attention.
Preschool is usually the first time parents are exposed to formal education, which can be daunting. The right preschool can help parents transition into the role more easily as the private school provides them with more opportunities for involvement and a greater support system than found in public schools.
Building Critical Cognitive & Social Skills
At the preschool level, students are learning far more than basic social skills. They are working to acquire basic cognitive skills. Neuroscientists have established that cognitive skills are always developing and begin doing so as soon as an infant is born. The quality of a preschool is critical in developing these skills because it gives them a head start and builds life skills.
The Cedar Hill Prep curriculum fosters seven core competencies rather than drilling for state-mandated testing:
- Focus and self-control
- Communication skills
- The ability to make connections
- Critical thinking
- Risk taking at each age level
- Engaged learning
- Empathy
Small Class Sizes & Academic Enrichment
With smaller classes taught by certified early childhood educators, a private education can work wonders for developing these essential life skills as they allow the teachers to give individualized attention to each student.
Private schools are not at the whim of public budgets, so they can offer Music, Art, Physical Education, and even World Languages (Cedar Hill Prep teaches Spanish and French) at such a young age. Such opportunities help promote the skills that create independent thinkers and give students a head start on their education.
