While online schooling is beneficial for students of all ages, it’s particularly useful for young students. Primary prep students (ages 7 to 10) are in an active learning stage. At this young age, they require active, consistent, and qualified academic support, guidance, and teaching.
Additionally, they must be equipped with the tools needed for skill development, personal growth, social development, interest building, and extracurricular progression. The right institution can help young students become curious learners who develop a genuine interest in their studies and the world they live in.
As online learning popularises across the globe, you may wonder whether this learning model is right for your children. We proudly teach thousands of primary prep school students at Cambridge Home School Online. Our pupils learn exceptionally well and become high performers. If you’re in the middle of finding a reputable online school for your children, use the right checklist.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through some essentials you should look out for when choosing an online primary prep school. Use this as a roadmap to finalise the right institutions and ultimately select one that checks off all the boxes. Your children’s future is at stake. The more carefully and conscientiously you make this decision, the better! Let’s begin.
1. Experience
Online learning isn’t a new concept anymore. It’s considered an effective schooling model that helps children learn from the safety of their homes. As a parent, you can choose between thousands of online primary educational schools. Since there are so many options to choose from, parents often get analysis paralysis.
Instead of rushing the research process, take your time. The more time and energy you invest into finalising an online school, the better. We recommend looking at the institution’s experience first and foremost. You shouldn’t trust an institution with fewer than ten years of experience. This means they lack the experience and expertise required to help young children become sharp learners.
At Cambridge Home School Online, we have over 20 years of experience in providing quality online primary education to students. As an established institution, we maintain a high standard of education to help students excel. Shortlist experienced institutions that can equip your child with the knowledge and skills required to become confident learners.
2. Qualified, Patient, Empathetic Teachers
Young students cannot perform well if their teachers are incapable. In fact, students may develop a negative attitude towards their studies. This is extremely dangerous. The ideas, thoughts, and stances children develop at a young age stick with them throughout their teenage years. It may take several years for that mindset to shift and evolve.
For instance, if your child has an angry and impatient math teacher, they may begin to despise the subject. This will ultimately affect the interest they take in math lessons. Their performance will decline. Over time, they’ll start thinking they’re bad at math. Think of it like the domino effect. Once one tile is tipped, the remaining tiles quickly follow suit.
The primary prep schooling stage is critical owing to its infancy and nascence. It’s a child’s first schooling experience after nursery/kindergarten. At this stage, children begin to develop their own understanding of the world. If their teachers aren’t qualified, experienced, patient, empathetic, and trained to teach young children, pupils may suffer academically.
As you explore different online schools, find more information about their faculty. If their website doesn’t list critical details about their faculty, consider this a red flag. At Cambridge Home School Online, you can find complete information about our teachers on our website. We have a team of MA/MSc/PhD qualified subject specialist teachers who deliver engaging, well-structured, and retentive lessons.
We have a razor-sharp focus on patience, respect, empathy, and kindness. During the screening, interviewing, hiring, and training process, we ensure that our teachers possess these soft skills. We want our primary prep students to have a wholesome, fun, and positive online learning experience. This can only happen if their teachers are supportive, good-natured, thoughtful, attentive, and friendly.
By checking these boxes off the list, we ensure that our students enjoy their classes, take an active interest in their lessons, and perform well. Our teachers go above and beyond to help each student flourish.
Recommended Read: How Does Online Schooling Help Support Student Well-Being?
3. A Fully-Equipped Online Learning Software
As you select an online school for your child, pay close attention to the online learning software they use. Is it fully equipped, advanced, and modern? Or is it outdated and error-prone? At Cambridge Home School Online, we use a cutting-edge system to optimise the learning experience. Our system is also equipped with a wide range of useful features that help both teachers and students.
We strongly believe that primary prep students should be taught fun, engaging, exciting, and invigorating lessons. If things get too boring, they’ll easily get distracted, zone out, and break concentration. To help keep children on their toes, we have equipped our online system with cutting-edge audio-visual technology.
The outcome? Students are fascinated. The learning process becomes so much more fun, stimulating, and thrilling! This is the best way to help young children learn. As we use this approach, we succeed in keeping students engaged through and through. Our students may still get distracted; they’re not robots! However, our teachers promptly and expertly take the reins and help them get back on track.
We have a nice check-and-balance system that helps us maintain high productivity levels in our classrooms. Since we also have a low student-teacher ratio, students don’t get distracted easily. This is one of the most notable benefits of online schooling compared to conventional schooling. In most conventional schools, the classrooms comprise 20–40 students.
4. A Comprehensive Online Library
Young students are like sponges. They quickly and effectively absorb the knowledge that comes their way. This knowledge should be obtained through reliable and trusted sources. As you look for an online school, ensure they have an online repository of quality resources.
At Cambridge Home School Online, we provide each student with access to a vast online library with supplementary tools like previous catch-up lessons, PowerPoint presentations, videos, infographics, online journals, past papers, activities, exercises, worksheets, and so much more.
Our library helps primary prep students cover extra ground once their classes end for the day. The learning process never stops. As students revise for the day and do their homework, they utilise our resources to learn new insights and explore additional facets of their lessons.
We also encourage students to jot down questions. As they engage with the resources, they may find some things confusing. Their concepts are cleared as they present these questions in the classroom the following day. The class, as a collective, also gets a chance to learn something new that another student was curious about. This approach helps build curiosity in students. They develop an interest in exploring things in depth and get a chance to refine their critical thinking skills.
We live in a complex world. To become leaders and innovators, students must have the ability to think outside the box and challenge conventional notions. By encouraging the process of questioning the resources they consume, we help students become independent thinkers with independent thought. They pave their own way and take their thought process in new directions.
Recommended Read: Homeschooling vs. Online Schooling: The Better Option
5. A Strong Focus on Skill-Building
Every primary prep school should have a razor-sharp focus on skill-building. Before you finalise the right institution for your child, determine whether they develop soft and hard skills in students.
Ideally, they should double down on a wide set of soft skills like respect, empathy, patience, time management, collaboration, leadership, critical thinking, communication, creativity, and so on. They should also focus on hard skills like analytical thinking, quantitative reasoning, problem-solving, etc.
It may sound like these skills are too complex for young students, but they’re not. Students are taught these skills at a more nascent, introductory level. Think of it like an apple. While an adult would bite into it, a baby would be fed apple puree. The nutrient value remains the same. However, the form of the fruit is changed based on palatability.
When teaching hard skills to young students, we ensure that nothing seems too complex or difficult. The skills are broken down into simple, bite-sized pieces that can be easily understood and retained. We don’t just want our students to perform well, we want them to excel. By focusing on skill-building, we ensure that our primary prep students develop an edge that helps them become all-rounders.
6. Complete Transparency
As a parent, always opt for an online school that maintains high levels of transparency. Since your child is young, you must take the reins and stay on top of things. How are they progressing in school? Are their classes engaging? What about their teachers? Is there anything your child is struggling with?
Trust an online school that maintains an open line of communication with parents. You should be able to reach out whenever you want and schedule a meeting, should you need to. There should be no apprehension or hesitation on the institution’s part. Unfortunately, this isn’t very common.
Both online and conventional schools often fail to maintain open, clear, and honest conversation. This shouldn’t be the case. Find a primary prep online school that routinely schedules parent-teacher consultations.
At CHS Online, we believe that parents should always stay in the loop, no exceptions. We plan three parent-teacher consultations each year, one in every term. We also provide parents with 24/7 access to their children’s coursework. You can keep tabs on exactly what your child is being taught and how they respond to it.
Active, healthy, open, and honest conversation is the backbone of a positive schooling experience. As teachers, educators, and education specialists, we maintain the utmost honesty and transparency. In return, we expect the same from parents. We believe education is a collaborative process. When parents and teachers collectively work towards helping children grow, learn, and evolve, the outcome is excellent.
As a parent, you will be required to discuss your child’s routine and performance at home with us. Is your child completing their homework on time? Are they revising? Is there any behaviour you find odd? Do they have any complaints? Do you, as a parent, have any complaints? If there’s anything you’d like to discuss about your child’s performance or your own concerns as a parent, please feel free to speak with us. Communication will ultimately help us steer your child in the right direction.
Pro tip: Before switching to primary prep online schooling, please discuss the transition with your child. We recommend presenting the switch in a flattering light and building excitement. This is a great way to help your child feel comfortable and excited about what’s to come!
We also recommend this approach because it helps children feel like their opinion matters. As you involve them in the decision-making process, they’ll develop self-autonomy.
Additionally, if they have any concerns about the switch, you can discuss them. Help them feel at ease. This little tip goes a long way in making the initial online schooling journey easy, fun, and enjoyable for young students.
At Cambridge Home School Online, we proudly teach the Cambridge homeschool curriculum to students across the globe. As one of the most esteemed online British schools in the UK, Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, we’re trusted by thousands of parents.
Explore our four competitive homeschooling programs: Primary Prep/Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 10), Lower School/Key Stage 3 (ages 11 to 13), Upper School/IGCSEs (ages 14 to 16), and Sixth Form/AS & A-Levels (ages 17 to 19).
For more information, explore the following resources:
- Admissions Process
- Term Dates
- Application Form
- Open Morning
- Scholarships & Bursaries
- Grades & Fees
- Online Reviews
Whether you’re interested in high school online learning, school options for working parents, secondary schools in the UK, or primary school programs, CHS Online is the right choice.
Increase your chances of enrolment by submitting an early application. We look forward to helping your children become exceptional learners and future leaders.
Let’s take the first few steps towards brightening their future! It all starts with quality online schooling. If you have any questions, feel free to give our team a call. We’re always happy to help!
No comment yet, add your voice below!