School Hunting In Dubai

I'd like to share my experience in finding school here in Dubai. Very tough and search is still going on.

We reached here in May , which means Registrations and Admissions in every school is closed. I knew what to expect as I knew how schools here work. Most of the schools' yearly session begins in the month of September. To be able to get the admission, you need to start making calls for registration a year before like in the month of October at least. If you want your child to be enrolled in the school for the September 2013 classes , you need to have him registered in October 2012. Registration dates vary from school to school so you need to be vigilant regarding this. You should always be aware of what is "going on" in schools.
Since I was too late already , I ended up calling just any school around our area and everyone told me no more seat available. I literally begged some schools as I didn't want to waste my child's year. I had no idea, that I will never get admission anywhere. I wanted a school not very far from where we live so preferred areas were Jebel Ali, The Gardens, Discovery Gardens, even till Al Barsha but all efforts in vain. Not a single seat anywhere.

 My daughter is supposed to be in FS2 , which means she is too old for a Nursery School but I convinced myself to put her in one just so she can experience a normal routine of going to school, have friends, socialize and learn at the same time. So I started my search for a good decent Nursery around. There were couple of Nurseries like Chubby Cheeks Nursery, Bubbles & Giggles , Jebel Ali Village Nursery.  Okay first and foremost the nurseries are very costly. Okay now if they are charging so, I asked what are they going to teach the children. What curriculum is to be followed, what will kids learn after coming out of the Nursery. They had vague replies. None of them satisfied me. Just by speaking to them I came to know that Nurseries here are basically Day cares. Kids will go there, play till they want, eat, drink, sleep and sing. They might be taught the abs's and 123's but that's it. There is really no serious teaching and learning. So why pay that much then? I dropped this idea as I can teach better. Why throw away money for something I don't even want.

So now, I am my daughter's teacher preparing her for Grade 1. I had her registered in GEMS Winchester for the year 2014. I paid registration fee of AED500 . So one whole year ahead of us. There are couple of schools more in my mind where I plan to register too as registration doesn't mean you got the seat, it means you are in the waiting list. So I can't take any risk and should be in waiting list of more schools hoping to get a call form any one with the good news that we can enroll our daughter now.  But my search is still on, keep making calls hoping someone to withdraw and the seat be given to my child. 

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Should Teachers in Karachi Wear Uniforms?

My vote is "YES"

I personally think that schools' administration should start thinking about the idea of setting a particular dress code or uniforms for their staff.  There is this daily issue of what a particular teacher might be wearing today or whatsoever, so to avoid such puzzles, why not set a really nice and decent uniform for them?

While some teachers come to school in a presentable dress, some really disappoints you. But we cannot blame them for that too. What if that's what they can afford only or they really have this weird choice.

Once they come in uniforms, not only will it add to the standard of your school, they will look very decent and professional at the same time. Three sets of uniform for the whole year is not a bad idea at all.

Some teachers may find it expensive and extra expenses but it is all justified by the fact that now they will be able to save from making new dresses once in a while and instead spend just once on these.

Another important thing that just be part of the rule is Teachers' Hygiene which is very important not just for the school environment but for students too. Remember , children learn from what they see more than what they hear. They should take shower daily and come to school smelling fresh. They might not be able to retain their freshness till off timings, so a solution for this is they use deodorant. They can easily buy one from Rs.95 and above depends on the brand, this should be a burden for them. Rs. 95 or even 150 every month shouldn't be a burden. But if the school administration is rich and has a big heart, why not gift your teachers one if not every month every three months ? :D

Picture taken from http://www.graphicsfactory.com

This post is related to my previous post "Should Teachers Dress Up" and I'm kind of giving a suggestion to solve the issue discussed earlier which is neglected by most schools. I hope somebody authorized reads this and would make a difference.

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Should Teachers Dress Up?

Well YES! Teachers in most of other countries wear uniform and look really good and decent in that. But in Pakistan, uniform is not introduced in schools yet for teachers, well not that I heard of.

We are individuals and have our own taste in every matter including dressing up. Not everyone looks as pleasing as you might expect because you might not like her choice of dress. But, hygiene and neatness is something that is common and should be common to each of one whether you're a Pakistani or American.

In school, one get to see teachers cat walking around the school ,showing off their style and fashion which I,as a Head love to see because I like teachers to look their best all the time.

Here's the actual situations in most of the schools. In normal days, like during regular classes, teachers do not pay too much attention on what they wear and end up looking like a great disappointment. The young teachers , the ones below 30 try their best to look good which is appreciable. Though some of them over do it by wearing really large accessories. The "little bit older" teachers, the married ones you can say, come to school in their house dress, very lousy looking and stinks a lot as if they have changed their babies' diapers but not their clothes.

Coming to school in a bad condition shows how disorganized, un-interested and unhappy you are. When you are in school, you are a different person and should leave behind all your worries at home because you are going to deal with different people specially your students. Before anything else, you are the first your students are going to interact first, so the more pleasant you look,the more happy the day will be for your students as well as for you. Kids idolize their teachers,  they look up to you as someone they would want to become when they grow up specially the girls. Show them how you would want to see them and how you would want to be seen. Think about this deeply.

So prepare your clean clothes the day before going to school so you get enough time to choose for the best, doing this in the morning the same day you got to school, will make you choose hurriedly and you'd end up picking a "not-so-good"  dress or a dress you've been wearing for the last 4 days. You don't want that , do you?

Iron your clothes neatly and shower daily to avoid unwanted and unbearable odor.  Please take care of how you smell too, I get a really bad headache whenever a staff member enters my office spreading a really unpleasant smell around the place and you don't want to leave such an impression to anyone. Buy yourself a good deodorant , a nice body powder or perfume/body spray. Your kids will love you for this as well as colleagues.

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Healthy Snacks For School

Since our kids are about to be going back to school soon, it is very important to plan what we should put in their lunch box.

As a teacher, what I observed was, three out  of ten students brought along with them junk food which was so disappointing. I always wanted to raise this issue but was never supported by my heads.

Through this blog , I will definitely make my voice heard ,well to some extent.

Eating healthy food is always recommended even for adults. But for age group 0 to 6 years  it is very important to give kids of this age only healthy food as their body and bones are still growing and very soft that they can absorb anything you give.  And of course that's when you teach them what to eat and what not and it's up to them till when they continue this habit. This is the period where you build a proper eating pattern with regards to timings and menu.

Now regarding snacks/lunch for school, some parents tend to be lazy in preparing home-made food for their kids for several reasons and for some parents, they think that sending junk food with their kids might make them happy when they open their lunch boxes just to find their favorite eatables. No one can deny the fact that kids love junk food or let's say any food that is not prepared in their own homes.

Some of the junk food found in kids' lunch box:

1. Candies

2. Chips

3. Chewing gum- the most dangerous , I think it shouldn't be given to kids at all!

4.  Lollipop

5. Chocolates

Some Healthy Food that you can give :

1. Sandwich - Make a quick spread of boiled eggs and mayonnaise

2. Instant Noodles - I suggest boiled in a chicken stock

3. Mashed potatoes or potato balls

4. Sliced cucumber, carrots or any fruit. Kids love this a lot. My kids love eating fresh veggies and fruits.

5. Roasted green peas-roast or fry green peas in butter for 7 minutes, mu=y kids can eat this for hours.

6. French fries - Personally I think French Fries prepared at home isn't junk at all.

And many more.

The above are some quick-lunch that you can make and send along with any juice. Prepare what you can at night so there won't be any excuse the next day like getting late, busy attending other members of the family because this way, your kid gets neglected.

Set your priorities and this one is one of them.

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Back to School 2012

This time Summer vacations was changed and instead of June/July it was moved to July/August due to Ramadan in the month of August.

Now as Eid is just around the corner, holidays are about to come to an end too and parents' nightmares start again specially parents of pre-schoolers as kids will start crying all over again like they did the first day.

I will not be giving any advise  on what parents should do that their kids don't cry because this is a very normal routine and parents should not worry about it . Handle the situation like the way you did on your child's first day of school.

Image from Clipartof.com

What you can do as of now is, start talking to your child about school and their teacher. Tell them that their teacher is waiting to give them starts.

Take them with you when shopping for their school items like bags, pencils, scales, eraser etc.

Ask them to prepare their bags themselves , with you guiding them.

Check their homework and revise.

Ask them to check whether their uniform is still in best condition and make them polish their shoes.

The above are simple things you can do with your child that will strengthen your bond and at the same time boost up their excitement to be back to school.

Do share some of your tips too. Remember , send your child to school a smile. 

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Checking of Notebooks/Copies- A Problem for Teachers

As a child, I always saw my teacher as a celebrity who wears good clothes, nice shoes, carry a good handbag, who can sing very well as she teaches us how to sing the nursery rhymes , gives us work to do and checks them. Checking was the best part of being a teacher, I thought so. I just loved the idea of being able to mark a tick with a red pen.

But only after I became a teacher myself did I realize , checking copies is no game for kids and in fact the most difficult task for a teacher. Being in this profession, you get to do a lot of checking whether as a teacher or Head. As a Head the main problem with teachers as per my observation is very late checking of notebooks. For me it's a blunder not just by a teacher but from the school too. As a teacher , I had no one to guide me on how to solve this problem but now, I would like to take this opportunity to share what I learnt and discovered to be the best technique in keeping track of your checking.

How to be on time in  checking students' work

After giving the students their work, keep moving around the class and watch out for the student who finishes her/his work first and check it immediately. Continue this till the last copy but don't worry if you are left with few copies to be checked after the period is over because it's normal. You must be wondering how you will be able to check the copies so quickly as it would need a thorough concentration. So there's also a solution to that. When you are on round, don't move blankly but instead keep an eye on what the student's are writing and catch their mistakes and make them correct it there and then. In that way you will only just need to put a "tick" on it.

Another important point is, do not waste your time in chatting while in the staff room and make checking of copies a priority. Once done, you can chat as much as you can. ;)

Voila!! Problem solved.

The above is what I think is the biggest problem but I'll be coming back with other problem that teachers face while working.

Do let me know if you have any problem that you face in the classroom and are seeking for solution.

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Preparation For Class 1 Admission Tests (A Private Teacher)

As I promised to all parents , this post is about the lady who can prepare children for Class 1 admission tests for different schools such as BVS, Mama Parsi, Convent Schools, Beaconhouse etc etc.

First of all a little bit of background. Mrs. Ayesha Naveed was my colleague when I was with White House Grammar school.  Very hardworking and dedicated to her work. Was never hesitant to ask questions and kept learning more and more. Until now she's been in touch with me with queries related to teaching and I highly appreciate that as it makes me feel good seeing dedicated and serious teachers around.

She is no longer with  White house Grammar School and nowadays have started taking students at home to prepare them for admissions in "big" schools. Upon knowing this ,I decided to let parents know about this and check for yourself if you feel comfortable with this set up.

Mrs. Ayesha has a proper syllabus with her that she follows to prepare kids for the tests. Besides this, she uses books from U.S as a teaching aid. She takes up maximum of 5 students at a time for preparation so she can give them quality time and good attention.

I may not be able to do justice to her performance as a private tutor here in my post but I suggest you contact or visit her for your own satisfaction.

I would like to advise parents to relax and take it easy while searching for schools for your child as you may end up choosing the wrong school because of that. I understand the pressure you are in as I went through that but always have patience.

Don't end up like this in search of school :D

For those interested in contacting her may contact me on my page.

Hope I helped. :)

PLEASE NOTE THAT INFORMATION GIVEN IN MY POSTS REGARDING SCHOOLS OR INDIVIDUALS IS SOLELY MY PERSONAL OPINION AND BASED ON MY OBSERVATION AND RESEARCH. I DO NOT TAKE OR ACCEPT ANY KIND OF PAYMENT FOR ANY OF MY POST IN MY BLOGS.

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My Daughter's First Day Of School :)

For those who experienced sending their child for the first time to school, will definitely understand how I feel.

After hunting for schools/Nurseries to put my daughter in, after coming to Dubai, finally I found one that suits us and her of course while waiting for the September admissions for FS1.

Today was her first day in school. And I felt like it was mine, I was so nervous and hardly could sleep the previous night. Walking here and there ironing her uniform, preparing her bag with an extra dress to take to school, kept her lunch box ready, kept socks and shoes  in front just to be sure nothing would make her late for school the next morning. With all things ready, I went to bed having cold feet.

I hate waking up early in the morning but today, her first day of school, I woke up at 7:00a.m though the schools bus was not to come till 8:35 a.m.

Now , came the time when I had to take her down 5 minutes before the arrival of school bus to pick her up. But I didn't feel like taking her,though I wanted to,but I felt like she was going to cry and not get into the bus if I was there standing waving goodbye. So I sent my mother in law instead and just watched her from our balcony. There went my little girl, suddenly all grown up to be going to school.

All the while , the only thought I had in mind was , she might be crying now and at any moment I'll receive a call from the school telling me she is crying her throat out. But didn't happen and instead I called and was informed that she was having fun. After hanging up, I decided to go and pick her myself one hour earlier as by now she might be crying a lot. But got so busy with house chores that I didn't notice the time. it was already 11:45. 15 minutes and it will be her off, so I  just called to ask for the expected arrival of school bus to drop her. After informing me, the receptionist herself informed me, that my daughter did well today, didn't cry at all, had fun and enjoyed. Oh what a relief!! Alhamdulillah!

Feeling as if I passed the board exams, happily I went downstairs to wait for my lovely girl. There she arrived, and wasn't at all happy to see me. It means , she didn't want to leave school. :) I know it's every parent's dream to not to have their kids crying in school.

Here is a piece of  advice which i think was useful in this whole scenario of not crying. I always did a role play with her, where she was a student and me, her teacher. She use to wake up in the morning, have breakfast, get dressed up, and we start our role- playing. I used to give her worksheets, coloring books  and many activities to be done.

From time to time, I keep telling her about schools, teachers and the other kids at school that will be her friends, in this way she is mentally prepared then for what she is going to have when she starts school. I talked a lot about school that recently she was the one asking me when would I be sending her .

Just a bit of experience I wanted to share to all of you.

Don't forget to click on the follow button on this page to get updates of my new posts.

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Worksheets

All new parents wonder what to teach their kids at home. Whether  to teach or not, is a big question. The answer to this question in my opinion is, yes! Parents should keep on teaching their child at home and not depend totally on schools.

When your child is still a baby, start reading books to him, start telling him the names of things around him. Though the baby may seem not to understand, but somehow, they catch those words and eventually start to understand. There is no fixed time as to when to start teaching your child. While still young , give them awareness about everything that you see.

I would like to share with all of you what activities I did with my daughter as now, I see a tremendous result of that. I will take it step by step. In this post, I will be showing you the worksheets I made myself which you can easily make too for your child. Soon I'll be giving you the link of a printable worksheet as right now I still haven't figured out how to do that. For those who are interested can give their email id on my facebook or over here on the comment portion and I'll send the worksheets to you so you can download or print directly. I will delete your email id's after doing so. If not suitable, you can either just copy and make a similar sheet as I did, it's very easy you will see.

I gave my daughter the first worksheet of her life at the age of 1.5. What I gave was simply a crayon and a blank paper. I just let her scribble on it. Make sure to make your child sit in a proper place so eventually he/she would know that this is his/her study place.

The above worksheet isn't the actual one and I just tried to make one with the help of MS Paint , just to give you an idea on how it would look.

After several scribbling work, start giving large objects for coloring. like balloon, leaf, circle, triangle. Make the object bigger for easy coloring. Don't give pictures such as scenery or fruits basket with fruits as it would just confuse them.  The worksheet here is of a balloon. I asked my daughter to color it red. While coloring I kept telling her short sentences about balloon, like , balloon flies up in the sky, balloon has different colors too, we see many balloons in a birthday party etc etc. In this way you can improve your child's conversation. Follow the same procedure when giving other objects too.

After several coloring and when you see your child is able to grip the pencil properly,then is the right time to give something for tracing. I have introduced phonics to my daughter from the age 1.5  and gave her tracing work at the age of 2 as she was a fast learner. Make this work interesting by encouraging your child to say "c"(kha) is round and round and stop! The word "stop" made my daughter smile every time she said it until now :) keep playing with words , you may never know which one will make your child happy and make learning fun and exciting. Give the same sound repeatedly with different objects. One "c" is candle ,so the second worksheet will have "cup", third will have "cake" and so on.

Example of number worksheet

1"one" ball

While tracing the number, encourage the child to say "one". After tracing, ask "How many balls are there?" Let's count. "one" One ball.

The other worksheet is a circle. Ask the child what shape is this? "Circle" Let's color the circle green/yellow/red .... What I did was after coloring the circle, I asked my daughter to make small circles and color them.

Needs a bit of time and hard work, but anyone can do this. It's fun and at the same time you get chance to bond with your little one.

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Facebook Facebook

Okay I really don't know how this works here so I had to post on this. I need to put a link, a kind of button/tab here to direct viewers to my facebook page but don't know how to. Maybe anyone would be interested to help.

Other blog

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Should Fathers Be Involved In His Child's Schooling?

The answer is a big YES. Responsibility of children is always placed on a mother's shoulders which is quite understandable because children spend most of their times with moms than dads. This might be wrong in the West or America as mostly there,both parents work if not full-time, part-time.

Though mothers play a major role in a child's upbringing, fathers should be encouraged to be involved in the child's every matter and the matter I would highlight here is Education.

Mostly fathers tend to relax on a lot of matters related to their children as they are confident that they are being taken care of by mothers. True. But not always right. I think fathers should be equally involved special regarding schooling.

Children whose fathers are very much involved in their education have a successful outcomes as compared to children who are not getting the same attention.

Reasons as to why fathers should start taking interest in their kids' education :

1. Makes the father-child bond stronger.

2. Complete the shortcomings of the partner(wife) incase there are any. Mothers are humans and sometimes tend to neglect things unintentionally which can later be corrected by father.

3. Father will have awareness of what the child is learning from school and can always make it a point if he finds anything he doesn't like rather than blaming the wife at the end if the day for not telling him about what so ever.

4. Children feel very secure getting both parents' attention.

5. The child will always take his studies seriously even as a grown up as he knows that mother and father are there watching him and are having great expectations.

These are the top five of the few reasons I observed closely. Hope you would start thinking.

So ladies encourage your husbands, and guys, start opening your kid's books now and teach them something. :)

P.S I would like to thank McGee's for the photo I used. Just love it!

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Bee Zee Montessori

There was a Pre-school sometime back named Bambini Montessori which was organized by two AMI trained Directresses on a partnership basis. Later on they split up. Bambini remained and the other one is now called Bee Zee Montessori.

My experience with Bee Zee has been very good. I won't waste too much time giving unnecessary details. To make it short , they follow the Montessori system and is a preparation center too. They have a number of successful students who cleared for the renowned school in the city.

When you get your child admitted in any school, the excitement at that time includes the change in routine when you would be teaching your child at home and monitoring his/her homework. But it's not the case here. The parents are strictly told not to teach the child anything at home since he/she will be confused which in my opinion is very true. Not unless you are sure that you are teaching the right thing,that is , it is what is being taught at school, then only you can help your child for homework. But since they don't give homework to avoid confusions, parents can relax now. So if you get your child enrolled in Bee Zee you will have to follow this rule.

From time to time they will send you an assessment sheet of your child's performance report. There's no hurry to make your child write since they will do that when they are ready.

Let's Connect on Facebook to share questions and answers.

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Questions to be asked when choosing a Pre-School

If you are a parent of very young kids, you will find this question popping up your mind every time you think of sending your little one to school.
So based upon my experience as someone from school and as a mother of two kids who will be going to school soon, I thought of sharing this very important information.

What are the questions you should ask when picking a Pre-School for your child?

1. Do teachers stick around?
As this is a very common issue in our schools, that teachers can leave whenever they can and are replaced easily, this question, for me, is the most important. What I have observed is, children who have had several teachers in a short time , find it more difficult to adjust as compared to students having only one teacher throughout the year or Pre-school as they get used to her ways and become fond of her. Well, you cannot expect the same teacher from the begin of the Pre-school till the end, so you should be happy with the fact that your child will have the same teacher at least for a year.

2. How will the day be for my child?
Ask about the time table as most Pre-schools in Karachi have time tables. You as a parent should be aware of what your child will be doing in the school. Make sure it's not just study, study and study but a bit of free play and fun time.

3. Teaching Method
It's important to know what methodology will your child's teacher be using in the class. For this age group "learn through play" is the most effective.

4. Students- Teachers ratio, total number of kids in a class and the class size.
How many students will a teacher handle. If they say there are a total of thirty students and on teacher but the class is very spacious then you should understand that this is not quite good. A good pre-school will always have a teacher and an assistant teacher for help. Then in this case, thirty shouldn't matter.

5. Teachers personality.
A teacher should be well-dressed , neat and clean and have a pleasant personality. Besides this she should be talkative. Children learn a lot when listening to adults speaking.

6. Check the school's hygiene.
Keep looking around and observe the environment's as well as the staff's cleanliness.

7. Who will take my child when she needs to go to the toilet?
Besides the teacher, it's always good to see and meet the "aya" or nanny of the school. See and judge by her face if she is happy doing her job.

8. What is the school's approach to children's discipline and safety.

9. Availability of school bus.

10. First Aid Kits.


I hope the above questions might be of help to you. If you think I missed out something, please feel free to write them down in your comment for other parents to see. :)

Good Luck!

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Difference between Kindergarten and Montessori System

Okay here is the most commonly asked question “what is the difference between Kindergarten and Montessori System?” You guys can find lots of answers for that here on the internet but what I’ve observed is, the answers have those very difficult terms which not everybody can understand especially those parents who aren’t aware at all of the Montessori system. Let’s start with Kindergarten first as most of us knows it already. It is the very system we have in our schools here. The one we call the traditional system. Where we learn a particular topic of a subject together, have deadlines to submit our assignments, prepare for examinations etc etc. In this system, our teachers are our leaders and we follow them.

While Montessorians disagree with the idea that all children learn in the exact same way at the exact same time of their life. Every child has their own interests and mood. A child learns through experience. The Directress is there to guide not to teach or give orders.

A Montessori classroom have lots of materials which they use to clear concepts. Like instead of showing the symbols “1″, “2″ while introducing numbers, they use Number Rods, and the Directress says “1″ while showing the smallest rod that represents one, then goes on with “2″ while showing the rod which is bigger than the first rod with 2 sections. In this way the child will learn counting till ten and then they are shown the symbols. By the time they see the symbols , they already know what they are, when they see 1 , they know what is one because the counted “1″ already using the concrete materials. In this way Montessori has materials for everything. As your child turns 6, you will know that your child is smart enough to go the next stage of his life. I won’t bore you with lots of details and instead gave you the shortest explanation I can.

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Part 5/5: White House Grammar School - Lessons Learned

Previous: Part 4/5: White House Grammar School - "Been there, done that"

Just few months before I left job, I was transferred to the main campus as the owner’s assistant. And in that case I came to know more about the ‘inside’ of the school. WHGS has power. Power in the sense that they attract parents towards their schools like a magnet well hats off to me for taking a great number of admissions while I was the admission officer over there.

After all sales talking is something. Okay coming to the academic side of the main campus, It was all messed up. There were lots of complains from parents in one single day and coincidentally the complains were pretty much genuine. God knows what the sectional heads were up to at that time.

Mismanagement of teachers was very common too because the more teachers were managed well the lesser complains would come. I was the one who had to deal with the parents and the heads used to just tell me what to tell them. There were many times when the parents complain on the phone and they weren’t entertained at all. The parents who personally go to the school and complain, are given preferences over those who did on phone or diaries. Parents were always given assurance that their problem will be solved but frankly speaking nothing was done related to that.

Now the school has seven branches, all the sectional heads removed and all their branches have very good response with good number of students. But the standard of education is nothing extraordinary as compared to other small schools that have opened in every street of Karachi.

The school has become a total commercial and isn’t able to maintain the quality education at all. How would they maintain a quality study when they won’t increase the pay scale for their teachers who are the main pillars of their success?

Enjoy :0)

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Part 4/5: White House Grammar School - "Been there, done that"

Previous: Part 3/5: White House Grammar School - On the Highway

I faced problems with dealing with the teachers as well as most of them were young and inexperienced so a lot of teaching from my side was required but that’s still better than having fussy senior experienced teachers. The teachers were hard working except for few.

It’s every school’s best quality to be able to hide their teachers’ shortcomings as much as possible but there were really some mistakes which can’t be just hidden from parents. But that’s really fine to hide the teachers’ mistakes with the intention of correcting it. Most of the teachers did correct the mistakes and some were just stubborn to do that.

WHGS was just lucky to have hardworking teachers with the pay scale they were offering. I must say that WHGS is not really good in rewarding their teachers’ efforts and good performance. The management do not pay them as much as they should be and of course the pay should match the responsibilities given to them. But the teachers adjusted to such pay since some of them lack in certain areas , like they’re undergrad or not much qualified or don’t speak English.

So here it is WHGS have many senior staff but mostly are in their main campus only but the teachers in the other campuses are not much experienced. At that time we did our best to give quality education to the kids in our junior branch but the main campus situation was very much different.

Next: Part 5/5: White House Grammar School - Lessons Learned

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Part 3/5: White House Grammar School - On the Highway

Previous: Part 2/5: White House Grammar School - The Ground Zero

That’s where my ‘real experience’ happened. WHGS had their second branch just nearby the main campus and I was made the Senior Mistress over there. Junior campus had classes from Montessori to class 2.

I was the Senior Mistress but was also handling a class of Montessori as well as was the coordinator of Pre-Primary. It was tough multi-tasking and eventually the task of being a class teacher was taken from me since I didn’t want to compromise with my quality of work and I found myself having difficulty coping up with quality work while multi-tasking. The management requested that I should remain the coordinator of Pre-primary since they couldn’t just give that responsibility to anyone yet. I give my 101% to my job and enjoyed the “seat” I got.

I was so proud of myself for my achievement. Everyone noticed me since I did some compeering for them too. We( me & Headmistress) divided the responsibilities among ourselves and I was trained by her at the same time. At first, The Headmistress was Ms. Rabeea Ali, I got to learn a lot from her too but she had some short comings as well, probably due to lack of experience. She was really good in some areas, like checking the spelling mistakes, taking care of presentation, she spoke English very well with a good accent, soft spoken and polite and had very good dealings with parents as well as parents.

My responsibilities then was checking of planners, conducting meetings, going for rounds and giving reports to the Headmistress, check students’ copies and diaries and mostly assist her. One fine day she had to leave job due to her marriage and she was replaced by Mrs. Saadia Ambreen. She is a very experienced lady and very much fit for the position. In the beginning she almost did her duty perfectly and of course I got to learn a lot from her since she was very good at training me. Like the previous Headmistress, both of us also had a very good chemistry and we got along very well. She helped me wherever I had to face problem and taught me how to solve them.

What I’ve shared until now are the positive side of my experience. I faced lots of challenges during my stay there and the biggest challenge was to work with the senior teachers of WHGS as their head because it’s just difficult for them to accept the fact that a very much younger lady than them are giving them instructions.

One incident that I cannot forget about WHGS is when I was accused by a senior teacher images (3) of something which I never did and reported me to the owner Mrs. Nuzhat Yazdani. Shockingly no one ever called me to hear my side of the story and instead rumors spread all around WHGS in both the campuses and I heard many things that was said by the owner herself against me.

This really left a bitter corner in my heart for that school. The management shouldn’t have tolerated this and instead should have asked for my side in front of that senior. But no one ever heard my side or at least gave me a chance to say it’s all false! I was already on the verge of quitting school but I didn’t want to do that. Why should I leave when I’m not guilty. So i decided to stay and face those cunning ladies.

I was still their head so, they really had no choice nor did I and we had to face each other daily but I did confront that senior teacher who accused me and I was satisfied after I saw the embarrassed look on her face. And yes I forgot to mentioned that after she reported me to the owner, she was as sweet as honey to me. But that didn’t change anything and I finally let go the matter after I told her I knew what she did behind me.

Skipping road forks!

Next: Part 4/5: White House Grammar School - "Been there, done that"

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Part 2/5: White House Grammar School - The Ground Zero

Previous: Part 1/5: White House Grammar School - Startup

With me, were another two Directress in the class. At that time, WHGS had only one branch and one classroom for Montessori. The students were divided into three age groups; reception, junior, senior with each Directress and all in one classroom. It was a bit challenging adapting to such an environment where three classes had to run in just one room. But eventually the three of us Directress adjusted gracefully to the changes since we developed understanding among each other. My colleagues were Mrs. Rubina and Ms. Raheela. Ms. Raheela joined the school few months before I did and Mrs. Rubina was a senior teacher working in WHGS since 12 yrs.

When I joined, the environment wasn’t up to the mark. In my point of view, a Montessori classroom should SPEAK. When I say speak, I mean that the classroom should have illustrations related to the current topics and each and everything should be labeled including the tables and chairs. The classroom should be well decorated and decoration doesn’t mean hanging ribbons and balloons but should have informative pictures and data in the soft boards or walls.

But all teachers were not to be seen in that classroom then. I started working on my allotted area in the classroom and this inspired my colleagues and in no time the empty classroom became bright and lively. After five to six months, I was promoted as the pre-primary coordinator due to my remarkable performance in a very short period of time. Although the whole Pre-Primary was in just one classroom, everyone could easily identify to which group a student belonged as the kids were a total reflection of their Directress. Those were really one of my most lovely experiences with kids.

Anyway after I became the coordinator, my senior colleague started to have resentment and I thought that it was quite natural since she was very much experienced than I was. Since my day 1 there I always consulted her on many matters related to the class and I did learn a lot from her too. I continued consulting her and asking her regarding any activities or changes that I wanted to make in the class. I felt the change in her behavior then.

That’s human nature and since I’m 100% human too, one fine day we had a hard talk. Well, I don’t want to discuss the negative part of my days there so I’ll just cut it short by saying that we got along eventually as she learn't to accept the fact that I was already senior than he in position and being rebellious won’t do her any good at all since I was further promoted as a Senior Mistress of WHGS’ second branch.

Living!

Next: Part 3/5: White House Grammar School - On the Highway

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Part 1/5: White House Grammar School - Startup

Most of us living in Karachi have heard about White House Grammar School. It has seven branches and the main is in Gulshan-e-Iqbal opposite Patel Hospital. In this post I'll be sharing about my experiences in WHGS and you’ll have an idea about the school too while going through.

Well this is how my journey in WHGS started. I joined the school in 2005 as a Montessori Directress. I was actually heading towards the school who called me for job interview when I saw WHGS’ main campus on my way there, so I thought of dropping my CV there as well since I was in search of a job.

At that time I had no idea about WHGS at all that it is known to be one of the good schools in Gulshan and that they score good mark in Board Exams. The reception office was quite impressive I must admit. I handed my CV to the receptionist and she asked me to fill up their application form. I still remember answering a question which was part of the application that still makes me laugh whenever I think of it. It went like this,

Q. How did you come to know about White House Grammar School?

and my answer was: To be honest, I don’t know anything about your school. I’m actually heading somewhere else when i came across your school so I thought of dropping my resume here.

Anyway after filling up the form, I stood up to leave but the receptionist stopped me and asked me to wait. Soon I was sent to a very ordinary-looking office of the Vice Principal. Th VP then was Mrs. Seema Malik. The interview went well and I was called for a three days class demonstration from the next day and I was appointed right after just the two days demo was completed.

Next: Part 2/5: White House Grammar School - The Ground Zero

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Ideal Pre-school Teacher

I remember very well, when I was a kid I used to imitate my teacher after I reach home and make all my toys sit in a row like students and start acting like my favorite teacher Ms. Lilibeth. 

Since teachers in the Philippines wear uniforms, so I wasn’t really very much interested in her dress. But what I loved was the way she makes up her hair, the hair clip she used and yeah her perfume and I as a child wanted so much to be just like her. But of course these aren’t enough to love your teacher. There must be something really special in her that makes her outstand from the rest of the people around you and that is how she teaches you and what you are learning from her. 

I’ve mentioned Ms. Lilibeth since she was my pre-primary teacher otherwise I had my favorites in every level of my schooling and each one of them were special in their own way. Now, what I want to share here is what I’ve liked and appreciated most from my teachers so whoever will read my post would learn something and be inspired. Who knows you might become the favorite of a little boy/girl in your school. 

Well I would want teachers to be reading this but parents and anyone can benefit from this too since children are around us and it’s very important to be aware of their psychology and know exactly what they want and like. Please don’t get me wrong here, what I’m about to discuss aren’t enough to make a perfect teacher but these are just some important issues which is being neglected by many.

Work on your physical appearance- How you look is the most important here because believe me one of the main reasons kids start loving their school is because of how beautiful their teacher is.

Always wear clean clothes and try not to repeat your dress on consecutive days. Make sure you smell really good because when kids come near you, the first thing they do is check whether you smell good or not and if you don’t, they won’t come near you the next time you call them.


Though everyone washes their face in the morning, make sure you’re looking fresh and lively. Not all washed face look nice. So, you might want to put on some face powder and lipstick.

Don’t wear too much accessories like jewelries. Too much means too big because you will have difficulty handling your students since your earrings would need some handling too. Cute little earrings would look really decent. Wear something in your wrist too like watch or a tiny bracelet. Kids just love to see elders dress up nicely.

Be conscious about personal hygiene- I would mention this point again:

• Wear neat and clean clothes
• Long nails look really nice but make sure they are clean, in my opinion, I don’t recommend teachers of younger kids to have long nails and short nails look more elegant.
• Always wear clean and polished shoes or sandals. N this way, they would learn to keep theirs clean and polished too.

  Neat hair- Always think of a neat hairdo in advance since it’s a tough task thinking of how to make your hair and it might consume so much of your time, so better pre plan about it. You don’t need to do too much with your hair just make sure it’s neatly tied up.

  Speak gently- Although most of my teachers were very soft spoken and I tried my best to be one too but I failed in becoming so. Though I don’t have that soft voice and all, I definitely speak gently with kids. You don’t have to be soft spoken as it is something that comes naturally but you will have to practice to speak gently specially with kids since they are too young and are very sensitive. You may never know unintentionally you hurt their feelings by speaking loud or with high pitched tone and they find it rude so be careful.

Leave all your personal matters at home and meet your students with fresh, lively and high spirits. Bringing your personal problems to school can affect your way of teaching and you can become really boring in class or really rude. Remember you are handling very young kids and they are learning from every step you make and you wouldn’t want them to be rude and boring so ‘be like how you want your students to be.’

Last but not the least ALWAYS KEEP A SMILE ON YOUR FACE. Starting the day by giving smile would bring more smiles back to you.

The above are some points which I think are really important to be an effective teacher because if you lack even a single point from these, there is a child among lots who dislikes you for that one particular point. These are what I have liked in my teachers when I was in school and are what I asked my teachers who worked under me.

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