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Scientists world over have concluded now, that spanking a kid in his preschool years, lowers the child’s IQ. Researchers from the University of New Hampshire have found that kids who have been spanked have lower IQs by 2.8 points to 5 points. World over, spanking has been adopted by most parents as an effective measure to discipline their kids and to make them obey. And the practice is so common, that parents don’t even see anything wrong in it. But now this research will definitely change the mindset of most parents around the globe.

Researchers have concluded that more the spanking, slower the development of the mental ability. Even small amounts of spanking make a difference on the child’s emotional well being. The stress caused in a young ones mind creates post-traumatic stress symptoms, which is linked to lower IQ. Scientists concluded that spanking is among the many factors that influence a child’s IQ, adding that the traumatic experience causes kids to have more stressful responses in difficult situations and not to perform well cognitively.

This is the reason that most schools these days have adopted an anti-spanking stance and abide by these norms in the strictest of manners. Teachers are given special training as to how to handle a kid under tiring circumstances. Parents are also gradually adopting this as a more effective measure now. Shemrock Schools suggest many techniques as an alternative to spanking, when they do something wrong. Could visit the below link for further information on how to handle unacceptable behavior in kids.

http://www.shemrock.com/handle-unacceptable-behavior.htm

Both preschool and senior secondary school franchising has become one of the most sought after forms of educational franchises. Every prospective school franchisee should have a proper business plan for school franchising that should elaborate upon some fundamental issues. A prospective school franchisee can seek the help of a franchise consultant when creating a business plan for school franchising.

Business plan for school and Franchise Agreement

A franchise agreement is a legally binding document that describes the relationship between franchisor and franchisee. For any prospective school franchisee, it is imperative to have a proper business plan. A business plan for school franchisee needs a well-defined franchise agreement that explains the franchisor’s expectations from the franchisee with regards to the acceptance of a certain business format and future growth prospects.

The franchise agreement is designed in such a way that it lists all the privileges a prospective franchisee would enjoy. When the franchisee makes a business plan for school franchise, he can check out the franchise agreement to measure the extent of help that would be provided in terms of infrastructure, advertising, marketing and management for the proposed preschool/school and effectively calculate his level of involvement and probable costs that would be incurred.

Business plan for school and FDD

Some people might confuse a franchise agreement with a FDD — Franchise Disclosure Document. FDD is different, as it is a legal document that has to be provided by a franchisor to the prospective franchisee before any document of sale is signed or finalized. The business plan for school franchises would depend upon the FDD for providing the relevant information that helps the franchisee in making an informed decision about the school/preschool brand’s market worth. The FDD is provided before signing the final documents.

FDD and Franchise Agreement

A business plan for school franchising would include a FDD that would also provide comprehensive information about the franchisor’s financial background. The franchisor has to disclose lawsuits or bankruptcies in this FDD. Whereas, a franchise agreement is important to the business plan for school franchising because it outlines the franchisor’s expectations and responsibilities.  It consists of—

• Explanation of Contract
• Operations Manual
• Proprietary-related statements —they directly affect a franchisee’s method of operation. A prospective school franchise would need to know the marketing/advertising procedures advocated by the franchisor when creating a business plan for school franchising.
• Ongoing support from franchisor

Break-even analysis is an important calculation used in business ventures like running a preschool. Break even analysis of a preschool is reached when its revenues equal the sum of all the expenses. At the break even point there is zero profit, but it also means that the business is no longer running losses and from here on it would begin to incur profits. A break-even calculation makes a lot of sense for the preschool owner because it helps to calculate the level of child enrolment that is necessary to avoid operating in a loss. However, break even breakdown is more of an indicator rather than a science of exact calculations.

For example, the childcare provider could choose not to add more children to reach the break-even point. Instead, the fee for new enrolments could be raised or the staff/child ratios could be altered. Thus, this analysis is indicative of how the preschool business set-up is operating in terms of finances and the changes it needs to make. Revenue projections can also go awry if there is a high rate of children dropping out of the preschool, right in between the semester. Preschools could solve this problem by making the parents sign a payment agreement. The agreement could be prepared in such a manner that the parents have to either give a two-week notice before taking out their child or pay one week of tuition fee in advance.

Costs
In order to effectively control and budget the cost, expenditures, etc. the preschool management should have a good understanding of the various kinds of costs that are incurred when running the business. The break even analysis of a preschool factor in various kinds of costs likes,

• Fixed costs have a near-negligible tendency to change over a period of time. These costs do no undergo any kind of variation irrespective of the total number of teachers employed or the number of children enrolled. These include costs incurred in the form of land rent, insurance payments, etc.
• Variable costs tend to alter over a short or longer period of time. For example, costs incurred due to the money spent on food provided to the children would alter in proportion to the number of children enrolled.
• Step-variable costs are those costs that do change with a factor like the number of children enrolled but tend grow to a larger extent than the cost of preschooling calculated on a per child basis. A common example of a step-variable cost is teacher salaries.

Break even analysis of a preschool also need to factor in
• Average revenue per child.
• Margin created per child.
• Personal expenses debited from the preschool’s business account.

Schooling has turned into a major business sector in India. Securing admission in a reputed senior secondary school is often linked to the quality and brand name of the preschool or playschool that he child had attended. Parents are often faced with preschools/playschools that advertise themselves as the ‘best preparatory school for children’. Many policy changes have been made regarding the admission process in the preschool sector but these guidelines are being openly flouted by the preschools that might market themselves as the ‘best preparatory school for children’.

Again, the interviewing of the parents in the senior secondary schools has also been abolished. This was to ensure that the blatant commercialisation of the preschooling sector in India was abolished. This is because often the interview process would grind the parents regarding the preschooling options they had made. Just to give an overview, with these policies in place, even parents seeking admission to the supposed ‘best preparatory school for children’ were often humiliated in terms of their qualifications and financial status.

However, there are some worthy play schools that are truly preparatory schools and have positioned themselves as a means to bridge the gap before leaping into an environment for senior secondary or formal education. Some people have suggested that a ‘play school’ is actually a misnomer as the curriculum of preschools isn’t about random playing and is based upon certain theme-based, purposeful interactive sessions that endeavour to ensure a child’s holistic development.

Play Schools – the urban connection
Play schools are just entering the semi-urban areas or industrial towns. Presently, there are largely looked upon as an urban need — an urban phenomenon. This is largely due to the fact that the disposable incomes are higher in the cities and the number of nuclear families is increasing by the moment. Again the concept of working parents translates into greater need for preschools/playschools.

Forays have been made into the non-urban centres and an example of it is the SHEMROCK Group of Schools. They have introduced playschool-based centers in many small towns and sub-urban areas. Such play-schools aren’t a mirror image of their metropolitan counterparts but they strive hard to fulfill the purpose of structured preschooling . There have been some attitudinal changes that have led to a growing demand for play schools. The debate regarding a play school’s purpose is increasingly fading away.

Give your contact info in the comments or email info [ at ] shemford.com and preschools in your neighbourhood shall contact you with admission details.

Give your contact info in the comments or email info [ at ] shemford.com and preschools in your neighbourhood shall contact you with admission details

Give your contact info in the comments or email info [ at ] shemford.com and preschools in your neighbourhood shall contact you with admission details

Give your contact info in the comments or email info [at] shemford.com and preschools in your neighbourhood shall contact you with admission details.

Give your contact info in the comments or email info [at] shemford.com and preschools in your neighbourhood shall contact you with admission details.

When your child is 2+, as a parent, one of the most important decisions that you will make is the choice of the right pre-school for your child. Now – a – days a number of schools with varied facilities have come up. The right choice is confusing. The most common questions asked by the majority of parents are:

Which is the right school for my child?
What are the facilities available?
What are the previous results?
Who are the organizers?
Are they educationists?
What are their qualifications?
Will my child be happy?”

As 50% of the brain development takes place in ages of 2-4 years it is critical that you make the right decision so as to ensure that your child receives the right foundation for life.

Call the preschools you might be interested in and set up a time to visit. You should probably make an appointment for your first visit so that you can be assured the Headmistress will be there and that you will not short staff them while someone shows you around. Some of the questions that you might want to know during the phone call are:

Is there an opening for my child?
What are your hours?
Where are you located?
Do you provide transportation?
Do you give the children meals or snacks?
When can I visit?

During that first visit, carefully observe while discussing in more detail some of the questions you have already asked or others that concern you. When you visit the branch, see if Children appear happy, content and actively engaged with what they are doing. There are several other factors that should be taken into consideration while making the all-important choice:

Firstly, Keeping in view the travel time, pollution on the roads, safety and stress on the child, the pre –school should be near the child’s home. So, parents are advised, that they should seek admissions in a school near their house, in line with the neighborhood policy and not make their child travel long distances at this age

You should also consider preschools that offer a safe and nurturing environment for your child. When you drop a child off for preschool, you want to be assured she or he will have the nurturing and learning environment they deserve, leaving you with the ability to concentrate on your work responsibilities. You should check whether, you’ll receive weekly progress reports, the ability to walk in or call at any time of the day, a structured curriculum tailored to your child and more.

Looking at the facilities, firstly the Activity rooms should be well equipped with sufficient material. The environment, furniture and the activity material should be colorful & safe with a neat, clean and child friendly ambiance. The facilities should be such that your child can use and enjoy and are not just decoration pieces. The preschool setting should be safe, adequately lit and maintained to a good standard of hygiene. There should be a broad range and generous supply of toys and equipment easily accessible to children and adequate personal space for children to play. Children deserve comfortable, well-equipped premises that are carefully looked after. Children should be able to see toys, books and fun equipment and reach some of it themselves. Fresh, healthy food and snacks should be available.

Organizers and the staff are the backbone of any institute. So the parents should look for a pre- school organized by a team of well – educated, knowledgeable professionals with the right aptitude and love for children. It is important that the school system has been designed by and is run by reputed educationists The School should have a well –designed, coordinated and planned system because it is easy to confuse children without any system/planning. The school should have a system to continuously keep updating its system with the latest techniques and also to keep up with the changing requirements of the society and the child.

Working with children is a skilled and demanding job. The teachers should have the special qualities that distinguish a good teacher i.e. patience and understanding. They should be creative, innovative and resourceful, so as to satisfy a child’s curious mind. The staff should be selected systematically by the school authorities and have regular orientations and trainings on the latest teaching methodologies. Training gives people skills and confidence. It helps staff to deliver a top quality service to your child. On visiting the branch notice if the staff have a genuinely caring and friendly relationship with the children, it should have a calm atmosphere with no raised voices.

You would also want your child to be prepared well for senior school admissions so, you should ask if the preschool conducts mock interviews for parents and children, mock interviews of the children by external teachers, organizes parenting workshops & orientation sessions by experts. Also you may enquire about picnics, outings, cultural functions, sports days etc and whether there will be any additional charges for the same. Some preschools tend to ask money for stationery, picnics and other things later on which you should clarify right at the onset. A preschool which commits that there will be no charges for such things later on is a wiser choice rather than going in for one with hidden costs.

Consider the number of Years of experience the school has in the industry. The older schools have experience of handling a variety of children and you will benefit from the rich understanding of child psychology.

Another thing to check out before choosing the preschool for your child is the performance of the school’s alumni in senior schools. You can talk to other parents on how happy their children were in the preschool and senior schools. Also talk to teachers in senior schools as to which preschool’s children tend to be selected in their schools and also do better in later classes.

An established brand with a proven education system is safer than risking your child’s future with an unknown name so check out schools that are well established and have a solid reputation in the city.

And finally think if “I WOULD BE HAPPY HERE IF I WERE A CHILD & I FEEL COMFORTABLE LEAVING MY CHILD HERE” You should get your answer!

Your child deserves the best, but I leave this privilege to you to decide for your child. Every child deserves to go to a school where he is happy, has lots of fun, learns gradually without any stress and strain. Try to talk to the parents of a child already going to the school you have chosen because they will be ones to tell you if your chosen school will give your child good foundation and help him to carry on to the right school of his capacity.