Criteria for choosing the right high school for your child when entering 10th grade

How to choose a suitable high school is one of the most important decisions parents make when their child enters Grade 10. The right school can shape academic success, career direction, and personal development.

A suitable school is not just a place for academic learning; it is also a "second home" that helps children develop both their knowledge and their character. In this article, let's explore the essential criteria to help you choose the best environment for your child's journey ahead.

1. The importance of choosing the right high school

The learning environment is considered the "third teacher." This is because a suitable high school will help students learn in a healthy and positive educational environment. From there, it encourages children to be passionate about learning and develop their own abilities. In addition, an ideal high school also supports students in the process of career orientation, nurturing, and preparing well for the future.

Choosing the right high school will create a solid foundation for children to reach success

2. Understand the different types of high schools in Vietnam

For the school selection process to be effective, parents need to clearly understand the types of high schools in Vietnam. With an education system that is increasingly focused on investment and development, high school teaching models in Vietnam have become more diverse. Accordingly, there are the following types of high schools in Vietnam:

2.1. Public High Schools

Public high schools are a school model protected and managed by the state. Most public schools receive state investment for facilities as well as support for tuition fees. Therefore, tuition at public schools is usually relatively low and facilities are at a standard level. Besides regular public schools, the public high school system is also divided into many types such as gifted schools, point schools (top-tier schools), dual-degree classes, high-quality classes, etc., to classify and provide training according to the learning aspirations of students. Most public schools focus more on enhancing knowledge than on skill training for students.

2.2. Private High Schools

Private high schools are invested in by individuals or businesses and are established for business purposes in the field of education. The school's training program is designed by the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam. Private schools often invest heavily in comfortable and spacious facilities such as projectors, air-conditioned rooms, functional rooms, etc., to best serve teaching and learning. Compared to public schools, private schools have higher tuition fees.

2.3. International High School

International schools are currently the choice of many parents because of the advantages this type of education brings. Depending on the partners, international schools will train students according to educational programs from countries such as Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, etc. It can be said that attending international schools will create a favorable environment for students to develop their foreign language skills. In addition to advanced curriculum, the school also regularly organizes extracurricular sessions to train communication, presentation, and teamwork skills for students. International schools teach 100% in a foreign language; therefore, when joining this model, students need a strong foreign language foundation for the learning process to be effective and smooth.

2.4. Bilingual High School

Bilingual schools are a teaching model that combines the mother tongue and a second language (usually English). Letting children study with two languages from a young age is a way to stimulate their brains to work more productively, thereby becoming sharp, flexible, and developing thinking effectively. The main goal of this educational model is to ensure students master knowledge in Vietnamese while supporting them to use English fluently and flexibly during the learning process. The advantage of bilingual schools is that teachers can personalize lessons to suit each student. Meanwhile, students will adjust their own learning speed to better fit themselves. With this learning method, the Vietnamese cultural identity will still be preserved in each student.

VAS - the bilingual school that many parents and students trust

3. How to choose the right high school for your child

3.1. Teaching methods

Teaching methods are the interaction between teachers and students in a positive learning condition. Teaching methods have a great influence on learning interest as well as the ability to absorb knowledge of students. To consider teaching methods, parents need to look at three aspects as follows: Perspective: Is a combination of many factors: Teaching principles, the theoretical basis of teaching theory, learning conditions and environment, and orientation on the roles of teachers and students in the teaching process. Specific learning methods: Some specific teaching methods are research, discussion, group work, etc. Teaching techniques: Are the ways teachers teach in specific cases to control the entire teaching process. Some basic techniques are asking questions, dividing groups, gallery walks, etc.

Teaching methods play a big role in creating learning interest for students

Parents can rely on the history, teaching experience, and academic achievements of students each year to evaluate the teaching quality of the school. However, no matter what form, that teaching method needs to meet the following requirements:

Student-centered
Connect lessons with reality
Increase autonomy for students
Build relationships in the classroom
Train self-study habits for them

3.2. School facilities

Good facilities help students learn more effectively and stay engaged. Spacious, convenient, and modern facilities will help improve teaching quality. At the same time, they increase the ability to absorb and acquire knowledge for students. Furthermore, teaching with maximum support from equipment also helps teachers reduce time for pure theory presentation and instead spend more time for students to access, experience, think actively, explore, and be creative throughout the learning process. Thanks to that, students easily absorb the lectures, understand deeply, and remember longer. Accordingly, standard facilities must first ensure comfortable learning and living spaces. This is reflected through factors such as temperature, light, sound, and air hygiene. In addition, items such as lockers, desks, chairs, boards, and learning tools also need to meet standard sizes to fit the physique and vision of students at each age.

Facilities are one of the important factors in choosing a suitable high school for children

3.3. Based on students' abilities and career aspirations after graduating from high school

In addition to the objective factors above, when choosing a high school for their child, parents also need to rely on subjective factors which are the ability and post-graduation orientation of each child. Accordingly, parents need to clearly understand the personality, interests, future job orientation, and whether the child's learning purpose is domestic or studying abroad to choose a suitable school. Parents' correct assessment of the children's learning ability will help choose a learning environment that fits them so they can freely express their abilities without being under pressure or stress.

3.4. Teaching staff

Beside modern facilities and advanced educational methods, the school's teaching staff also plays an important role in the knowledge acquisition process of students. Accordingly, the teaching staff must be those who are professionally solid and knowledgeable to convey the essence of knowledge to students. To evaluate the quality of the teaching staff at a school, parents can find out based on criteria such as: university entrance rates of students, the school's influence, the school's entrance scores, history, etc. From the above factors, parents can already have preliminary evaluations of the quality of the teaching staff of each school to make an appropriate choice.

4. VAS - The ideal high school in Ho Chi Minh City

Founded in 2004, VAS is currently one of the international standard bilingual schools in Ho Chi Minh City. The reason VAS always receives a lot of trust from parents is because

4.1. Training programs that meet international standards

VAS is one of the few bilingual schools licensed to teach three programs in parallel: CEP - CAP - CAPI (English Enrichment Program - Bilingual Program - Cambridge Fully International Program). These educational programs are all designed with a student-centered goal, wishing to bring the most practical and useful knowledge to them.

4.2. Modern and convenient facilities

Owning 7 campuses distributed across Ho Chi Minh City, each VAS facility is equipped with international standard furniture and learning tools. VAS classrooms and functional rooms are all equipped with air conditioning and modern equipment to support the teaching and learning process such as computers with internet connection, document cameras, video projectors, pin boards, interactive boards, and other visual aids. The school also installs a camera system so that parents can easily observe their children anytime, anywhere.

The modern facilities of VAS

4.3. Always prioritize character development for children

Besides building knowledge from books, VAS also focuses on character development so that every student becomes a global citizen. Accordingly, VAS students will be trained by the school in moral qualities such as respecting everyone, helping others, solidarity, love and support for friends, and knowing how to say thank you and sorry. In addition, VAS also regularly organizes extracurricular activities to cultivate character and a good lifestyle for the children. Some prominent programs are VAS TALKS, VASERS FOR THE COMMUNITY, the "CLOCK OF LOVE" charity fundraising project, the "GOM - GIVE ONE MORE" project, etc.

4.4. The teaching staff possesses high professional qualifications

The team of experienced and passionate teachers at VAS is one of the important factors contributing to the comprehensive development of students. Accordingly, all teachers at VAS meet international standards and are trained and certified annually by CAIE - Cambridge Assessment International Education. Among them, 100% of teachers have a university degree and 12% possess postgraduate degrees. Native teachers come from countries such as the US, the UK, and Australia. In addition, VAS also has many talented teachers in elective subjects such as sports and arts. Therefore, teachers at VAS can help children discover and maximize their own potential. Furthermore, VAS teachers always actively connect with parents to better understand each student's personality, thereby providing appropriate educational orientation for the child's development. Besides, the teaching staff also frequently contacts parents to update them on the child's changes and progress.

4.5. Opportunities to study and integrate in an international environment

After completing high school at VAS, students are equipped with a solid academic foundation for the next higher levels of education. In addition, with VAS's active and positive teaching methods, students will improve their behavior, communication, and self-study skills. This is considered an important stepping stone to help students be ready to integrate and access world education. Especially, with the International program, students are trained in standard foreign language skills, which helps a lot for studying in foreign environments. Moreover, VAS is the largest partner of Cambridge in Vietnam, so students can participate in any courses or examination programs at the school and receive certificates immediately without going through an intermediary. VAS degrees are recognized and highly appreciated by many universities worldwide. Therefore, a degree issued by VAS will help students' admission applications stand out.

VAS degrees are recognized by many universities worldwide

5. VAS High School Campuses

It can be seen that VAS is one of the few bilingual schools with the most branches in Ho Chi Minh City. For the high school level, VAS has up to 6 campuses widely distributed across the city. Specifically, VAS has the following campuses providing high school programs:

5.1. VAS High School, Sala Campus

Address: 10 Mai Chi Tho, Thu Thiem New Urban Area, Thu Duc City, District 2

5.2. VAS Riverside High School

Address: 99 Nguyen Thi Thap, Tan Phu Ward, District 7

5.3. VAS Garden Hills High School

Address: 168 Phan Van Tri, Go Vap District

5.4. VAS High School, Hoang Van Thu Campus

Address: 202 Hoang Van Thu, Phu Nhuan District

5.5. VAS Sunrise Campus High School

Address: No. 1, Street 20, Him Lam Area, District 7

5.6. VAS High School, Ba Thang Hai Campus

Address: 594 Ba Thang Hai, Ward 14, District 10

Choosing a high school will directly affect the orientation and future of students. Therefore, parents should be wise guides to create the best development conditions for their children. With the analysis of criteria and values in the above article, we hope it has partly answered the concerns about how to choose a suitable high school for children for parents. The most important thing in the school selection process is the consensus of both parents and children. Do not be too imposing; please listen to the wishes of the children, parents!