20 Questions to Ask on a Jakarta International School Tour | What Good Schools Can Answer | The Independent School of Jakarta

What good schools can answer - and what the answers tell you

Published by The Independent School of Jakarta · Updated February 2026

The questions that matter most

How many teachers hold QTS (or equivalent teaching qualification)?
What percentage have been here more than three years?
What's the referral process when a teacher is worried about a child's wellbeing?
Where did last year's leavers go - can I see the actual list?
What do parents most commonly wish they'd known before joining?

Most families on a school tour spend their time looking at the swimming pool and asking about exam results. Both are fine things to notice. But the questions that actually reveal what a school is like day-to-day - how it treats children who struggle, what happens when things go wrong, what the pastoral system looks like in practice - tend not to be on the standard tour script.

The families who ask the best questions on school tours are usually the ones who've already made one school mistake. They know that good facilities don't guarantee good teaching, that a confident admissions team doesn't mean good pastoral care, and that "how do you handle bullying?" is more revealing than a set of benchmarked exam results.

Below are twenty questions worth asking. Some will be appropriate for every school; some only matter if they're relevant to your specific child.

Jump to a section

Teaching quality (Q1-5) Pastoral care (Q6-10) Learning support (Q11-13) Admissions (Q14-16) What happens after (Q17-18) Practical reality (Q19-20)

About Teaching Quality

1. How many teachers hold qualified teacher status from their home country?

In Indonesia, "international school" is not a regulated term. Ask specifically whether teachers hold QTS (UK), a teaching licence (US), or equivalent - not just a TEFL certificate or a degree. Good schools are proud of this and will tell you immediately. Schools where the answer is vague or deflected are telling you something important.

2. What percentage of your teachers have been at this school for more than three years?

Teacher turnover is one of the most reliable proxies for institutional health. High turnover means something is wrong - working conditions, pay, leadership, or culture. A school where most teachers leave after one year is a school where children are constantly rebuilding relationships with new adults. Ask for the number; don't accept "we have very low turnover" as an answer.

3. Can I meet the teacher who would teach my child?

Ask to spend ten minutes with the actual teacher, not just the head or admissions director. You can learn more from a short conversation - are they engaged, knowledgeable, enthusiastic about the subject? - than from any amount of marketing material. Schools that won't facilitate this are schools with something to hide about their classroom quality.

4. How does the school support teacher development and CPD?

Good schools invest in their teachers. Ask whether there's a CPD budget, whether teachers have regular lesson observations, and how underperformance is managed. Schools that don't invest in teacher development have high turnover, and the teachers who stay are the ones who can't get a job elsewhere.

5. What does a typical day look like for a child in my child's year group?

This question cuts through marketing language. Ask for the actual timetable - when is literacy, when is maths, when is PE, how long are lessons, what is the ratio of teacher-led to independent work? The answer tells you a lot about the school's educational philosophy in practice rather than on a brochure.

About Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

6. What is the referral process if a teacher is concerned about a child's wellbeing?

Good schools have clear systems - a form tutor escalates to a pastoral lead, who contacts parents within a defined timeframe. Vague answers ("we have a great community here") are a yellow flag. Ask for the specific process, not the sentiment.

7. Who is my primary point of contact as a parent if I have a concern?

Some schools route all parent contact through admissions even after enrolment. Others give you direct access to your child's teacher or year head. Direct access is better - and the answer tells you whether the school values parent communication or manages it from a distance.

8. How quickly do concerns typically get responded to - can you give me an example?

Ask for a real example, not a theoretical one. The answer - what happened, how it was resolved - tells you whether the school's pastoral commitments are operational or aspirational. "We respond quickly" is not an answer. "A parent emailed on a Tuesday and we met with them by Thursday" is an answer.

9. What is the school's approach to bullying - can you describe how a recent case was handled?

Every school has an anti-bullying policy. Not every school responds effectively when it happens. Asking for a real example handled recently shows whether the policy is implemented, not just written. Discomfort with this question is itself informative.

10. How do you actively support children who haven't found their group yet?

Particularly relevant for families arriving mid-year or with a child who finds social navigation difficult. Ask what the school actively does - not just whether it "has a pastoral system" - to support isolated or unsettled students. The answer separates schools that mean pastoral care from schools that have a page about it.

About Learning Support and Additional Needs

11. How many students are currently on individual learning plans?

This tells you how robust the learning support provision actually is, rather than how good the brochure looks. A school that claims to support all learners but has three students on ILPs in a population of 500 is not doing what it claims.

12. What specialist staff are on-site - SEN coordinators, educational psychologists, speech therapists?

Ask for names and qualifications, not just titles. "We have learning support" can mean a full-time SENCO with a team, or it can mean one EAL teacher covering the whole school. For families whose child has any additional needs, the difference matters enormously.

13. What happens if my child's needs turn out to be greater than what you can provide?

This separates schools that think carefully about inclusion from schools that will admit almost any child and then struggle. A good answer involves a clear process, honest conversation with parents, and a willingness to refer on when appropriate. Discomfort with this question suggests the school hasn't thought it through.

About the Admissions Process

14. Are there places in my child's year group right now?

Don't wait until the end of the tour to ask this. If a school is full in your child's year, the rest of the conversation is academic (in the wrong sense). Some schools are coy about this early in the tour; there's no reason to be.

15. What is the assessment process for a child at my child's age, and what are you looking for?

Particularly relevant for Year 1 and above. Ask what the assessment involves, how long it takes, and what the school is trying to identify. Good schools will be transparent; schools that use assessments primarily to manage numbers may be vague. See also ISJ's entry process.

16. If there's a waiting list, how does it work - chronological, or with priority categories?

Some Jakarta schools have informal waiting lists that aren't strictly FIFO - families with siblings already enrolled, or families arriving from overseas, may have different priority. Know what you're signing up for before joining a list.

About What Happens After

17. Where did last year's leavers go - can you give me a breakdown?

Ask for the actual list, or at least a breakdown by school type and country. "Our students go on to excellent schools" is not an answer. "Seventeen students left last year; eleven went to UK boarding schools, three went to BSJ, two relocated overseas" is an answer. This is publicly available data a school should be proud to share.

18. If we need to leave mid-year, what records will you provide and how quickly?

This matters for internationally mobile families. Some schools take weeks to produce transfer documentation. Ask specifically what you'll receive: school reports, teacher assessments, standardised test results, any learning support documentation. Ask what the standard turnaround time is.

About the Practical Reality

19. What is actually included in the fees you've quoted, and what will I be charged additionally?

Get this in writing, for your child's specific year group. Ask specifically about: registration fee, capital levy, EAL if applicable, learning support, exam fees, transport, uniforms, and compulsory trips. The sticker price is rarely the real price. See our full guide to Jakarta international school fees.

20. What do parents most commonly wish they'd known before joining?

A good admissions person will give you a real answer to this. It might be about the school run, about a challenge in a specific year group, about how a programme works in practice. If the answer is "nothing - our parents are very happy," ask the same question to a parent you meet in the carpark. You'll get a different and more useful answer.

And One More: Trust What You See

After all the questions, the most important signal is whether the school felt alive when you walked through it. Were the corridors quiet in a calm way or quiet in a subdued way? Did children make eye contact with visitors? Did teachers seem engaged or going through the motions? Did the person showing you around actually know the school, or were they reading from a script?

Good schools feel good. The children are the tell.

ISJ school tours are small groups, hosted personally by the head, with access to classrooms in session. No scripted marketing walk - you see the school as it actually runs. Book a tour here →

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