Choosing the right pre-school for your child is an important and often a difficult decision. I have just gone through this with my daughter. She started pre-school yesterday in a village we had only just moved to 4 days earlier, so I really did not have anytime to do much research..

I recommend that you first visit in person, any pre-school you are interested in. If you arrive unannounced you will get a good feel for the pre-school and the staff shouldn’t mind! After all, if they are doing the right things during the day, you should never be catching them unawares!.

After the visit, think things over and make a second visit if you feel the need to. The following ‘tick list’ may help you in your search for the right pre-school..

• Are they OFSTED registered (UK only)
• How many staff members are there? What is the staff to child ratio?
• Do the staff have ongoing training? And how many are qualified?
• Do they use other volunteers/parents?
• Do they invite outside agencies in to help teach and provide educational experiences for the children?
• Is there a qualified teacher present for preparing the older children for school? What sorts of things can you expect your child to do?
• Do they provide full time day care?
• Do they provide lunches? Are the meals hot lunches? What is the procedure for this?
• Are they registered with and inspected by Environmental Health? Does the cook have lunchtime supervisor status?
• Are sessions flexible? Can you book your child in for more if you need to?
• Do they have a minimum number of sessions that need to be attended each week?
• Can your child attend a mixture of sessions (mornings and afternoons) or only mornings/afternoons?
• Are children of different ages catered for in different rooms?
• What ages does the school accept?
• Do they cater for children in nappies?
• Do they have facilities for afternoon naps?
• Do they offer free places to 3 and 4 year olds?
• Do they have disabled access and toilets?

As I was saying, my daughter started at Woodcote pre-school yesterday and it was a bitter sweet moment. I can’t believe my baby girl is growing up so fast. She happily walked into the room, went straight to a table with games on and started playing. I said; ” Do I get a kiss goodbye?” to which her response was , “In a minute mom, I’m playing.”.

Perhaps it is just me that found it hard leaving her for the first time. It certainly was not a problem for her, infact, when I came to collect her…she was disappointed and asked to go back again!

Carla

Read more about your pre-school child at www.toddlebabes.co.uk