When n how to choose a pre-school???? Help!

[EastbourneGal]

My daughters 2.2 years. When should i be looking at applying to pre-schools? And where do I start about choosing the right one? Any help gratefuly recieved.

[cathcart]

bump for you!

[Judy1234]

Depends what you want after. Some are helpful at getting chidlren into private schools afterwards.

Or we chose for our first a Montessori nursery school as we liked that ethos.

So just depends entirely what you think is important.

[aintnomountainhighenough]

I would start checking them out if I were you. I live in a small village and they take children from age 2 so the sessions get booked up very quickly. I have found that they do give some priority to older children though.

I agree with Xenia, it does depend on the type of pre-school you want and then I would say where you DD will be going to school. My experience is that some are much geared up to starting/encouraging things like phonics and numbers others just let the children do whatever they want. If you are planning to send your DD privately then I would look at whether the schools you are looking at have pre-schools.

[EastbourneGal]

Thanx guys. Will start doing my research.x

btw, what does bump mean?

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

Depends if you're planning to move in the next few years. Contact your local Children's Information Service for a list of places near you. Personally I'd look at the closest first if you plan to walk there.

[feetheart]

Depends a bit on what you want as others have said. There are loads near us so I narrowed it down by only looking at ones that were within walking distance via the park - if we were walking I wanted it to be a nice walk!
I then visited 3 with DD and it was very easy to decide which one was right for us - the one with the HUGE garden that they use eveyday. They also concentrate on developing the children's social skills rather than pushing the academic side - she is going to have enough years where academic stuff is the be all and end all!

DD was 2.4 when we started looking. HTH

[EastbourneGal]

Thanks very much feetheart. Thought I was being a bit premature in it all.....feel reassured.

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

Not premature at all, ours is very popular and parents put new babies down on the list! The admissions policy is also based on the next door (but unconnected) infant school catchment. So if you fall in love with one relatively far away, you may not get her in when you want or get the hours you want (eg lots of people hate afternoon sessions.)

[LIZS]

If you are thinking for this Septmeber (ie at 2 1/2 ) you may already find it is too late to secure a place of your choice. For next September you should be ok in all but the most popular ones.

tbh when I looked the primary education "feed" (which is never guaranteed anyway) did n't really come into it , I either liked the people, atmosphere and ethos and thought it appropriate for ds or not. If they are Ofsted approved they should all work towards the Foundation Stage of the National Curriculum and be able to demonstrate how and to what degree their children achieve the goals but how much is consciously done by the children and how much free play based, may influence whether you prefer a particular preschool. They also need to be LEA and Ofsted approved to qualify for the LEA Nursery Grant , offering up to 5 2 1/2 hour sessions per week free from the term after the child turns 3.

hth

[cathcart]

'bump' is just used as a way of shoving any unanswered threads to the top of active conversations list, otherwise if it disappears it will often remain unanswered.

[EastbourneGal]

ahh thanx guys. Im starting her for a couple of afternoon sessions this week to try n get her used to it, so will speak to them too.