How to Choose the Best Preschool for your kid

When we were looking for a preschool for The Toddler, we were sure we would be going for a Montessori setup as per me the foundation a Montessori school provides is fab. I know I would have to work extra hard for admitting her in Standard 1, but I prepared myself for it.

When we started school in the 80's, preschool wasn't a big deal. They were nice friendly neighborhood schools. Now-a-days things are different, especially when we have a lot of research showing positive impact of early education on a child's social and academic life. I guess choosing the right playschool has become as life-altering as selecting a business school.


The difficult part crept in after that... choosing a good pure Montessori school which is closer to home and where The Toddler is comfortable was a tough job. We researched about the pre-schools (Bangalore being a new city for us, we had no reference point). It took us around a month of research, visiting schools, speaking to parents and zeroing down on the school of our choice. Finally, we have got The Toddler admitted and she starts at 2.5 years in June 2013.

I adopted a very systematic approach and wanted to pick the best pre-school for my toddler.

• Make a list of the things you would like to have in a pre-school. Divide the list into 'must-haves' and 'it would be good if'. The start shortlisting the schools on those criterion. Make sure the list is not too rigid and too detailed. 
• Make a second list which contains of the names of school in and around your neighborhood. Sending your child to a far away pre-school is not such a good idea. 
• Talk to people: It might be the mother of a pre-schooler next door, your colleague, friends, relatives, even your pediatrician would be of great help. 
• Once you have heard what people have to say. Meet the people running the schools, the management, Principal, teachers, they will give you a brief idea on how the school functions. Talk to parents of children whose kids are going to that particular school (expect the best advise to come from here). 
• Distance: You sure do not want to send your child to a pre-school which is located far away. It would be a task dropping and picking them up. More than that it would be difficult for the child, they will get exhausted every day. 
• Methodology: Preschools follow different philosophies of education. You will find pre-schools following the 'playway' methodology or 'learning by doing'. Montessori schools are based on the works of Italian educator Maria Montessori. Then there are the so-called traditional preschools. Some schools follow the Reggio Emilia approach, so on and so forth. For me, I chose the Montessori method. I knew some schools, just put 'Montessori' in their name and aren't following a pure Montessori approach. So make sure you visit the school and question the people responsible. It's important that you agree with a school's disciplinary approach and trust their judgment. 
• Infrastructure & Safety measures: I didn't finalize the Toddler's school till I paid a visit and checked every thing myself. Infrastructure is very important. And I'm not talking about airconditioned class rooms, fancy gizmos and hi-end play area. For me, it was more to do with the size of the rooms, cleanliness of the toilets, natuaral light, ventilation, nice play-area, etc. Make sure you feel the equipments, chairs, tables, mats, swings and see there are no harmful edges poking out. Also check with the school about the security at the main gate/any other entrance. Make sure you ask them if their school staff is verified, we tend to miss these things which might be extremely dangerous. 
• Adequate Parent Involvement: This depends on what you want, if you want to show up just once a year choose a school with minimal parent involvement, if you want to be actively participative make your choice accordingly. Some schools have an open door policy for parents while some are very strict about parent visits, restricting them to set days for observation. It is extremely important for you to check how the pre-school of your choice intends to keep you abreast with your child's progress.
• Speak to the Teachers: I presume after parents, teachers have a huge influence on the kid (especially at this tender age). See how trained they are and how involved they are as teachers. Make sure you check the student/teacher ratio as well. At this stage 1:10/1:12 is a good ratio to have. 
• Hygiene: We do not want our kids to catch an infection at the drop of a hat. Check the school for hygiene, be it sanitization of equipments, and how clean are the toilets. Are the toilets child friendly?
• Toilet Training: Not all kids this age are toilet trained. Check with the school on how they handle toilet training, if your child in in process of getting toilet trained (like the toddler) make sure you tell the school about the words you child uses to indicate pee and poo. 
• Budget: Everyone has a budget, so do you. Do not overlook the budget and keep a lump-sum figure in your mind. 
• Check the number of hours your kid needs to put in. Some schools (like The Toddler's) prefer having parents in the school for a couple of days, check with the school and make sure you are available.

Once you have decided, always trust your instinct. I have a very strong instinct when it comes to the Toddler (most parents do)... trust yourself and move ahead.

Reference: Mycity4kids