Questions for Preschool?

Telyco

Geez. I'm clueless.

We went for a tour this morning and I couldn't really think of any questions about the school itself. I mean, I knew a lot going in and they gave us the typical run down of the schedule and facility tour. But what else should I ask?

(I know we have additional stuff to check out than most of you, like the OT room and speech therapy services - but I'm just looking for more general stuff I guess)

This preschool was cute, clean and had a playground and a gym...they have a great OT/PT room and a few different classrooms. The don't have a cafeteria which is both good/bad. I sort of wanted Evan to work on trying new foods - but I was nervous that it would cause a huge issue and he wouldn't eat anything. So I would pack him a lunch. They work on potty training - which is awesome because I know I will need help with this!

What other things do you ask about with preschools and even daycares?? He'd be going from 9-2.

 

TinyPinkBug

Telyco:

What other things do you ask about with preschools and even daycares?? He'd be going from 9-2.

9-2 for a three year old program?  Seems a little long. 

I would ask how many OTs and STs on staff, how many classrooms each therapist work in. 

Ask how they determine student placement.  Like in Tyler's school, they mix them acording to disabilities.  So each class would have a mix of kids with different needs.  Like one with visual imparment, another with Down's syndrom, one with physical disabilities...  I like it that way because they each have different strengths to offer the other students.  I couldn't imagine Ty in a class full of kids like himself, it would be awful. 

I would ask about quiet, or down time for such a long day.  they do some sort of down time, not nap, for the full day kids at Tyler's school.

I have more but Ty is bugging me to do something different

 

ArcticFox

How do they handle potty training?

Class size and teacher/student ratio?

What age is the class?  (like obviously my DD goes to 4 year old preschool, but they spend part of the day playing with 3 year olds)

Check-in/check-out procedures

You may have questions about general disciplinary procedures

Is there an outdoor playground, indoor play area, etc?

Are there 'student evluations'?  (Like our preschool has paarent-teacher conferences, and little written reports 2x a year)

Is there a sample schedule?

Irisheyes1247

I would also ask of their teachers get PTO and if they have subs. My friend just left a place that was pretty awful - no paid time off, so teachers come in pretty much unless they ate on their deathbed, they didn't have subs so of someone was sick they were just short-handed and due to ratio requirements, she couldn't even go to the bathroom from 7-12. Obviously it wasn't an ideal environment, but it taught me about some things I never would have thought of.