You may think that you have lots of time to get your child’s preschool enrollment organized, but good preschools fill up quickly and often have an extensive wait list that stretches over years. The earlier you decide to investigate your child’s preschool options, the better it is. And preschools allow visits from prospective parents to check out their facility and answer any questions or concerns they might have. These visits can vary in length, from a short 15 minutes up, so it is important to know which questions to ask preschool.

Questions to Ask Preschool

1. What Are the Fees and Tuition?

In an ideal world, you could base your preschool choice on suitability for your child; unfortunately, in reality, fees and tuition can be the deciding factor in many parents choice of preschool. Ensure that you know all the costs involved in your child attending the service including late pickup fees and late payment fees. Also, be sure you are aware of all payment options including subsidies and scholarships. When is the payment due by? And will you be required to pay in advance of your child’s commencement.

2. What’s the Education Philosophy of the School?

Early childhood education centers like preschools can follow a variety of educational philosophies. These philosophies dictate how your child’s milestones and educational goals are determined and how the staff will encourage and assist your child to meet them. The most widely advocated education philosophy for preschool children is “discovery learning,” which means that children will be encouraged to interact with and explore their environment and the objects within it and learn from doing.

3. What Is the Qualifications and Experience of the Staff?

Remember that the staff at your child’s preschool will be spending a fair amount of time with your child, and you want to be sure that not only are they in safe hands, but that they are being engaged and educated by professionals. There are a number of early childhood qualifications that staff may have, and in many countries it is compulsory that the staff photo accompanied by the relevant qualification is displayed in the preschool.

4. What Is the Size of the Class?

Class size can affect the way that your child is taught and how much attention your child will get from educators. Large class sizes can be detrimental to learning, but smaller class sizes can be pricey. Working out what size you are comfortable with or what ratio of educator to child the service operates under. 2-to 3- year-olds should be cared for at a ratio of 1 caregiver per 4 children; for older preschoolers, it should be 1 caregiver per 8 children. You might also be curious to know what the age range of the kids in your child’s class will be and if the class composition is determined on the basis of age or developmental progress.

5. Will My Child Be Involved in Physical Activities?

Ensuring that your child won’t just be sitting in one spot all day is important.This is because learning through play and physical activity is not only important for your child’s health, but it is essential for the development of gross and fine motor skills. Many childcares have a regular schedule for you to look at to see how much of the day or week your child will spend doing physical activities.

6. Does the School Provide Meals and Snacks?

This can vary from preschool to preschool. Some preschools provide everything your child will need in a day, while others require you to pack some food and drinks, and still others require you to provide everything. Services that provide everything are likely to charge more or may not be able to accommodate special diets. But if you prefer the simplicity of the preschool providing everything, then talk to your prospective preschools about their menu and food policies.

7. What Is the Nap Schedule?

This is particularly important for preschoolers who nap at home. Some children need regular naps to maintain focus, but some preschools are less accommodating of this than others. Ask any prospective preschools for as much information as you can about their nap time policies and routine.

8. Should My Child Be Potty Trained?

Many services that cater for older preschoolers do not provide nappy changing or toilet assistance services. If your child is not quite ready for independent toileting, then you need to find a service that can accommodate them.

9. What About Health and Security?

What is the preschool sick day and exclusion policy? Is the center in a good clean state? What are the occupational health and safety procedures? Is the center secure, and are there policies for visitors and pickup? These are common questions to ask preschool. Services should request I.D. from anyone attempting to pick up a child, and generally the person must be on a pickup list. If your child needs regular medication during the day, you will need to find out about the preschool’s medication policies and check out if the service has an allergen exclusion policy.

10. How Does the Preschool Interact with the Family?

Finding out if your child’s prospective preschool has a policy of openness with family and if the school expects or encourages parental participation and communicates regularly with parents and guardians can save you a lot of frustration and anxiety down the road.

11. Will the School Offer a List of References?

Can the preschool offer testimonials or written references from families of former children who attended the service? This can give you a good indication of whether previous families associated with the service came away from the experience with positive feelings and thoughts about the preschool.

Watch the video for more suggestions on choosing a preschool from an education expert: