It does not take long for your child to get ready for preschool or nursery after she or he has learnt to take the first baby steps. So you need to engage in a search for a good program well in time. It is an intelligent option to apply for the best schools in town right when the child is born. This way, even if you happen to miss the first choice you can always have a few backups. You basically need to chart out a plan that will help you to zero in the perfect preschool or nursery for your precious little.

Sort out Your Priorities

It’s very important to be clear of your requirements. Here are a few questions that you need to answer:

• Parents need to decide if they prefer the preschool or nursery at an area that is near to your office or would rather opt for one which is nearer to your home. 
 

• What are the curriculums that you wish your child to learn? Would you prefer your child to spend time through a story-telling session or you want a creative environment like singing, music or dancing?


• Do you want your child to learn through a specific approach? This is important as the preschool or nursery philosophy can render a fair amount of impact on the psyche of the child and each preschool or nursery varies with their respective philosophies.

Time for Some Research

Once you are decided on your preferences, get busy to gather all the relevant information from all the reputed preschools or nurseries around. You can obtain a lot of information from family, friends and colleagues. Remember, personal references can be of great help in deciding the right preschool or nursery for your kid.

Take the Help of Experts

There are child care help lines operations in all areas. They can offer you the details of the local childcare resources and referral agencies. These can give you vital information on the licensed preschools or nurseries in the respective area. Although these accredited schools may not be the perfect choice for your child, nonetheless, the approval can help you in your decisions regarding preferences.

Make an Online Research

Visit the websites of the childcare agencies to obtain contact information and important guidelines on admission and preparing the child.

Use the Phonebook

Although this is a limited resource, but the unscreened listings can offer multiple options and opens up alternatives that might otherwise prove to be in alignment with your specific requirements.

Visit and Meet

You need to get first-hand information on how the preschool or nursery is like and there is no better way than visiting it and checking it all out for yourself. The preliminary information that you would  require from the director are:

• Fees
• The number of hours
• Vacation schedule
• Nutrition structure

The intuitive feeling is considered to be the best mechanism to arrive at a definite conclusion. The other important factors that would help you decide on the right preschool or nursery are:

The Teacher-Child Ratio and Philosophy of School

If your toddler is between 2-3 years of age, the ideal ratio should be 1:5. For kids between 3-4 years, the ration should be 1:7, while for children between 4-5 years, the ratio should be 1:15.

The curriculum must be standard and testing, as in aiding the development of the faculties of the kid.

Discipline

The environment should be clean, warm and secure. Check whether the teachers and other staff are happy with their job. As only then will they be able to make your child enjoy his stay with them. If you find that the teachers leave or are changed in short intervals, you need to strike out the option. Children want consistency and frequent changes in their environment jar their comprehensive abilities.

Its now time to get into the waiting list! And yes, do not forget to visit the preschool or nursery with your kid and watch his immediate reactions with the place. This is called kid-testing.