Tan -We have DD1 in council kinder and cc. My motivation for this is that she has big separation anxiety issues and really does not cope well with the long day. She goes to cc once a week whilst I am at work. We have done 3 yo kinder this year and it has been worth all the effort (as it is 2 x 2 hour sessions a week here for us). She has had a really great time and her separation issues have seemed to also diminish as the year progressed. To my mind there has been a stark difference between the cc and kinder - I think most obvious is the session times are set and all the kids are dropped off and picked up at the same time. Our cc is long day care and the drop offs and pick ups are all day as are the shifts and breaks of the staff, all of this is necessary to provide a safe environment to everyone but I think it does make it hard to offer the same things. Our cc kinder teacher changed this year too and there has been a change in the program - this has also helped as she loves me to be able to read what they are going to do as we get there, it is a lot more formalised and structured around numeracy and literacy as the teacher is very keen and motivated (and newly qualified). However I do think that DD learns just as much in the more organic kind of environment at the council kinder - the teachers seem to run with the kids interests and they have some really amazing projects, discussions. On a aside note we have also made some lovely friends and had more play dates etc. I have found this hard previously as most of my MG are SAHM's and I am working PT so not always available and we seem to have dropped out of the loop whilst most of the cc kids parents work FT so we never really see them or get much of a chance to hang out. I am just glad we have been able to manage both - so I can keep working and so DD can enjoy kinder too.