I can tell you how we came to choose the school our children go to, which can I just say is so left field of what we would have chosen at the time.

The principal spoke at our Kinder and our hearts skipped as she spoke. She talked about communicating with your child, not just talking, but listening. They have a very strong positive parenting style which I admire and fits with our ethos at home. They strive to make sure the children learn in an environment that is warm and nourishing as well as teaching them boundaries in a positive way. They have a strong environmental program - we even have chickens They also believe in teaching the children tostand up for what they believe in. It is a religious school, which would have had us turn our heads originally, but this school has taught us that not every school should be judged on previous notions associated with either type or class.

I think it really depends on your child as to what you look for. How the curriculum is taught is important to some parents, as you can see from threads here some parents don't believe that certain methods are as productive as other (and I'm not saying I'm pro or anti anything, this I think is another individual thing).

What are the teachers ways of communicating with children (shouters, talkers, ignorers etc.). And even more importantly how does the school communicate with the parents, are they pro engaged parents? What is their canteen like (I know it sounds silly... but I actually find this important.)? How close is it to your home? What areas feed to this school? Will playdates for your children be easy to organise. Whilst socialising may seem a silly reason, I do think it's extremely important for a child's involvement and also for a parents involvement as it is the stepping stone for the engaged parent. What is the general tone of the playground? This is important to me, as I've seen the way some children are allowed to treat each other and it's awful. So in this my next question is do they have a well being program? What negative incidents may have happened prior to now and how did they deal with it?

I was quite lucky because the kinder the kids went to was a feeder to the school we chose, and we got to have a lot of involvement with parents of the school. So I was able to hear the good and the bad. And for me how the bad was dealt with was actually another plus for us.

Programs available is important to some, and whilst our school has a good range, it wasn't a priority for me as I was happy to look outside the school if they didn't have a good music program or arts program etc.

You know the other day when I replied in your thread it was tongue and cheek right? I totally understand how difficult choosing a school is, and how lucky we are that we hit jackpot straight away.

But I will tell you something else. Please don't be fearful. If you choose a school you don't like you will know straight away, and you will be able to look for an alternative. I have had a few girlfriends go through this. And it wasn't hard on the children at all, and if it so happens you aren't happy or your girls aren't happy you'll know and you'll be able to do something about it. (And don't freak out it's not a normal occurrence to swap schools lol this is just 2 friends out of a lot LOL!)