What should I look for in a kindergarten?

I can NOT believe I'm asking this already...

Enrolments for kindergarten in 2015 (!) open next Friday in our local council, and I've been advised to get in early enrolling Amelia because the "best" kinders always fill up super fast around here. I already have some idea of which one I want her to go to, and which are our second and third choices, but we're going to go to the open day/night anyway to make sure. (As an aside - that'll be Thursday. Ianto's birthday. Watch me bawl my eyes out at the thought that he should be starting next year.... :rolleyes:)

So what should I be looking for and asking about? What's important and not so important in kindergarten? What should I be on the lookout for in terms of negative things, what should we be trying to avoid? It's been 11 years since I set foot in a kindergarten for Year 10 work experience, so it's all flown out of my head.

I'm thinking of making a checklist of things we want or don't want. Good idea, or over the top?

for me?
I wanted teachers who where good at interacting with kids; the kinda silly but good ones?
that had experance in disabled kids (dj) and getting the kids used to some one who wasnt exactly like them.
Shade and also an open space - so if it was wet out side the room could be made big enough for all the kids to be inside with out being smooshed up.

If you find people are saying one kinder us better than other, directly ask why. I found that a lot of opinions were based on nothing but gossip or outdated ideas.

I found location to be important along with what school they are connected to. Do they have visits with the school and will many of the children be going there.

For us is was about the environment. I wanted a total lack of plastic junk, I wanted lots of dressups and imaginative play, wood and natural materials, climbing frames and trestles, tactile play - play dough, threading and clay, etc.

We sent DD to an old school 3 year old kinder (hard to find in WA) and to Steiner Kinder for 4 year old. Well and truly worth the cost. The kids contributed to cooking their meal each day for lunch, they had free reign in the room to make and build what they liked and they played with all manner of natural materials. Even if you don't follow through to primary school, etc, the Steiner Kindergarten is to my mind, what every 3 and 4 year old should experience for kinder.

As far as teacher we concerned, I was looking for empathy, experience, tolerance and working understanding of early childhood development and the social interactions within groups of small children.

FWIW, we traveled to find those things, they were important to us and so we paid for them and traveled more than 30 mins to get DD to her 3 yo kinder. Don't settle, trust your instincts, spend some time in the room with them and see how they (the teachers) handle the kids and deal with them, if something doesn't feel right, go elsewhere.

HTH :)

DD1 isn't going to Kindy because we decided to HS but before we made the decision I had picked out a really nice kindy for her. Basically what I wanted was everything LS said :) I also asked about discipline. I wanted somewhere that would treat my children how I treated them i.e. explaining, teaching empathy, acknowledging, helping them deal with their emotions, not punitive discipline or even time-outs really. The most important thing was how I felt when I was there though. It felt very homely and comfortable. It wasn't all sterile and extremely neat and tidy. It was clean but had a lovely lived in feel ITMS :)

I looked at how settled my DS1 was and how he interacted with the teacher. We visited and few and thankfully the one was only 5 mind walk from home was the best. He just walked in, was warmly welcomed by the teacher and director and started playing immediately. They do all the stuff around feedback, learning outcomes, following the early years framework etc but he just really warmed to the place.

They all must follow the early years framework so all have to be up to speed.

I liked the one DS1 goes to because its small, its close to home, next door to school the kids are most likely to attaned, nice outdoor play area with lots of shade, caring but authorotarian teachers who support the childrens wants to learn and encourages kids to do things they enjoy, they have turtle, fish and frogs as pets and a veggie garden that the kids look after. They also look at varying events on calanders for all races and discusse, they made pancakes on shrove tuesday and talked about love on valantines day to name a few.

A kindy that has close ties to the local primary school is a great thing. My kindy is right next door and they interact with the school a reasonable amount so the transition isn't too hard on the kids. For example, at the start of every term the school has a powhiri to welcome any new students and the kindy kids go over for that. It really helps the children feel welcomed into the school when they are already familiar with it.

I have worked in schools before (and child care centres) and my one piece of advice is, if possible go an observe the teacher/staff and children before enrollment your child. There is a BIG difference between what people say they provide, what they claim their philosophies are for a class, how they interact with children, discipline etc when you are being introduced as opposed to when they are actually 'working'. See if you can arrange to go and sit in the corner of the room for half an hr one day. This way you will really get a picture of what a classroom and teacher are like.

Just one note. Kinder Teachers do change. So whilst you may see a great teacher when you enroll, 2 years down the track they may not even be there. So may be see what their staff turnover is like, or if the kinder is part of a group of kinders are the teachers likely to move around them.