Changing preschools for a 3year old

karnuffel

karnuffel

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My wife and I are currently considering moving our 3year old to a new preschool purely because the current one has a massive staff turnover. She will be getting her 8th teacher in less than 3 years and I really dont think its good for her.

The only 2 reasons why I do not want to move her to a new school is because she has friends there and they are actually really close (yes I was amazed to see that at her age) . I also think it would be better to move her to the school where she will attend grade R (but they only take kids turning 4)

What would you guys look for in a new preschool? The one we are looking at offers robotics from the age of 3 (I cant help but wonder what they will learn at 3), they provide breakfast and lunch and I think they will have a more diverse group of kids.

Your thoughts?

Also, I know a technology forum is not the best place to get advice for something like this and I have no doubt some of the usual trolls will find their way here, but I figured its worth getting some ideas/thoughts from likeminded people.
 
karnuffel said:
My wife and I are currently considering moving our 3year old to a new preschool purely because the current one has a massive staff turnover. She will be getting her 8th teacher in less than 3 years and I really dont think its good for her.

The only 2 reasons why I do not want to move her to a new school is because she has friends there and they are actually really close (yes I was amazed to see that at her age) . I also think it would be better to move her to the school where she will attend grade R (but they only take kids turning 4)

What would you guys look for in a new preschool? The one we are looking at offers robotics from the age of 3 (I cant help but wonder what they will learn at 3), they provide breakfast and lunch and I think they will have a more diverse group of kids.

Your thoughts?

Also, I know a technology forum is not the best place to get advice for something like this and I have no doubt some of the usual trolls will find their way here, but I figured its worth getting some ideas/thoughts from likeminded people.
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If you can move here to a better place that you can afford and is still conveniently located...do it.

She's only 3...she'll make new friends within the 1st week. Kids that young are extremely resilient and adapt very easily.
 
Lupus said:
She's 3, she'll move on quickly and make new friends at the other school. But also does it really matter if a nursery school has different teachers?
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I really dont think there is any sort of continuity in what is taught or how its taught. I also think it takes a teacher some time to get to know her kids, bond with them and learn what each of them needs. I do question the quality/knowledge of the teachers that comes and goes like this, but I accept that I might be becoming "that difficult dad"
 
TheMightyQuin said:
If you can move here to a better place that you can afford and is still conveniently located...do it.

She's only 3...she'll make new friends within the 1st week. Kids that young are extremely resilient and adapt very easily.
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Yeah, I guess I just want the best for her and want to make the best decisions possible, even though I know I will screw up somewhere.
 
karnuffel said:
My wife and I are currently considering moving our 3year old to a new preschool purely because the current one has a massive staff turnover. She will be getting her 8th teacher in less than 3 years and I really dont think its good for her.

The only 2 reasons why I do not want to move her to a new school is because she has friends there and they are actually really close (yes I was amazed to see that at her age) . I also think it would be better to move her to the school where she will attend grade R (but they only take kids turning 4)

What would you guys look for in a new preschool? The one we are looking at offers robotics from the age of 3 (I cant help but wonder what they will learn at 3), they provide breakfast and lunch and I think they will have a more diverse group of kids.

Your thoughts?

Also, I know a technology forum is not the best place to get advice for something like this and I have no doubt some of the usual trolls will find their way here, but I figured its worth getting some ideas/thoughts from likeminded people.
Click to expand...
At 3 year old, they move on quickly. We mainly looked for proximity to our home as main factor. We visited many schools around us and generally on an open day so you get a school tour, interact with staff & sometimes chat briefly with other parents.

If both parents are willing to spend quality time on homework, school is really secondary in our opinion.
 
karnuffel said:
I really dont think there is any sort of continuity in what is taught or how its taught. I also think it takes a teacher some time to get to know her kids, bond with them and learn what each of them needs. I do question the quality/knowledge of the teachers that comes and goes like this, but I accept that I might be becoming "that difficult dad"
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You are making good decision to look for another school. A good teacher, at any stage, can make huge difference.
 
karnuffel said:
Yeah, I guess I just want the best for her and want to make the best decisions possible, even though I know I will screw up somewhere.
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We all went through that with our kids that age. Every decision you make, scares you schitless. But they're tough and should not be underestimated.

As long as she is loved and healthy...the rest seems to just fall into place.

It will be fine...
 
TheMightyQuin said:
We all went through that with our kids that age. Every decision you make, scares you schitless. But they're tough and should not be underestimated.

As long as she is loved and healthy...the rest seems to just fall into place.

It will be fine...
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These little monsters should come with a manual.
 
We had to do it this year. The friends thing was an issue, they were attached, and now you're taking the only familiar thing away from them. The first few months will be rough, but it will start getting better as they adjust. You need to do what's best for your kid.

You would have in any case had to do this when it came to primary school. My advice would be to move her to the same school where she'll be going to primary school. It avoids having to do this again...
 
Ja I think it's early enough to be OK; our thinking was they should try attend the same school for junior prep (so grades 0-2 I think) at least, up to end of senior prep (grades 3-5) preferable.
What to look for in a pre school? Every parent here will differ; honestly though, we thought they should play as much as possible. Be outdoors, get dirty, get their senses involved, basically any place that placed learning through play high on their list was high on our list. A school that was offering robotics would have had us running for the hills, depending on how it's done obviously; I've seen places that use lego as an introduction, I like that though.
I also like the food thing; if your kids are anything like mine they'll eat all their veg at school but moan about it at home, also just less admin.
 
karnuffel said:
My wife and I are currently considering moving our 3year old to a new preschool purely because the current one has a massive staff turnover. She will be getting her 8th teacher in less than 3 years and I really dont think its good for her.
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At that age surely it's a creche and not a preschool?

I don't see how moving her is going to cause any lasting problems and it's going to have happen sooner or later.
 
Stop wasting time. Move her to real school. Bladdy lazy 3-year-olds always try to delay learning algebra.
 
Yeah my daughter also had the same issue at her preschool 3 years back. I ended up putting her in a slightly more expensive but smaller class pre-school and it was a good move. Kids that young tend to make friends very easily and are very trusting so friends is not an issue.
 
Having 3 kids of my own (9, 6 and 3 years old), I always say, follow your instinct.

But is she unhappy? I think that should be the key indicator, as soon as they don't want to go, cry, sudden change in mood, then the alarm bells are ringing.

I understand the issue with high staff turnover, because every term when they do the assessments just to gauge their progress/regress, I can imagine it is not the best thing from a learning perspective to have intermittent teachers and an interrupted assessment. Not to mention that 8 teachers in 3 years raises eyebrows in terms of management of the creche (and what will the impact be when she is 4, 5 and 6 - these foundation years are quite important).
 
OP buying in the hype that those so called schools but are nothing more than glorified creches.

Kids under 6 will learn more from minutes of one on one interactions from somebody than several hours or these larping classroom environments.
 
Polymathic said:
OP buying in the hype that those so called schools but are nothing more than glorified creches.

Kids under 6 will learn more from minutes of one on one interactions from somebody than several hours or these larping classroom environments.
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That's not the case, they generally spend 30min-1Hr (and this increases as they grow) in the form of a "formal" curriculum, other then that it is fun learning activities and play.

But agreed, it should be simple and fun, and not a over complicated formal format - let them live a little
 
If you're looking for "Continuity" in curriculum with the Possibility of moving abroad,looking at an IB-based (international) school would do that
 
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