What to ask a preschool

Ask every school

The eight facts that predict the most and appear on no website.

• How many children to one adult in the group my child would join? Not across the whole centre, in that room.

  What to listen for

  the qualifier matters. Centre-wide ratios are averaged across ages and flatter the school. Ask again if you get a centre-wide number.

• How many children are in that group in total?

  What to listen for

  ratio and group size are different things and both matter. A 1:8 ratio in a group of 24 is a different room from 1:8 in a group of 8.

• How many of the teachers here have formal training for the age group my child would join?

  What to listen for

  a number, not a reassurance. Ask what the training was and who provided it.

• How many teachers have been here more than two years?

  What to listen for

  turnover is the thing schools least like being asked about, which is part of why it is worth asking.

• How long is settling-in, and who decides when it ends?

  What to listen for

  who holds the decision. A fixed number of days set by the school means every child is moved along on the same schedule regardless of how it is going. The better answer puts the child, or the parent, in charge of when it ends.

• How much time does a child spend outdoors on a normal day, and what happens when it rains?

  What to listen for

  minutes, not "plenty".

• In a typical morning, how much does a child choose, and how much is decided by an adult?

  What to listen for

  ask them to walk you through yesterday morning specifically.

• Does the day follow the same shape every day, or does it change?

  What to listen for

  neither is better. It only matters against your own child.

Safety

Never reframed, never softened, never optional.

• Who is allowed to collect my child, and what happens if somebody else turns up?

  What to listen for

  a documented process, not a familiar face policy. Ask what happens if the person is known to staff but not on the list.

• Are staff background-checked, and what does that check actually cover?

  What to listen for

  "yes" is not an answer. Ask what is checked, by whom, and how often it is repeated.

• What happens when a child falls ill during the day? Who calls me, and how quickly?

  What to listen for

  a timeline and a named person. Ask what happens if you do not pick up.

• Do you have CCTV, and can a parent see the footage on request?

  What to listen for

  cameras that no parent may ever view are for the school, not for the child. Ask what the process is and whether anyone has used it.

• When children leave the premises, how many adults go with them?

  What to listen for

  outing ratios are usually much worse than classroom ratios, and this is where incidents happen. Ask about the last outing specifically.

Worth asking anywhere

• How long has the person who would be my child's main teacher been here?

  What to listen for

  this is the single most predictive question you can ask in under ten words.

• How will you tell me about my child's day, and how often?

  What to listen for

  a photo in an app is not the same as a person telling you something they noticed. Ask which one this is.

• Can I come and sit in for an hour on an ordinary day, unannounced?

  What to listen for

  the hesitation more than the answer. A school confident in its ordinary days says yes easily. This question tells you more than the tour did.

Watch for

Things to notice rather than ask. What actually happens between an adult and a child is the part no answer can tell you.

• When a child gets upset, does an adult move closer, or call across the room?

• Do adults crouch to a child's height, or talk down from standing?