Shopping for the Right Pre-primary School
LOOKING FOR THE BEST PRE-SCHOOL FOR YOUR CHILD? LITTLE FARMYARD PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL WILL TICK ALL THE RIGHT BOXES.
Pre-school shopping is not for ‘sissies’.
Seriously. You are looking for a facility in which you will place your child for x amount of hours a day. This is no small decision to make. The people whose services you are looking to procure are the people who will be helping to mould your precious baby. These are the people who you will trust with your child’s life – literally.
So you visit the first pre-school and you have your list of criteria. You promised yourself that you will not waver on this list, but as you visit school after school you become inclined to compromise because you are getting a little bit desperate. The new school year is just around the corner and you haven’t yet found that perfect ‘fit’.
Is my list of criteria really necessary…? Is my list of criteria even relevant…? What if I am looking at the wrong things…? Surely if it is a registered school, their standards have to be maintained at a certain level? These are the questions that are frantically bouncing around your head while you try make your decision.
The children at that little school looked happy, but then again they were watching television. Isn’t that what children do at school nowadays? That big school on the corner was clean, it had a bit of a funky smell though but looked clean. Maybe I imagined the smell. The teacher seemed friendly. She was sitting under a tree watching the children play.
For someone who knows what to look for/smell for, and which questions to ask, the above train of thought raises a lot of red flags! Let us guide you through this decision making process. Let’s use Little Farmyard Pre-primary school in Noordheuwel, Krugersdorp as our reference point.
First of all, you need to have the right list of criteria and you must NOT COMPROMISE on anything that involves the well-being and safety of your child!
You may find the location of the school somewhere on your list. This is the one factor you may have to compromise on, as not every neighbourhood has a good pre-school in it. Is it worth an extra 10-minute drive to not have to subject your child to that funky smell every day? Trust me, funky smells are never a good sign! Have a look at the view from Little Farmyard’s veranda, that is so worth the extra time spent in traffic.
Talking about funky smells, a clean school should be one of the top points on that criteria list. The toilets specifically. These should be well ventilated and basically be sparkling clean. No compromise. If little Timmy has left a funky smell in the toilet, that’s okay, but what’s not okay is if the cause of the smell has not been flushed. Or the cause of the smell is running like a rivulet between the tiles on the floor. No… there is absolutely no excuse for that. A nursery school that does not take the cleanliness of its facilities seriously should not even make it to the top 10 on your list of schools.
At Little Farmyard Pre-primary School there will definitely be times where little Timmy leaves those funky smells behind – can you blame him? Our lunches are so delicious, he needed to have a second helping! The difference at little Farmyard is that little Timmy will never be left alone in the bathroom to fend for himself. We make sure that children are always accompanied by a staff member on toilet breaks and she will make sure that the toilets are left sparkling fresh for the next little one to make more room for lunch.
The staff at the school you are looking at should be under scrutiny as well. I can guarantee you that the teacher sitting under the tree, “watching” the children play, will take as long to get up out of her comfy chair in an emergency as it might take a hippo to get out of quicksand. At Little Farmyard Pre-primary School, we don’t sit. If we do, it is to the benefit of the children in our care.
First of all, there is no time to sit around toddlers! I firmly believe that more than one toddler should be called a ‘tornado of toddlers’. Luckily the staff at Little Farmyard are excellent weather analysts and we are ready to distract, calm and disperse the situation when we see a ‘tornado’ brewing! Years of experience and training have taught us that well-stimulated children are happy and content children and these children usually do not turn into destructive forces! Our daily programmes consist of a fun-filled educational content that will make even the most unimaginative mature individual wish that they were young and enrolled in our school!
Don’t forget to ask about what happens during class time. It’s not supposed to be television … just saying. You have every right to ask to see the educational programmes that they use. Ask what curriculum they base their programmes on. If you are answered with an “uummmm…” walk away, quickly. It’s not worth your time to go any further.
Here at Little Farmyard, we have taken a whole bunch of effective early educational learning programmes, sprinkled them with generous helpings of staff qualifications and experience, and topped this all off with the love that comes from wanting the children in our care to have the best possible advantages in life. And the whipped cream on the side is that our staff members work a full day! That way nothing is ‘lost in translation’ and you are able to get a first-hand account from your child’s teacher about their development. C’mon! Who wouldn’t want a slice of that!
Another spot on your criteria list should be taken up by what is served to eat at the school. Is it possible that a generous menu is advertised but a jam sandwich is served? Think twice about compromising here. If your child’s day is filled with energy consuming and brain-building activities, they will need energy giving and brain feeding meals. A jam sandwich is a snack. Not lunch. The hearty aromas that waft over Little Farmyard while every meal is being lovingly prepared for the children, is something worth experiencing. We have tailor-made our menu to suit all who sample it and our generous helpings curb the strongest of hunger pangs. Is your mouth watering yet?
With another set of school holidays steadily approaching I am sure you are filled with dread. What do you do with your precious schnookums? You need to work! The grandparents are just not catching the hints that you are dropping! I am quite sure there is also a touch of envy when you think about those lucky nursery school teachers going off on ANOTHER holiday break.
Add this point to your criteria list: Does the pre-school you are looking at stay open during the holidays? Well, Little Farmyard Pre-primary does. We have a super fun-filled holiday programme for every ‘school holiday’ on the calendar. Every day is a new adventure. We do however take a short, battery charging, re-energizing 3-week break in December. We find that the luscious green grass on our triple sectioned playground does well with a 3-week breather too!
Whilst school shopping, it helps to throw in a bit of terminology. If you drop a word or two into the conversation that would generally be used in the education ‘business’, you may give the impression that you are more knowledgeable than assumed – you are aware of the ‘tricks-of-the-trade’, so to speak. This, in turn, will make the person who is now aware of your knowledge base less likely to try to fool you. Throw in the words, “gross and fine motor”. “Bilateral integration” is a good one. “Auditory discrimination” is another. You might get a very blank stare in return. Or another uuummmmm…
See, I told you, you should have walked away a while ago. At Little Farmyard Pre-primary school, we make sure that all these areas, and more, are focused on and developed. We have a list of educational activities and remedial work activities that will make your head spin. We have therapists on site who really do know what they are talking about, I promise. They are the genuine thing. Don’t worry, I triple checked.
So, does school shopping seem less daunting now that you have the right questions, and senses (sniff sniff), ready to interrogate your child’s future educators?
Wait a minute…. How about you just swing past Little Farmyard Pre-primary school and complete the enrolment form?
Have a look at your criteria list. We have just ticked all the correct boxes!