Choosing Creche/Montessori

Lynda2015

Hello,

Looking for some advice on choosing best crèche to send 3 year old son in sept for his free preschool year.

Creche A - Close to home. Offering morning sessions 5 days per week. Possibility that there will be no one else in his class continuing on to the same school as him as the school he will be attending is in a different nearby village.

Creche B - Connected to school he will later attended so the majority of his friends will continue on to same school as him. Offers 2 morning and 3 afternoon sessions per week.

His older sister is starting junior infants in the above referred primary school having nearly finished her pre school year in creche A. She is lucky in that there are 2 others from her preschool class continuing on to her school.

If son attends creche B I will spend a lot more time on the road dropping off and collecting because of the variation in times, particularly on the days he is in in the afternoons. Him attending Creche A is more convenient for me from a logistics point of view. Bear in mind there is a younger sibling (currently 6 months old) who I will be taking with me on the school runs

Do you think:

1. it is important that he should have friends (or at least familiar faces) when starting junior infants. And if the answer if yes, is it important enough to out way the convenience of creche A?

2. is the mixed up schedule offered by Creche B a little confusing for a child? He will see a different set of kids morning and afternoons?


I really want to make the best choice for him but don't want to make life harder than it needs to be on everyone. We have first hand experience (or soon will have) of what its like to send a child to school for the first time where she knows very few of the other kids. This time, for our son we have the opportunity to change that for him but its seems a lot of hard work to do that and I'm just not sure if it worth it or necessary.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

Lynda.

lazygal

I would choose the best one and work around that. There's a more convenient preschool to us than the one I have chosen but it isn't a real Montessori and claims to do a 'pre Montessori' year. That kind of makey-uppy stuff puts me off. The one we have chosen is a little more work in terms of drop offs and collections but its worth it to me to get a top class service. I'm not one bit worried about friends continuing on. Primary school kids make and drop friends all the time and there's always the chance the friends will move before they start school. Our area has several primary schools, including two I won't ever consider for my children even if their friends were going to them.

I personally prefer morning sessions. I think children can be more tired going into an afternoon session and there can be a lot of hanging around waiting for school. I'd insist on them attending the morning session if at all possible, but i know some services give the ECCE year places to those attending afternoon sessions and the others get the morning slots. I would not like a mixed morning and afternoon set up, I think its too inconsistent for a child.

Moonbeam

Personally,I would go with option A for convenience and because it is 5 mornings.

No question, Option A.

I have some friends with kids who could only access afternoon sessions in Montessori or play school and it was a royal pain for them. They were limited as to what they could do in the mornings, not wanting to tire the kids out, and the children were cranky coming home from play school mid afternoon. Some of them still took a short nap at 3 and 4 and the afternoon session really didn't agree with them.
I also think it's important to get a child used to be up, fed, dressed and out in the morning ahead of starting school.

I'd have no concerns about familiar faces. At this age kids make and drop friends constantly.

eviltwin

I'd pick A. I wouldn't worry about who in the class he knows going into junior infants, at that age they don't have a problem making friends.

Lynda2015

Thanks so much all of you for your advice and opinions. Seems like crèche A gets the thumbs up. Certainly I have a clearer idea now of whats important when considering a crèche and it seems that the quality of the care the child receives is paramount.