If your child has reached the age when pre-school beckons, this article was written with you in mind, as we take an in-depth look at what makes an early learning program successful. This should help you to make an informed decision about which early learning program is best for your son or daughter.

• Child-centred methodology – Most educational establishments are using a child-centred approach, which has been proven to deliver the best learning outcomes, even with very young children. This approach involves allowing students to choose what they engage with in terms of learning resources, which obviously motivates the students to engage in their chosen activities.
• A large student body – Much like a good restaurant is always busy, a popular day care centre Granville indicates that parents are happy with the program. Of course, it should not be overcrowded, there should never be more than 20 children in a class, and the ratio of students to carers should be around 5 to 1.
• Encourage parents to get involved – Parental participation is important, as both parents and teachers should have regular contact; daily communication is preferred, which is normally done by using a small notebook that both parties use to make notes for each other. If a school does not encourage parents to have any involvement in school activities, this would be a red flag, as this goes against a recognised protocol that is tried and trusted.
• Regular parent meetings – Some pre-schools have a weekly meeting, while others do this every fortnight, and a few arrange for monthly parent/teacher meetings. The ideal set-up is for the school to organise workshops that teach parents about learning strategies that they can use, as well as help parents to find ways to deal with issues. Click here for the importance of school choice.
• Field trips – There should be at least one per semester, which might be to a farm or a fun park, a venue that is fun-based and interesting to the children. The teachers would arrange a series of activities for the children to do, and they would be in small groups with at least 1 staff member supervising at all times.
• Happy learners – This is critical; a good learner is a happy learner, and all activities should be fun-based and enjoyable for the young learners. Dance, music and movement would make up a large part of group activities, while art would be a firm foundation, with the emphasis on developing creativity and imagination. 
• Caring staff – A combination of qualified carers and trainees would be ideal; trainees would work under the supervision of older, qualified staff members and with regular training workshops, trainee carers would gain a combination of theoretical and practical experience.

We recommend starting your quest for the perfect pre-school with an online search to bring up a list of nearby early learning programs, then browse a few sites and create a shortlist of pre-schools that you think might be suitable. Book a tour of each facility and prepare a few questions to ask,