Private preschool programs are several steps above standard preschool programs. These preschools typically try to model excellence in education for younger pupils. As such, you should expect all of the following from a private preschool.
Very Small Class Sizes
There are preschool standards for child to teacher ratios. However, in private preschools, this is often tossed out. Private preschools understand that effective teaching and learning begins with very small class sizes. The teachers are less stressed and do not feel stretched thin by their teaching responsibilities, which makes them more effective teachers. The students receive more one-on-one time with the teachers, thereby absorbing more information and making better sense of what the students are taught. Class size should be no more than six to eight students.
Extra-Curriculars
More than just teaching young minds to read, add, and subtract, private schools give their young students opportunities to learn much more. Chinese, French, English, and Spanish are the four recognized diplomatic languages of the U.N. Ergo, private preschools offer to teach your child one of these languages to prepare your child for the world. Music and art are taught to enrich young minds and help them appreciate these things. All of the above, and more, should be part of the curriculum when touring a private preschool.
Engaging Field Trips
Field trips are not just about visiting the local planetarium or the butterfly gardens either. Field trips in private preschools can go all day, all weekend (with parent chaperones), or overnight to a place that takes some time to drive or fly to. Being able to touch mammoth and dinosaur bones in situ, exploring caves, etc. are just some examples of the places that private preschools have taken groups of children to see and experience.
The private preschools understand that seeing and touching something up close means so much more to kids than pictures online or in a book. Children absorb what they learn when they get up close and personal. These experiences stay with your child for a lifetime.
Wait-Lists for Better Education
The higher standards for excellence in education mean that your child may be wait-listed long before he or she even attends. If you know for certain that you want your child to attend a particular private preschool, enroll/register him/her shortly after birth. These schools often have a wait-list that extends for two or more years. If you do not register and enroll your child when he/she is born, then by the time there is an opening, your child will already be in kindergarten or elementary school.
