Questions to Ask a Preschool Director
Questions for the person who runs the school rather than the person in the classroom: staff turnover and cover, licensing and inspection history, hiring checks, illness and medication policy, what tuition covers, and how incidents and complaints are handled. For parents on a tour or a follow-up call.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How long have your teachers been here, and how many left in the past year?
Why ask it
Turnover is the most useful single number a director can give you, because young children attach to specific adults. A director who knows the figure and can explain each departure is usually running a stable room; a vague answer often means the number is high.
Who would be in my child's room, and how often would those same adults be there?
Why ask it
Ask for names and their normal days. Consistency matters more than credentials at this age, and a room staffed by whoever is available that morning feels very different to a two-year-old than one with two familiar adults.
What are the ratios and group sizes in the room my child would join, and do they change early or late in the day?
Why ask it
Many programs combine rooms before eight and after five, so the ratio you are quoted may apply only in the middle of the day. Ask what the room looks like at the times you would actually be dropping off and collecting.
Are you licensed, and may I see your most recent inspection report and any citations?
Why ask it
Licensing records are usually public, and a director who offers them without hesitation is telling you something. Citations are common and not automatically alarming; what matters is what they were for and what changed afterwards.
What checks do you run when hiring, and how often are they renewed?
Why ask it
You are asking about background checks, reference calls and whether checks are repeated for long-serving staff and volunteers. Include anyone who is around children but not teaching, such as drivers, kitchen staff and student helpers.
Who is with the children when a teacher calls in sick?
Why ask it
The answer reveals how thin the staffing is. A known substitute who children have met is a different situation from an agency worker meeting the room for the first time, or from the director covering while the office goes unattended.
What training do staff have in first aid, CPR, and recognising signs of abuse?
Why ask it
Ask who holds current certificates rather than whether training is provided, and how often it is refreshed. Reporting obligations vary by jurisdiction, and a director should be able to state theirs plainly.
Walk me through what happens if a child is injured, or cannot be found.
Why ask it
You want a sequence, not reassurance: who stays with the child, who calls you, who records it, when emergency services are involved. Directors who have practised these procedures describe them in order without prompting.
What is your illness policy: when do you send a child home, and when can they return?
Why ask it
Get the specifics on fever, vomiting and rashes, and whether the exclusion period is counted in hours or days. This will affect your working life directly, and vague policies tend to be applied inconsistently between staff.
How do you handle medication, allergies and emergency plans such as an adrenaline injector?
Why ask it
Ask where medication is stored, who is trained to give it, and how it travels on outings. If your child has a serious allergy, ask to see the written plan for another child, redacted, so you know what one actually looks like here.
What does tuition cover, what costs extra, and how much notice do you give of an increase?
Why ask it
Registration fees, meals, nappies, sunscreen, outings, late collection and holiday weeks are common additions. Ask what last year's increase was, since that is a better guide than any policy on rises.
What are your hours, and what happens if I am late at pick-up?
Why ask it
Ask for the fee and the point at which it starts, and what they do after repeated lateness. It is a small thing that becomes a monthly source of stress if the closing time is tighter than your commute allows.
How many days are you closed in a year, and when?
Why ask it
Add up training days, holidays and the weeks between terms before comparing prices. A program that closes for three weeks in summer may cost you more in cover than one with a higher monthly fee.
What is your approach to biting, hitting and other behaviour, and what would lead you to ask a family to leave?
Why ask it
Both directions matter. You want a program that responds calmly to normal three-year-old behaviour, and you also want to know the limit, since some programs exclude quickly and others keep families in the dark until they do.
How do you support a child who needs more help than the group, and have you had outside therapists working in your classrooms?
Why ask it
Experience with speech, occupational or behavioural support in the room is a good sign for every child, not only one with an identified need. Ask how they raise a concern with a parent, and how early.
How does nap time work for a child who no longer naps?
Why ask it
A long mandatory rest for a child who has stopped napping is a daily struggle for everyone. Ask what the alternative is and where it happens, since quiet activities in the same darkened room often means lying still.
What do you expect around toilet learning, and would you accept my child before it is finished?
Why ask it
Requirements vary and some programs are stricter in practice than in their brochure. Ask who changes a child who has an accident, and how it is handled so the child is not embarrassed in front of the group.
How would I hear about a difficult day, and how quickly?
Why ask it
Ask whether small incidents come by app, note or conversation at the door, and who decides what is worth telling you. Parents who feel misled usually learned about a pattern weeks after the staff noticed it.
How are complaints handled, and can you give an example of something a parent raised that changed how you do things?
Why ask it
A director who can name a real example, including one that was awkward, has a working process. A description of an open-door policy with no instance attached usually means concerns arrive and stop there.
Could I speak with two current families, including one whose child had a hard start?
Why ask it
The second half of the request is the useful part. Every program can supply a delighted parent; how they handled a child who cried for six weeks tells you what you would get on your worst month.
Choosing a program
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
On the visit
Ask to see the room in use, not just the room
Fifteen minutes standing quietly in the doorway during a normal morning tells you more than an hour of conversation. Watch whether adults are down at child height, how they speak to a child who is upset, and whether anyone is simply supervising from a corner.
Visit at the messiest hour
Ask for a tour near drop-off, late afternoon, or just after lunch rather than at ten in the morning. Programs are at their most honest when children are tired and staff are covering breaks.
Take the specific room, not the school, as your subject
Quality varies between classrooms in the same building. Ask every ratio, staffing and schedule question about the room your child would actually be in this year and next.
Check the licensing record yourself
Most jurisdictions publish inspection reports and complaint histories through the agency that licenses childcare. Read them before the tour so you can ask about anything specific you find, calmly and by date.
Comparing programs afterwards
Write down four numbers for each place
Ratio in your child's room, staff turnover last year, total closure days, and the real monthly cost with extras included. Impressions blur within a week; these four make the comparison possible.
Weigh the people over the premises
New buildings and tidy displays are easy to fund and easy to see. Stable, well-paid staff who have been in the same room for years are harder to arrange and matter considerably more to a three-year-old.
Ask your two hardest questions twice
Put the illness policy and the staffing-cover question to the director and then to a teacher in the room. Divergent answers usually mean the policy exists on paper and is improvised in practice.
Common mistakes
Being sold academics for three-year-olds
Worksheets and early reading programs are easy to demonstrate to parents and are not what this age needs most. Ask how much of the day is play, movement and time outdoors before you weigh any curriculum name.
Accepting philosophy in place of answers
A named approach tells you little on its own, since programs implement them very differently. Follow any statement of philosophy with a request to see what it looks like between nine and ten on a Tuesday.
Deciding on the tour alone
Tours are led by the person best at giving tours. Add a conversation with a teacher, a look at the licensing record, and a call to two current families before you commit a deposit.
Not asking what happens when it goes wrong
Injury procedure, illness exclusion, behaviour limits and the complaints route are the questions parents skip because they are uncomfortable. They are the ones that determine how the difficult months go.