Questions to Ask a Preschool Director
These are questions to ask a preschool director or childcare director: the person who runs the place, not the person in the classroom. They are written for a parent on a tour, a follow-up call or an admissions visit, and the 60 questions go in the order that conversation tends to: the director's own background, the staff, safety and health, how the children are looked after, then parents and fees. The last group moves to the other chair, with questions to ask the director of a nursery school at an interview when the job on offer is yours.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The director
How long have you been the director here, and what did you do before?
Why ask it
Someone who taught for years before taking the office runs a different school from someone who came in from the business side, and either can be good. Listen as well for how long the post has been held: a school on its third director in a short time has usually had three sets of rules too.
Who owns the school, and who do you answer to?
Why ask it
An owner on site, a parent board, a church or a company with many centres each puts a different kind of pressure on the director's decisions. The answer also tells you where a concern goes when the director is the person it is about.
How much of your week is spent in the classrooms rather than the office?
Why ask it
Follow it by asking what they saw in a room this week. A director who can describe something one child did yesterday knows the school first-hand, and one who answers with enrolment figures knows it from reports.
Who is in charge when you are out of the building?
Why ask it
Directors take holidays, go on training and fall ill. You want a named person with the authority to send a child home, ring a parent or call an ambulance, and 'the teachers manage between them' is not a name.
What are you trying to improve this year?
Why ask it
Every school has something. The convincing answers are specific and slightly unflattering, such as late-afternoon staffing or a tired outdoor space, and they come with a date or a budget attached.
What would your teachers say is the hardest part of working here?
Why ask it
It makes the director describe the school from the staff room. Pay, cover and paperwork are honest answers from someone who has asked; 'they are all very happy' usually means nobody has.
Has a family ever left because the school was not the right fit, and what was the mismatch?
Why ask it
No school suits every child, so a director who says the day was too structured for one family or too loose for another is being straight with you. You can then decide which of those families yours resembles.
Staff
How long have your teachers been here, and how many left in the past year?
Why ask it
Young children attach to particular adults, which makes this one of the most useful numbers to leave with. Hear whether the director knows it without looking it up and can say why each person went; 'a few, the usual' is not a number.
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. A room staffed by whoever is free that morning feels very different to a two-year-old from one with the same two adults in it all week.
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
Some programs combine rooms at the start and end of the day, so the ratio you are quoted may hold only in the middle of it. Find out what the room looks like at the times you would actually be dropping off and collecting.
What qualifications do you require of a lead teacher, and of an assistant?
Why ask it
The minimum is set by whoever licenses childcare where you live, so ask what the rule is there and what this school asks for on top of it. The gap between the two roles matters most at the ends of the day, when the assistant may be the senior adult in the room.
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.
When a teacher leaves, how do you introduce the new one to the children?
Why ask it
A handover week alongside the teacher who is leaving is the best version, and a new face on Monday morning is the worst. Find out whether parents are told before the change or discover it at the door.
Who is with the children when a teacher calls in sick?
Why ask it
This is where thin staffing shows. A known substitute the 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
The useful version is who in the building holds a current certificate today, not whether training is offered. Rules on reporting suspected abuse differ from place to place, and a director should be able to state the school's plainly.
How do you know what is happening in a classroom when you are not in it?
Why ask it
Planned observations, a walk through every room each morning, cameras, or waiting until a parent says something are all real answers. The follow-up is when a teacher last heard feedback they did not enjoy, and what changed in the room afterwards.
What do you do to keep good teachers?
Why ask it
It is not a question directors are used to hearing from a parent, so the answer is rarely a rehearsed one. You do not need salary figures, only signs that planning time, breaks, training and pay have been thought about from the teacher's side.
Safety and health
Are you licensed, and may I see your most recent inspection report and any citations?
Why ask it
Inspection records are public in many places, and being handed them without hesitation tells you something. Citations are common and not automatically alarming; what matters is what they were for and what changed afterwards. If the school says it is exempt from licensing, as some part-day or faith-run programs are in some places, ask who does inspect it.
What have you had to report to the licensing agency in the past couple of years?
Why ask it
What counts as reportable depends on where you live, but a serious injury, a child left unsupervised or an allegation against a member of staff usually does. One incident described honestly, with what was done after it, is worth more than a flat 'nothing'.
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.
Is an adult ever alone with one child, and how does that work at changing time and on trips to the toilet?
Why ask it
Schools that have thought about safeguarding answer this quickly and without taking offence: doors left open, changing areas in view of the room, a second adult within sight. The policy protects staff as much as children, which is why a good director is glad to explain it.
How do you check an adult who comes to collect a child and is not someone the staff know?
Why ask it
The test case is the grandparent or family friend who turns up unannounced at five o'clock. Hear whether staff would check a list, ask for identification or ring you, and what they would do with the child while they could not reach you.
How does a visitor get into the building, and who can open the door?
Why ask it
What happened when you arrived was the policy in action, so start there. A code shared with every family, a buzzer answered from the office and a door propped open at pick-up are three different levels of care, and it is fair to ask how often a code is changed.
When did you last run a fire or lockdown drill, and what did you change afterwards?
Why ask it
A date is the first test. The second half tells you more, because directors who take drills seriously nearly always have a small story about a door that stuck, a headcount that took too long or a child who hid.
Do the children ever leave the premises, and who walks or drives them?
Why ask it
Headcounts are the heart of it: when they are taken, by whom, and whether anything is written down. If a vehicle is involved, the rules on car seats and drivers are set locally, so ask which ones the school follows and how the vehicle is checked for children at the end of a journey.
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 are families told when something contagious is going round a room?
Why ask it
You should hear about a case in your child's group the same day, without learning whose child it was. Check how the notice travels, since a message to your phone and a sheet of paper on a door you pass in a hurry are not the same thing.
How do you handle allergies and medication, and who is trained to use an auto-injector?
Why ask it
Find out where medication is kept, who may give it, and how it travels on outings. If your child has a serious allergy, ask for a blank copy of the written plan the school uses, and which adults in the room would have read your child's.
What are the rules on staff using their own phones, and on photographs of the children?
Why ask it
There are two questions folded together here. One is whether the adults in the room are looking at a screen; the other is where pictures of your child end up, and whether you can agree to a private parent app while refusing the school's public pages.
The children
How long do you give a new child to settle before you start to worry, and what do you do then?
Why ask it
Plenty of children cry at the door for a fortnight and are playing by ten past nine, and a few are still unhappy in the sixth week. An experienced director can say where that line falls for them and what the school tries before it suggests shorter days or a pause.
Who decides which room and which teacher a child gets, and when they move up?
Why ask it
Placement is usually the director's decision, so this is the person to ask whether friends move together and whether you would have any say. A move in the middle of a year swaps the adults just when they had become familiar, which makes the amount of warning worth knowing.
What does the curriculum look like in an ordinary week, and who plans it?
Why ask it
A label such as play-based or Montessori only starts the conversation. Ask whether teachers may change the plan for the children in front of them, and to see last week's sheet for the room your child would join.
How much of the day do the children spend outside, and what happens in bad weather?
Why ask it
Get it in minutes for the room your child would join, morning and afternoon. Then ask what replaces it on a wet or very hot day, because a corridor and a screen are not the same as a hall with room to run.
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.
When one child hurts another, what are the two sets of parents told?
Why ask it
Most schools will not name the other child, and that is reasonable. What you are checking is that both families hear on the same day, and that there is a plan for the child doing the biting that goes beyond waiting for the phase to pass.
How do you support a child who needs extra help, and do outside therapists ever work 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.
Does a child have to be toilet trained to start, and what happens after an accident?
Why ask it
Requirements vary, and some programs are stricter in practice than in their brochure. Find out who changes the child, where, and how it is kept from becoming a scene in front of the group.
Who plans the food, and what happens with a child who will not eat it?
Why ask it
Where meals are provided, ask to see this month's menu and who cooks it. Where lunches come from home, ask what is banned. In both cases a refused lunch should be offered again without a fuss and mentioned to you at pick-up.
How do you prepare the oldest children for school, and where do most of them go next?
Why ask it
Listen for independence alongside letters and numbers: managing a coat, opening a lunchbox, following an instruction given to the whole group. Knowing the local schools, and the people in them, is also what lets a director smooth the handover for a child who needs extra support.
Parents and fees
How would I hear about a difficult day, and how quickly?
Why ask it
Small incidents may come by app, by note or in a word at the door, so find out which, and who decides what is worth telling you. The thing to avoid is learning about a pattern weeks after the staff first 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 real example, especially an awkward one, is evidence of a process that works. An open-door policy described with no instance attached usually means concerns arrive and stop there.
Can a parent come in during the day without arranging it first?
Why ask it
Nearly every director says yes, so the useful part is the limits. Nap time, and a child who falls apart when a parent appears and leaves again, are fair reasons for some, and a limit explained now is easier to trust than one you meet at a locked door.
Do parents have any say in how the school is run?
Why ask it
A parent committee, a yearly survey, seats on a board and nothing formal at all are each common. Asking what the last survey said, and what was done about it, separates consultation from a suggestion box.
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
You need the fee, the minute it starts, and what the school does 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.
Do you accept childcare subsidies, funded hours or employer vouchers, and who helps with the forms?
Why ask it
Which schemes exist depends entirely on your country and state, so ask which ones this school is registered for. A program can be eligible in principle and never have signed up, and that is better learned before you work out a budget.
Is there a waiting list for my child's age group, and in what order are places offered?
Why ask it
Siblings, staff children and families already enrolled often come first, which can leave very few openings for anyone new. If there is a fee to join the list, find out whether it is returned when no place comes up.
How much notice would I have to give to leave, and how much would you give me?
Why ask it
The first half is in the contract and can run from a couple of weeks to a full term's fees. The second half is often unwritten, so ask what notice a family receives when the school decides to end a place, and what becomes of the deposit either way.
Could I speak with two current families, including one whose child had a hard start?
Why ask it
The family with the hard start is the one to hold out for. Every program can supply a delighted parent; how the school treated a child who took a long time to settle shows what you would get in your own worst month.
Job interview
Which room, which age group and which co-teacher would I have?
Why ask it
Raise this early if the interview is for a teaching or assistant post, because 'wherever we need you' is a float position under another name. Ten minutes with the person you would share a room with tells you more than the job description does.
What are the ratios in practice, and what happens to mine when a colleague is off?
Why ask it
The ratio parents are quoted and the one staff work with are not always the same number. Ask how often in the past month rooms were combined, or a teacher was left alone over the lunch hour.
How much paid planning time comes with the job, and is it protected?
Why ask it
Planning time that disappears whenever cover is short is not really part of the week. Pin down which day it falls on and who is in your room while you take it.
How do you back a teacher when one child's behaviour is hard to manage?
Why ask it
You are finding out whether the director comes into the room, brings in outside help and speaks to the family, or leaves it with you. An example from this year is worth more than a description of the policy.
What happens when a parent complains about a teacher?
Why ask it
The order of events is the answer. Teacher first, then parent, then both together means your side is heard before anything is decided; 'the parent is always right' tells you where you would stand.
Why did the last person in this post leave?
Why ask it
Directors expect the question and it is fair to ask it plainly. A promotion, a house move or a return to study is ordinary; hesitation, or a third vacancy in the same room this year, belongs on the scales next to the salary.
How does pay move over time, and do you fund training or qualifications?
Why ask it
Ask what a teacher who joined three years ago earns now against their starting pay, in general terms. Whether training days are paid, and whether a funded qualification ties you to stay for a period, differs between employers, so ask how it works at this one.
How often would you observe me teaching, and how would I hear what you thought?
Why ask it
Regular observation with a conversation afterwards is how most teachers improve. Where there is none, the first feedback tends to arrive as a parent's complaint, so ask what the last teacher observed was asked to change.
What would you want me to have done by the end of my first three months?
Why ask it
A concrete reply, such as knowing every family by name and running the room alone one afternoon a week, means the director has pictured you in the job. It also hands you the agenda for your first review.
Meeting the director: tours, calls and interviews
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Which questions for which meeting
On a tour, take the first group and a handful that fit your child
A director leading a tour has only a few minutes that are not spent walking. Use them on the questions about the director's own role, then the handful from the later groups that fit your child, such as an allergy, a dropped nap or a late pick-up.
Keep fees and terms for a call or an email
Tuition, closure days, notice periods and the waiting list are answered more exactly in writing than in a corridor. Send those ahead or afterwards, and ask for the parent handbook at the same time so you can check the answers against it.
At a nursery school that interviews families
Some nursery schools meet each family before offering a place, and in that meeting the director is weighing you as well. The questions on settling in, behaviour and what the school asks of parents show you have pictured your child in a group, and they are the answers you most need anyway.
When the interview is for a job
The last group is written for a teacher or assistant sitting across the desk from the director. Choose three or four, open with the one about your room and co-teacher, and hold the question on pay until salary has come up or an offer is plainly on its way.
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
Many places publish inspection reports and complaint histories through the agency that licenses childcare, searchable by the school's name. 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 they are the part of the school your child would spend the day with.
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 show a parent on a tour, which is partly why they get shown. 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.