Pre-school advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is simply not the case that "all the best preschools" have are super competitive. There are plenty of fantastic preschools that are not competitive at all. For example, several synagogues in the area have top notch preschools that take kids on a first come, first serve (with preference for siblings and synagogue members) basis. There are others as well. Frankly, it amazes me that anyone would choose to go through this madness over a two year old when there are terrific alternatives that are much more welcoming.

Well, that depends on what you are looking for ... a run of the mill preschool or a progressive preschool with a mission and a philosophy that is purposefully applied to every activity within the school. The very top DC preschools are the latter.

[Anonymous]

Sure, but by this definition, the "very top DC preschools" include more than just SfF, Little Folks, NCRC, St Johns, and aidan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, but by this definition, the "very top DC preschools" include more than just SfF, Little Folks, NCRC, St Johns, and aidan.

No, that was not a defintion of the top preschools, just pointing out why a general preschool in a church or synagog basement is not what some pople are looking for in a preschool. To be a top preschool, in addition to the above, the school also needs to be very nurturing, very competitive and have an excellent exmissions record.

[Anonymous]

Actually, my son's church basement preschool had a mission and philosophy and was purposeful about every activity. Nurturing, too.

[Anonymous]

Ah yes, those run of the mill preschools which are so unpurposeful.

What on earth are you talking about? Have you been to any of these lowlife preschools, you refer to? My children went to a preschool in a synagogue that was all of these things plus nurturing and all the kids whose parents wanted them to go to private schools got them into great private schools (My child went on to Beauvoir, there were kids heading off to Sidwell, GDS, blah blah blah). And the preschool took kids on a first come, first serve basis.

Oh and the other kids at Beauvoir came from all sorts of preschools, and even -- gasp -- daycare. Shocking that they took so many purposeless kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, but by this definition, the "very top DC preschools" include more than just SfF, Little Folks, NCRC, St Johns, and aidan.

No, that was not a defintion of the top preschools, just pointing out why a general preschool in a church or synagog basement is not what some pople are looking for in a preschool. To be a top preschool, in addition to the above, the school also needs to be very nurturing, very competitive and have an excellent exmissions record.

Totally disagree. A preschool can be "top" for kids (if not for some parents) without being very competitive and without having any kind of exmissions record. Exmissions are only important if you are interested in private school, which OP is not. Competitiveness means that the school is more popular relative to the number of places, but it has no bearing on and does not accurately reflect the quality of the program, at least not when you're trying to make fine-grained distinctions. Temple Sinai and until recently I would have said St Columba's are absolutely on a par with, say, NCRC as far as the experience they offer, even if their exmissions are not as strong (and as a result they are not quite as competitive).

[Anonymous]

Woops, I see now I had this OP confused with the OP of another thread. Sorry!