comet555

I've just found out that my daughter has a place in a C&K preschool (pre-prep class). We put her name down a few months ago and at the time she was 20th on the list.

So, does anyone have any experiences or opinions about the place. She'll be going to the one in Cleveland area.

Here's a breakdown of why I want to switch:

C&K
-costs $20 a day (she would go 2 days a week)
-hours are only 8:30 to 2pm (which is good because I don't need a whole day since I'm at home with the kids)
-more of a school atmosphere where the kids are there at the start until the end, not like daycare where the kids are in and out throughout the day

Regular kindy
-costs $48 a day
-hours 6am to 6pm I think (you pay for the whole day whether you need it)
-sort of in between a school and a daycare

Any ideas?

Jamesfam

Hi - Can I be really stupid and ask what C&K is?! How old do the children need to be to go to a C&K pre-school? My son will be 2 and a half when we go to GC, so if I need to put my name down for somewhere like that before I go then I will look into it. Thanks, Clare

rabsody

My daughters went to both C&K (Hillsden at Taringa) and daycare (the dreaded ABC). If I had a choice again where I did not need to worry about covering work hours, I would definitely go C&K. C&K is educational, it's structured, it teaches them lots of skills, it's kinda old fashioned, the kids love it.

Day care is essentially babysitting for the day (or at least the one my kids went to), the education/stimulation side of things was nowhere near the C&K experience.

Not sure how kindy differs from daycare if the hours are 6-6?? I thought most kindys (C&K or not) operated from about 9-2pm but my kids are older now so things may have changed.

rabsody

C&K is the Creche and Kindergarten Association. As they are good quality care, they get full up pretty quick.

comet555

I had never heard of them either until someone told me. Here's their link for more info:

http://www.candk.asn.au/Home/tabid/54/Default.aspx

If you go to the tab at the top that says "preschooling options" you'll find what you want. I believe it said 3 years and up.

You can download the waiting list form from the site. I think it was only $11 to be put on the list so definitely worth it in case you get a spot.

There's a tab on the right that says "your nearest C&K" to help you find one.

comet555

Thanks... exactly what I wanted to know. I don't know much about the differences either. But they call it kindy and there's a teacher there from about 9-3 I think. Before and after there's lots of staff around to watch the kids but it's more babysitting in my opinion. So to me it seems like a bit of both.


I'm so glad to hear that from both of you. It really makes the decision much easier. That's what I wanted for her in the first place so now I don't feel too bad about switching her to the new preschool. It truly is a much better fit and it's half the price, so it's a no brainer for me.

Thanks so much for the input.