Kindy vs Montesory preschool

Hi, I did post in Gen Chat but not much interest there so...

I am trying to decide where to send my little 3yo boy. He is enrolled in the local kindy and so we have been going for visits. Recently there have been some new boys there who are pretty rough and quite mean. The teachers seem to not even notice as there are so many kids just tearing around. My boy is quite quiet and gets quite upset by being pushed etc - will not fight back but goes still hoping that they leave him alone and gets anxious about it, talks about it for days after an incident.

So i have been getting worried about him going there and have found another preschool in the area which also does the sessional preschool (am or pm) and happens to be a montessori type preschool. We have visited and it seemed nice and calm, much better ratio of carers and the children were all really lovely and well behaved.

All my friends kids go to the kindy and seem to be ok there. It is handy for us (walkable) and also friends could help with drop offs and pick ups.

I just don't know what to do. they are complete opposities in that kindy seems totally free play with no structure or teacher intervention or teaching etc. The Montessori one has more structure to the day and less emphasis on play for plays sake.

I'd be interested in hearing peoples ideas and opinions and kindy and preschool experiences. Not sure what (if any) my question is but just interested in how other people decided where to send their kids.

There's been quite a few threads about montessori in the past so maybe do a search?

My boy is quieter and we send him to daycare instead of kindy. I find them to be in between kindy and montessori. They have structured time but free play as well. And the teacher ratios are great. They do all the prep work for starting school too.

It sounds like he is perfectly suited to their philosophy then. You know him better than anyone, go with your instincts.

My son is two and a half, he goes to monti three mornings a week at our monti this is the min they can attend which is great as it gets them into a routine and they get to know the teachers really well.

Monti and kindy are different and DS has never been to kindy so can only comment on monti. DS is a loud crazy fun loving two year old and I think it's better that he goes to a structured smaller pre school, where he still has the freedom to do "fun" things but at the same time is being taught to be independant.
The kids at monti are encourged to do as much as possible by themselves eg: at 2 the can pour there own drinks from jugs into cups without spilling a drop all glass no plastic, cut there own fruit with knifes wash and dry hands, do dishes, wash clothes, sweep, mop, they always have to clean up and put everything away when finished this is also the format for play they choose some work theres all the same things as kindy paints, play doo, arty messy stuff, theres a big out door play area but they have to use a mat when doing work and there items are to stay on the matt. All children are taught to respect this so if one is using something on the matt then they have to wait for there turn, this all gets put away by the child when they have finished. Really it just gives the children really great life skills there are no plastic fantastic toys either I highly recommend it and go and have a look it's not what people think

Edited by Topkat