Is Kindy worth it?

Ive been tossing up between kindy and preschool. Kobe goes to preschool 2 mornings a week and i want to start preparing him for school soon.
Of the two people I know (my niece and a friend) both have gone from preschool to kindy at around 3.5yrs old and both have loved it! One still goes to preschool for two mornings a week and doesnt like it anymore, she only wants to go to kindy.
Now that the 20 free hours have come in though and preschool is soooo much cheaper Im thinking of leaving Kobe in there for a bit longer and just increasing his hours. One of the benefits of kindy is that they will make wee friends who will go to the same school so when we finally settle I might find a kindy in the area. If your working though Kindy can be a pain because of the hours where as preschool you have all day.

I'm curious about this now. I'm gonna be nosey with my MIL later as she works for ERO so she will have an opinion.

I think the best benefits from kindy is the friends thay very often make that will be going to usually the same school as themselves

I think Kindy is great too, at 3 it is free play but when they get to morning kindy at 4 it is much more structured well ours is, for Braedon it has been great to get him out there as he can be quite shy and reserved he has made some great friends we are moving soon and he will be changing kindys I just hope he settles well as he is doing so well at the moment.

That is a real shame, I think my son has learnt heaps at kindy, and he has been to a 45 - 3 teacher ratio and is now at a 30 - 2 teacher ratio, they have lots of one on one time with the kids where we are and he has learnt to write his name etc just in the last 3 weeks and not from me although I have been spending more time doing these things since he brought a pic home with his name on it I would like him to be more confident when he gets to school he will be going to a rural school and there will prob only be about 12 kids in his class which will be great for him.

Yeah if we had stayed in town then he would have prob been in a class of 24-30 kids new entrant so will be nice to be in a smaller environment the school caters for 80 kids so the whole school is nice and small, i think teachers def make the kindy both the kindy's Braedon has attended have teachers that have been there a while and are there till when ever if they ever leave lol, it's great to have teachers that are pationate about the kindy

wow that is shocking, at braedons new kindy they have an adult sign in sheet and a childrens sign in sheet for the kids to write their name if they want to which I think is great!

You do what is gonna be right for your kids, that is all you can do , it does not matter what early childhood facility they attend as long as they are happy and confident kids

i dont think that it is actually their place to "teach" as such, more guide the children. Since gabriel has started kindy - and he is def a run around outside kid too - he has learnt to recognise his name and most of the other letters in it too and that is due to the kindys practise of the kids finding thier name when they arrive to put on a board and me making sure he does this and we talk about his name...i have also seen some of the teachers do that too but they are busy (esp if everyone arrives at once) and i dont see it as their job.

there was a thread a while back about preparing your child for school with some good info in it about what most kids can do and should be able to do... i'll see if i can hunt it out for you - it may have some good info for you to help with your decision.