Hi, just curious how the nursery selection journey went for other first time parents. Here are some of my experiences:
- The more nurseries I view, the more I find things left to be desired for (I've started comparing and looking for the perfect one from taking the best from all the ones I see. I'm aware it may not exist but still looking for it. How did you arrive at your choice?
- The OFSTED outstanding ones aren't always the most warm and caring ones out of the places I visited. Question: Are 'satisfactory' or 'good' rated nurseries worth considering because they could be trying hard to get the higher OFSTED rating? Or are staff demoralised by the rating they have been awarded? I'm interested to hear all views on this.
- I'm located in South West London suburb but have explored nurseries outside of London within a 30 minute commute. The Outer London nurseries have a much larger outdoor space (some with 9 individual play areas in landscaped gardens). Some even have resident animals / farms (big selling point) the care seems to appear much more genuine than 'box ticking' but some of those rural nurseries have less than outstanding OFSTED ratings hence the dilemma. One nursery was downgraded following an incident of a child falling off a scooter and subsequently needing surgery. Should I be concerned of such incidences? If so, all the nurseries seem to have some kind of less than favourable aspect or incident report so how did you choose or manage the selection emotions?
- I don't have a lot of connections with other parents but with the few I know, what they rate highly as a nursery is not what I rate. Are my standards and expectations still new parent fairytale? If so, how did you get around this stage if you experienced anything similar?
Thanks for reading the post :-)