AIBU to expect regular updates from our nursery

Because the nursery use the app, @AmusedMaker - as I’ve said above I don’t really care how they tell me but given they are the ones who decided to communicate via the app it’s reasonable enough to expect it to be used.

It is also useful having it written down to access it you need to later for whatever reason.

Personally op I don't think you're being unreasonable. At the end of the day this nursery has used this app and their use of it as one of the ways to entice you as a customer and now they aren't delivering on it.

Our nursery do updates at 4 points during the day, usually after meals they will update things like nappies, naps and exactly what my son has eaten. They also upload a drop of photos in the morning and again in the afternoon. I've never had the impression that they aren't looking after ds, they seem extremely on the ball and all the staff are brilliant at their jobs. In so many jobs people need to log their time/ communications with clients etc. I don't think it's asking anything unreasonable especially since its a part of the service they have said they provided but don't deliver on.

My baby will start nursery when she’s 11 months old, she isn’t going to be able to tell me she didn’t like her tea so didn’t eat it and is hungry!

absolutely - but why can’t the staff member tell you that at pick up? You don’t need an app to pass on info.

I work in an SEN school where we have a similar parent app. The expectation from senior leadership team is that staff fill out the app with parent updates across the day and I am sure they tell parents about this on admission. But the reality is that filling out the apps during the day when the kids are in school isn’t possible, when we’re working with the kids we’re hands on and there isn’t time to sit down and start putting updates on the app for every child, management don’t really get this because they’re rarely actually working with the students which is why they think we should be using it.

As long as you are getting a thorough handover at pick up then I wouldn’t worry about the app being updated during the day, what difference does it actually make if you find out what he’s eaten for lunch at 1pm or at pick up? Be happy the staff are interacting with the kids and not filling in paperwork!

you won’t get photos and daily app notifications when they start school nursery

Not all children will start school nursery.

By the time they start school they can generally communicate fairly clearly. My baby will start nursery when she’s 11 months old, she isn’t going to be able to tell me she didn’t like her tea so didn’t eat it and is hungry!

Regarding the menu... It's usually up to the chefs, if they don't tell us in advance they're changing the menu then we can't tell the parents until after lunch. It only really happens if something's missing from a delivery.

I wouldn’t want all these updates.
A brief rundown at handover would be fine with me. The occasional photo would be nice but wouldn’t be the end of the world if I never got one. And as long as the food was healthy that’s all I’d need to know.
you won’t get photos and daily app notifications when they start school nursery.

I think it is. The EYFS objectives set by the government are absolute pish. Not the fault of the nurseries, just rubbish targets.

As I said. The socialisation aspect is the benefit IMO.

Everything they learnt at nursery (or with us) they re did at school anyway. And both ours could write, knew their basic tables (if not all) and read by the time they started reception. That didn't come from nursery, that was 100% parental and family involvement.

If they say it was going to happen then yes it's a bit rubbish that it doesn't .
When mine was in daycare I said I'm going to assume all is well unless I heard from them. I did not want to be distracted by this or that updates - I needed to work and frankly it was a welcome relief someone else was caring fir him. And I don't care what he's eating as long as it's not all junk.

I actually reported that comment on MN on the grounds that while I don’t think it was the intention I do think the comment had the potential to cause a great deal of offence and upset. But I do think it’s a little disingenuous to pretend it’s the first time anyone has made a disparaging comment about nurseries and the women who work in them on here.

@Rycbar i can believe it unfortunately!

Stupid nursery worker (with a masters degree) checking in...
I prefer to spend with the children rather than sit on the iPad to update the app, but I will do a detailed handover in person at the end of the day and try to upload photos when all the children have gone home.

It's really not "just childcare".

But they do tell her…it’s just at the end of the day. I think apps were introduced as when you get time to fill them in it greatly reduces the length of time it takes to do hand over at the end of the day. Unfortunately, a whole new set of problems came with it - parents ringing up 10 minutes after lunchtime because meals hadn’t been uploaded (because more likely than not the staff are putting the children down for a sleep!). You would think this is a minority but it’s really not.

There are apprentices in nurseries who by definition are unqualified....doesn't mean they can't write and to do an apprenticeship they do have to pass tests. The issue most people have is the apprentice being left to care without supervision.

@Rycbar I am a teacher myself and I am not doubting that there are difficult parents. I’m just disputing that childcare settings started using apps as a form of communication because of demanding parents. For my part I don’t really care whether the information is whatsapped or written or in the form of an app - whatever works for the nursery - but I do think some minimal information on food and sleep (if applicable) and toileting / nappies is reasonable.

Its not all parents. But my god are the ones who have unreasonable expectations loud.
Im a teacher and hand on heart, OFSTED and parents are the worst part of our job.
Again, not all parents. But far more than you’d think.

This comment is disgusting and incredibly uninformed.
Whilst yes, we do have girls who fit your description. In my experience as a childcare worker, the vast majority of the people I worked with went into this job because they have a passion for early years and the children they teach and look after, not because they struggled to get GCSEs (to be qualified to level three now in early years you need to have GCSE level maths). At my last nursery, 40% of the staff were educated at degree level. Not including two qualified teachers (including myself).
It’s this stereotype that reduces early years educators to ‘babysitters’.
In my experience, the girls you describe don’t last very long in nurseries at all because they find out it’s a much harder job than they realise. As an English teacher, you might see them go off to college to study this, I see the actual staff in nurseries and we have wildly different experiences.

What a vile comment. It does beg the question though, did the ‘girls who struggle’ fail GCSEs because they had you as a teacher?

It comes down to trust I suppose @jannier and that’s true whatever the preferred format is.

What judgemental fuckery is this shit. You sound fucking awful. I hope to fuck you’re not actually a teacher

Our nursery uses a notebook for each child. For those who can't talk yet, they tell you what your DC ate for lunch, dinner and for snacks, their toilet times and types, and nap times. They also include rough info like "DC liked playing with the magnetic tiles today". The entry fills about one page of A5 a day.

It works really well, I'd say. Much better than an app - nursery workers get app fatigue, I'm sure.

What you can't tell is if the person logging all the meals actually knows how much each child ate or is just doing the same for all. As an assessor I've seen the same comments on every child's entry x ate well list of menu......... Enjoyed......days activity....slept.....
I've even seen the paper ones completed at 10am.

As much as I think that posters phrasing was unfortunate I think it’s a bit rich to get up in arms about it when I have seen some of the same outraged names get sniffy about unqualified girls in nurseries.

Grr image didn’t attach!

This is an example of what I typically get. I don’t need it to be through an app, that’s just what the nursery use. But I would expect that level of communication.