State nursery, is this the norm?

[Singlevariety]

Hello,

My DD just started a state nursery, 5 mornings a week. She's been going to a private nursery before, which she loved, but we decided on the school nursery as it's rated very highly and is attached to the school we want her to go to.

All good and exciting until she started on Tue. When I drop her off in the morning it's an absolute chaos in the nursery room. All parents are allowed to go in, no one is wearing any masks, hardly any room for little ones to move around and extremely noisy. My DD is very social and doesn't mind a bit of noise but this is extreme and is making her very very anxious. She never ever needed any settling, even when she was younger but she is very nervous now. At the previous nursery all children would be greeted at the gate, taken one by one by a teacher and led to a quiet area where everyone would wait for the other children to arrive. Then they would start their routine.

Is this normal in all state pre- schools? I feel very uneasy leaving her in the morning. Not sure how long this chaos lasts, I assume it gets quieter when all the parents leave.

I work in a state primary schools and whilst, yes, masks, bubbles and social distancing are a thing of the past, our school has used Covid as a great opportunity to restructure drop-off procedures. No parent is allowed past the gate in the mornings anymore. Things are so much calmer and the younger children have settled in quite well. Sounds like OL's nursery could benefit from a bit more organisation, pandemic or not.

@MrsMariaReynolds that's brilliant! I think it's better not only for the children but for everyone else too.

DH has just dropped DD off now and he said he was nervous about leaving her behind. There was no one at the door to greet them, lady at the gate distracted, hence he had to go in, total chaos, no one even noticed them coming in, DD was holding on to his leg which never happened before so he stayed with her for a few minutes.
Not sure how I should approach this but I will probably speak to other mums about it first and then make a collective suggestion to the school.

This is supposed to be an outstanding rated nursery/school.

@Blueroses99
I wish some of the Covid measures of queuing separately had stuck!

I feel exactly the same, this chaos is so unnecessary.

There was no one at the door to greet them, lady at the gate distracted, hence he had to go in, total chaos, no one even noticed them coming in

I don't understand why there isn't a staff member at the door. If no one is even aware an adult / child has entered the building, then it's not too ridiculous to assume that no one would notice a child leaving the nursery if they wanted to. I would send a message to the school regarding the choas at drop off time, and concerns about safeguarding.

It’s likely to be the same when she starts school too.

Not in my experience. Even before Covid, our schools positively discouraged, then prohibited parents from entering the school in the mornings or at pick-up. It just wasn’t done.