Any nursery workers here?

[Beachwaves127]

My dc is starting nursery soon and I’d love to hear from any nursery workers how they find their job, and how the sector currently is. For example I heard that it’s really hard to recruit staff at the moment.

I think that nursery work is a very challenging and very important job. Is the general consensus that you feel appreciated or not? (I hope You are). Is there anything mothers can do to help nursery workers feel appreciated?

To me it's still the best job in the world, almost 20 years since I first walked into an early setting for work experience and stayed ever since. I have carefully chosen a setting that reflects what I wanted for my children as a parent and my values as an early educator, so I usually feel appreciated by management and parents. I certainly feel appreciated by the children, I walk in every morning to a group of tiny humans calling my name and excited to see me, I get told that I am funny, silly and that I'm loved or someone's best friend multiple times a day.

There are a lot of challenges facing the secotor but it has always been a challenging job. I have never want to step into the management side of things and want to less and less every year. Other services being cut and underfunded has increased our work load massively, send needs have to be met from our own experience mostly, waiting lists for salt mean most of our childen don't get seen before us and there is litttle onward support to refer parents onto as children's services now have a very high threshold for referal, but settings are working around this. Locally we have a problem with the FE college and their standard of training so have a very robust intake training process to make up for this.

Communicating honsetly about your child, keeping them home when ill and labeling everything goes a long way. Everyone loves it at my setting when personal apprcation is passed onto management so if you feel someone has done something well let those above them know. We have just had the influx of thankyou cards from our school leavers and these are deeply appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to comment @nedtherobbot you mention some interesting points especially about onward services. I’m glad you still enjoy your job :)
what is the reason for wanting a management role less and less? If you don’t mind me asking!
what’s your thoughts on the parental apps (ir photos, food eaten uploaded during the day) - have you found these have enhanced experience for parents?

The parents apps are a fantastic tool when parents engage with them. I loved them when my youngest was in nursery and the use of it in school. It is so reasuring to get a photo of your child happy after a difficult drop off and feel like it reduces the panic of bursery calling being able to send a message for none urget things that previously needed a phone call. I find that I have learnt so much more about the children through parents engament with the app so can provide much better for them. Most parents seem to like them too, so much better than showing observations at parents evenings weeks or months after the event has passed. The biggest challenge of them is stable wifi connection, the building is old, which can sometimes mean things don't update in a timely fashion.

The amount of paper work and ultimately the hights that responsibility has reached with lack of onward services and the quality of out LA which has repeatedly been rated inadequate. I also enjoy working hands on with the children too much to spend time sat behind a desk. I'm also an increasingly firm believer that children deserve experienced higher level (I'm part of the labour/sure start era push for degree level staff in setting) working with them everyday. I'd rather be making playdough and going on adventures than organising rotas and stuck behind a desk. It also would be a terrible fit for work life balance, my own children have send needs and being able to mostly leave work at the door is needed which a management role makes almost impossible. Honestly the extra reasponabilty has never been worth the small increase in pay. I just carefully choose the management team I work under instead and have the luxury of being able to walk away if needed.

I qualified in 2007 (2 years of college placements prior).. I still love it too, despite not loving the government's attitude towards us as a sector!

I went on to degree level and was asked to manage a nursery owned by the school I was working in. (I'd originally gone in as a nursery nurse in reception class on what was far better money than previous private settings)

.. I now work in a charity run preschool on "not enough above minimum wage" and have just turned down a deputy role that wouldn't pay much more anyway! Managing almost had me leaving the sector. I missed the children too much.

Thank you both @nedtherobbot and @AuntMarch very insightful.

@AuntMarch i agree that the governments attitude should be better. Especially as so many children under five these days use childcare - the Sector needs to be valued.