Am I being precious re nursery or would this worry you?

[london111]

My DS (16mths) started nursery at 12mths. My DD (age 3yrs) also goes there and is very happy. The nursery had two baby rooms. One for 6mths to 2yrs and one for 1yr-2yrs. Initially they put my son in the younger of the two rooms, then they moved him up to the older class 2 months later which I was not delighted about. They then split the older class into two seperate rooms. My son has spent 2 months in one of these classes and now they want him to move class again. I am really upset that he has had no consistency with a key worker.

They argue that the older class is better split between 12-18mths and then 18-24mths in the other room. I think it is more important to stay in one class for a year (with age range over 2 years) and have the same key worker. However, I do not want my son to be the oldest by far in his class and be surrounded by much younger children. He is very settled there but I am getting increasingly annoyed by the way they move the children around to squeeze more in.

Am I being precious? Is the key worker that important?

How many different staff members are there altogether, and how many of the are "close" for want of a better word with your DS? Babies can recognise more than one person - why does he just need one to do everything? Isn't it better for him to socialise with several? (I have no idea btw, my DCs went to nursery at 3, in a preschool setting, so I don't know about keyworkers and stuff like that.) I'd have thought that the 12-18 and 18-24 months made more sense though, there's a big difference between a just turned one yr old and a 2 yr old.

I dont think it's that important. It's not like classes in school where they are judging them on academic ability or anything. Im not even sure who my childs key worker is! does he seem happy?

I'm inclined to say precious at 16 months.

I would have thought interaction and play would be good things and they may want to see how they adapt to new environments?

That's actually quite a lot of change, DS has been going to his nursery for a year now, he started in the baby room, moved to an 'intermediate' room at 18 months with some other children from the baby room, they all went into the 'toddler' room (2-3years) at the same time after Christmas. Each change has been unsettling for him, sleep is all over the place and he gets fussy with food for a week or so until he settles down.

DS is also unsettled when his key worker is off sick or on holiday, it does matter who's looking after them.

If things don't settle down now, I'd look at finding a new nursery where things are little more stable and he can actually build a relationship with his key worker.

its common to have many rooms in a nursery, your child should definitely have a key worker, they should have a named person. does he definitely not have one??

I'd rather have a smaller age range TBH.

It does sound like a lot of adjustment. How many staff are there in the rooms? My DD has 3 members of staff she is close to, even though only one of them is her key worker. I would like to think they might move the staff member with the children for the settling period?

I have worked in nurseries and my step dad owns 2. From what I know of his nurseries is they have found it is more likely to be that the ages of the children they have in there has changed slightly, they may not have many little babies right now. Most people understand the child:adult ratios but within a nursery there is also regulations around the square footage of the rooms to the amount of children allowed in it. A key worker at that age isn't really that important, as long as you DS is happy with the staff that are there then he will be fine. Key workers tend to just be the person who does the child's observations for their records. Stepdads nurseries have also separated the little babies and just walking to the under 2 but walking for safety reasons as you can imagine. They have a 3 month - 9 months, a 9 months to walking(12-17 months) and an under 2 room, stepdad calls them the tiddlers, tinkers and toddlers

A child's keyworker is fairly important whether the setting is a preschool or nursery.....every parent should be aware of who their child's keyworker is, they should have consultations at least twice a year with them plus the child's journal will be filled in by their keyworker!

Yes a keyworker is important for the parents and for the childs developmental file but not for the child.

So are there 3 baby rooms now? It reads as there are 3 with age ranges:
6 mo - 2 yrs
12-18 mo
18-24 mo

If so that is weird.

I would expect a maximum of 1 room change up to 2 years old and would not have expected a room change unless your child has outgrown the age range. So I would not expect a child who started in the 6 months - 2 years room to move, but for them to plan carefully and split the children as they come in to balance demand on the rooms. I think it would make more sense to have a room for 6-14 months and then 2 parallel rooms or something like that.

DD's nursery has 2 baby rooms each for 3 months (rarely do babies start then) to 20 months. I think there may be a little flexibility on when children move up to the next room depending on their development, but generally they will stay in that room until 20 months and they never swap between baby rooms. I guess that 20 months is chosen to fit with their numbers and also because it means that (almost) all children going up will be walking.

I think that key workers do matter as does a consistency of room staff. Otherwise why would everyone bang on about low staff turnover when choosing a nursery?

So if I have understood the situation fully, then YANBU and I would be having a discussion with the nursery management as I don't think that they are taking your DS into consideration.

I disagree a key person is very important for young children, they should be the one doing majority of the child's care. The should build a trusting relationship which enables the child to feel confident and then move away from them when ready, they should be there to help when child is unwell/feeling off/changes.

Loads of research underpinns the concept of a key person for the child and in my setting we have had much easier settling for children. When a child moves room the key perspn settles them in the new room and gradually hands over to the new person. We have a second key person for when that person is off. The key person can be changed if the child takes to someone else.

So in my opinion YANBU

In DS's nursery, the key worker is the main person who looks after DS (yes, when she has a break then someone else does) but isn't that normal practice in nurseries so the DCs can bond with that person? Any nursery that didn't think continuity and having one main person doing the bulk of the care for a child is important wouldn't be one I'd keep my DS in.

How big is the whole nursery, and more importantly is your ds happy?

My ds's nursery has 3 rooms (up to ~15mo, up to ~3, over 3), max 30 kids, and it operates like a large family with the children knowing all the workers in their room and the others very well. Most of the time I've only found out who ds's keyworker is at Parents' Evening, and it's changed a lot, but he loves nursery and couldn't care less. It also means that when someone leaves - eg preschool teacher going on maternity leave - they can shuffle staff about and have less disruption.

the smaller age range is better - at approx 16 mths more of them are walking and also transitioning to 1 nap so they will all be on a similar routine. Also a 2 yr old is vastly different to a 12 month old so 18 mths is a good time to change over - both for the fact that older babies can be too boisterous for the little ones and the activities can vary - your dc might get more arty activites for example.

So went in this morning and agreed he could be moved up but they now say that place has been taken (they had only told me about the move on Tuesday evening) and he will have to be moved to the class for 2-3yrs! I don't think an 18mth old should be in that class. What do I do? Moving nurseries isn't really an option as would not find a place for them both and my Dd is v happy there. But I feel as though my son is being treated as a commodity just to make money...

OP that is disgraceful telling you your DS will have to be with much older children. How can this even work as the adult to child ratio for under 2's is 1.3 where as for 2.3 it's 1.4 - will they alter the ratio in the older room? I think all these different rooms are a terrible idea, kids are better off being in one room for as long as possible. DD is in a 3 month to two years room and I am very happy with this. I'd tell them in no uncertain term that your Ds will not be moving, your contract with them is for him to be cared for in an age-appropiate room. If they don't back down I'd take any measures necessary including Ofsted. They are not putting your son's needs first in any way.

Absolutely appalling behaviour. Complain complain complain. nursery manager here and I'd never do that!

find a childminder. Your LO will have the same person with him all the time and will get far more stimulation than in whatever one room he's in at nursery. ( i am a little biased!)

Is he someone who NEEDS that settled routine, or is he someone that takes about 5min or so and then is happy with anyone? Does he HAVE to be moved up to the 2-3 year old class, or is it that the only other option is to keep him with the 12-18 month olds?... I'm sure yours isn't the oldest in the 18-24month set (esp if he's actually only 16 months old, like you said on Weds), so why they can't move another child if space is needed is something you should ask.

Another option is to consider a childminder for both of them, assuming she could collect your DD after the educational side of nursery is over...

Do they mean he has to move now or that when he is 2 that is the room he will go into? It sounds really poorly organised. I would only continue to discuss it with the nursery management. Make it clear that you expect your ds to be in an age appropriate room at all times and for a minimum of 10 months at a time. The can't take on more children if they don't have real spaces in the right room rather than just shuffling children about inappropriately.

Complain, ask to speak to the manager - make a fuss at pick up when there are other parents around.

Really, if they are considering this you need to look for alternatives, this isn't a nursery that's putting the needs of the DCs first, find another nursery or a childminder. (Children aren't just spare chairs to be put where there's a space, they don't seem to see them as actual individuals with different needs)

I get that you are worried about bonding with a keyworker or lack there of, but it could benefit him in the long run by making him more outgoing and less nervous around other people.
I would have a quiet chat with the Nursery, voice your concerns and see how they react etc.....then take it from there