That day nursery can be as good as school nursery ?

[Sootyandsweep2019]

Pregnant and stressed. Will need to, ( financially), return to work 3 days a week when baby is 5-6 months old.

Looking at childcare options and, pre-lockdown, found what I thought was an absolutely lovely day nursery that takes babies 3 months to four years.

Staff seemed lovely, lovely outdoor play area, pets/ farmyard animals,regular trips out, home cooked / nutritious meals , literally everything you could want.

Naively I also felt for a baby that I would prefer a nursery over a childminder , as there are people around, ( in case anything untoward happened), and everyone coming into the setting is DBS checked. I also assumed that , ( if settled ), baby would stay there until reception as they follow eyfs. However, I've just spoken to my sister , ( who works in a school), and she has told me in no uncertain terms :

-Day nurseries are full of bored 17 year old staff who don't care.

• They're horrible places which are lonely and boring for children.

-School nurseries are soooo much better, shge doesn't know anybody who would keep their child in a day nursery over a school nursery.

Have i got everything wrong ? Genuinely feel quite stressed and upset

@LuminousAmber you ignore your toddler when they're crying or hitting other children?
When I say ignore, I mean completely ignore sometimes with their backs to the room while they're chatting etc.

I've also seen a childminder ignore a screaming 9 month old strapped into a buggy.

You need to visit the nurseries you’d be considering, they all follow the EYFS but implement it differently and different styles suit different children.

There should be no other difference between school and private nurseries. School nurseries could possibly have less staff in the room as adult ratio for a teacher is different but some private nurseries also employ teachers.

The nursery I work in has a core staff group of people over 30yrs along with some younger trainees so it isn’t only youngsters and a high turnover in private nurseries.

Mine went to a private nursery 3 days a week since 10 months as well as a preschool 3 hours a day for 2 days from age 2 and a half. Pros and cons about both but I’d say go with your gut when you visit places. Private nursery was vastly more expensive but better at potty training. Preschool did outings, Nursery didn’t. Both had older and younger staff etc.

You would really need a childminder if using a school nursery if working due to shorter days and half term etc.

Professionally I visit early years settings. Probably have been in 100 plus. On the whole school ones do tend to be higher quality but it's not a given. Ive come across fab and rubbish both. I put mine in school nursery as on balance it was better than my private nursery but the kids would be fine in either

It totally depends I would say, we moved DS from a nursery similar to how your sister described. My DD went for a period before starting school and I wouldn’t say she was well prepared for reception. It was in an odd location had a high staff turnover. He now goes to a ‘school’ pre-school and problems he had at the old place disappeared. The staff are established and older, which doesn’t make them better but they’ve ‘seen it all before’ so seem to handle him a lot better IMO.

My daughter went to two different private nurseries - both were very different but both brilliant with experienced, caring staff. Our local school doesn’t have a nursery attached to it.

Ds' day nursery is fantastic. Wonderful staff, he has adored both of his named key workers who always loved and cuddle him. He likes the rest of the staff, they are all lovely, but key workers in each room were assigned based on who he connected most with. His key worker is usually there to great him, if she's been in a different part of the nursery she makes the effort to come to the door to bring him in. She knows him so well and has made the effort to keep in contact with him since lock down because his connection with her is very important to him. His never been without cuddles and they have done so much to put support in for his send.

He also started to attend the nursery class attached to his school last September. My dd only went there, it's an outstanding nursery. She thrived and was really well supported when ds was very ill. We only put him in for a few hours so staff could begin to get to know him and his needs before starting school.

Children ar expected to be much more grown up there. A bumped head means sitting on the first aid chair with an ice pack and a paper wrist band being put on. Sickness means being taken to the school office and sat with a sick bowl until someone collects. In contrast at his day nursery means cuddles with an ice pack being held their head. If they are sick someone familiar sits with them, who ever initially delbt with the sickness, will sit them on their lap if they need hold the bowl for them and act more like a parent would.

I can completely relate the the board 17 year old comment. Some nurseries rely on free students to make up their ratios. As with every profession you get some bag eggs. Some settings attract them. In my experience it's been chains where there is no owner on site. Locally there was a chain which perfectly fit this discription, although most were more grown than 17, the culture was gossip and chatting and the minimin level of supervision to prevent disaster.

Our private day nursery was great. We stayed up to school age. It was much more nurturing for the 3-4 year olds than our school nursery.
Our school nursery treated the 3-4 year olds like smaller school children whereas the day nursery treated then like older toddlers. I guess the result was my ds was less “prepared for school” but I’m glad he had an extended pre-school experience of play and cuddles in smaller groups.

Also our staff tended to be mid-20s upwards and lots of nationalities. Ds learned Spanish and had many polish friends and teachers. It was lovely.

My daughter has been in a private nursery since she was two, so I appreciate that it's different from a baby, but she absolutely loves it. She had a lovely bond with some of the staff and is missing them and her friends terribly during lockdown. Her nursery follows the Montosori ethos and she's flourishing.

Imagine if someone said all office environments were the same - or even every school. It's just not true.

Why does it have to be either or? My eldest went to both from 3. She got on really well at day nursery and was settled so she went 2 full days at day nursery and 1 full and 2 half days at school. She learnt more phonics skills at school nursery but enjoyed the longer play and familiarity of day nursery.

My youngest was going to do the same but with lockdown she may just go to school to save settling her back in twice.