Nursery renting out space to public

[Hocuspoc]

The nursery out little one attends recently started renting out space to public (different types of classes, most are babies related but not exclusively).
The reason why I find this uncomfortable is that they do it during their working hours !! - while the little ones are there.
The room they rent out is not separate to the area where the nursery operates - quite the opposite - it is just next to the rooms where the kids are.
It is also the same room where the little ones spend time for some part od the day (obviously not at the same time as the classes to the public).

Am I being unreasonable here? This just doesn't sit well with me. Do other nurseries do this?
I feel a nursery should primarily be a safe space for children attending and I don't know about letting people off the streets in - even if they are pre-registered..
Even minor things like a possibility of them leaving things behind (e.g. allergy wise food bits, or choking hazards)...

They will do a risk assessment and check for hazards after they leave the room.

If the government had funded the "funded" hours properly then nurseries wouldn't have to be doing stuff like this to survive. The one my DS used to attend has closed after 30 years.

Unfortunately nurseries are struggling so much to keep going at the moment financially. I understand your concerns but it must be a hassle for the nursery so they probably have no other choice

You could speak to the staff to get reassurance that the kids don't mix with the room renters

I'd be wanting to know how they prevent people from accessing the nursery from this rented space. As in - is the nursery room door locked to prevent acces? If not how do they propose to keep 'unsavoury' people away from kids in their care. It is a relevant part of their funding agreement with the local authority and part of the safeguarding legislation in the eyfs.
Ask them and I'm sure they will provide you with a risk assessment.

I'm certain that there are measures in place so that nursery children can't just wander from their classroom into a public class, so I can't really see a problem. It's not really any different to a preschool operating in a community centre. Sadly, nurseries need to do things like this to keep afloat, the alternative would be increasing your fees.

Yes that was my thought too, they need money...but still not ok

There will be a Risk Assessment in place which will detail which areas are "public", what areas are "private" and what measures are in place. Things like toilets being separated etc.

Rooms will be checked before they let children in after a group

Some nursery classes run in community halls and centres which are shared spaces.

The security is the worry for me as well. I'd want to know someone couldn't just walk into the same room as the kids. Or if they would be in the building as the children are moving between rooms etc.

Why is it not ok? There are play groups running in various halls across the UK with the same set up.
There are regulations in place. Children are most at risk from a parent or relative.

Speak to the nursery and I'm sure they'll put your mind at ease. I'm sure the rooms don't interact with each other.

Do they go on outings? Ours go to the beach or the playground or maybe walk around the town every day so obviously they see plenty of strangers during nursery hours in much less controlled conditions than what you're describing here.

It's quite a clever idea really, as others have said nurseries are really struggling ATM. It's a very low risk group that fits in with the ethos of the building and will help them drum up future business too.

Our nursery is like Fort Knox and it’s reassuring. I wouldn’t be happy with that set up you describe.

Ask to see the risk assessment

I think it’s more common than I appreciated. In my local parenting WhatsApp groups, I’ve seen quite a few flyers for classes at a nursery. I didn’t think it was a thing either.

Wouldn't bother me unless it was in the US, in which case hell no.

What's your point - let's keep children away from parents and relatives? How is this statistics of yours relevant to a nursery setting?
You think they should let a child leave with a stranger and not thier parent at the end of the day perhaps because 'childern are at most risk from a parent' ?!
Really what is the point you were trying to make?

This

Why? I assume gun culture? Some people carry knives around here so there is that too.

For other comments - no, rooms are not locked, the hallway os common and the kids are using it during the day...so really not great setup :(

If the rooms are not locked and children (and visiting adults) can go in and out of the rooms and hallway without staff noticing then this should probably be reported as a concern to OFSTED immediately.

Hellllllllll no! Prime target for peados to rent the space for some pseudo reason just to….look. Ew

Parents collecting children are also people off the streets. As long as all the correct checks are in place, then I'm not sure I see the issue. Who are they renting their space to? Are you saying there's no lock on the door where your child is? People can freely walk in?

I have dealt with nurseries where the Local Authority owns the building which is leased to the nursery in my work. Those leases all require than anyone who is employed or occupies the building in anyway etc is all DBS (or whatever it’s called now) checked and so it wouldn’t be possible for them to share occupation of their building in this way.

Obviously that’s not going to apply to every nursery and they won’t all have those restrictions on their use of the building but that seems a sensible starting point to me.

Id feel uncomfortable too OP, my nursery used to do tummy time classes which I recognised was a marketing ploy to get new Mums into the building and signed up for childcare. Any other use is totally inappropriate.

But they all have a legitimate reason to be around the children in the building.

But the other people aren't around the children at any time, they are in different rooms.

A couple of years ago I used to take my kids to a soft play that had a nursery in the building. The soft play was effectively their playground, but it was open to the public for paid entry too. Pretty much every time we went the nursery staff would all be sitting chatting in the little toddler area with the babies while the older nursery kids played unsupervised in the play frame, interacting with the public and quite often being a nuisance latching on to me and my kid. I once had to return a crying injured nursery child to staff! This was a big frame with areas out of sight where a member of the public could have done anything to those kids and no one would have seen a thing. I raised it with centre staff and was assured this was all perfectly fine and there was no problem with the kids talking to unknown members of the public because they were wearing hi vis vests and therefore they couldn’t get out the door with a stranger without being noticed. Not a nursery I’d send my kids to and I stopped going to the soft play because it just seemed wrong.

In comparison a group of people in a completely different room on site, not interacting with the nursery children, seems pretty harmless.

So if this was a school, visitors would be registered on entering and given a pass and escorted around the building and not permitted to wander alone, would use designated and separate toilets etc.

I wouldn't be concerned if it was baby groups with parents accompanying their children - and that would be quite clever of the nursery getting prospective parents through the door, people are not likely to attack anyone with a child in tow. I would be bothered if it was Alcoholics Anonymous / Anger Management classes, so depends what it is Knit and Natter I probably wouldn't have an issue. Even if unlikely there was the case of the nursery being targeted years ago and I'd expected doors to be secure from random members of the public being able to have access to the classrooms.