What are the most important things in a child minder/day nursery?

[m4rdybum]

We are due to go and look at a few local nurseries in a couple of weeks, in preparation for me going back to work at the end of my maternity leave.

I just wondered if there was anything that I should ask, or look out for at the tour? So far I have;

• What body are they registered under and how good are they on that scale? (We're in Wales, so I think they have something equivalent to OFSTED).
• Earliest drop off and latest pick up times
• Cost
• Info on meals provided
• Info on activities
• Are children separated into ages?
• Schemes like childcare vouchers

Anything else?

Nurseries
Convenience - can you park outside/close to work or home.
Staff Turnover
Do the other children attending look happy.

Childminders - do they charge for their holidays/sick days/bank holidays? How much notice will they give you. How much do they charge for your holidays. What activities do they do during the day.

Child minders...
Payments for sick days/ bank holidays/ holidays/ theirs and yours.

Sleep arrangements - separate cots in separate room? Set nap times or go with your schedule?

I would ask about they do settling in/transition, sleeping arrangements, daily feedback with key worker in the Nursery. Good luck

Do the children look well cared for. Are staff crouching do down to play, are noses (generally!) clean, are children sitting on carer's knee, is place generally tidy (not from an interior design perspective, but is sand swept up, toys organised into batches etc).

I never cared about ofsted/activities/meal plans much, just wanted to know they would have fun and be cared for!

Staff turn over
Parking for pick up and drop off
How the other children are while you visit.
How the staff interact with me and my child during the visit
How the settling in sessions work
How they can tailor the ‘room routines’ to individual children

As an ex childcarer I want to know about staff turnover.
I want consistency and for that you need happy staff!
I want to see how staff are interracting with the children- I want to see them child led, respectful and tolerant.
I also want to know about opportunities for outside play- as that's important to me. (Though I appreciate you can lead a horse to water.....)

If my child fell and was crying what would they do about it? - all very well telling me about first aid and training, health and safety and parental communication etc I just wanted to hear they would pick them up and give them a cuddle. - Care for them as I would.

Having had a DD working in a nursery, I would say staffing ratios.

Not minimum ratios, but expected, rostered, day to day, 'how many are actually in the room' ratios.

How they interact with your child and others in the setting whilst you are there is the biggest clue

Most important?

I’d always say make sure your expectations are in line with those of the childcare provider. Very few childcare arrangements break down over standards or quality of care. It’s nearly always because people sign up to something they later disagree upon, and when they disagree they think their own point of view is so "obvious" as to be indisputable.

Witness the many, many netmums threads whinging about holiday payments, payment for notice, meals, etc. etc. etc. And everything else that they’ve previously agreed to by signing the contract.

So read the contract and all those boring policies, and ask everything that you want to know.

I found when it came down to it that I had really strong gut feelings about the nurseries that we visited and I think most parents do.