Reassurance rough as nails nursery but next door to Uni

[mamatomany]

More of a WWYD I guess
Financially things are tight, I could do with getting on with University because I'm not getting any younger but we will have a small baby in September who needs caring for.
If I send it to the University nursery it's subsidised so I'd pay about £25 a day instead £40 at the lovely bells and whistles nursery.
So I looked around the Uni nursery and there's nothing wrong with it at, the staff are quite young, the equipment looks tatty and the location is bloody awful, next to a car park and a railway line, but i'm thinking those are all things a little baby wouldn't notice. It is Ofstead registered, the report was ok, not glowing.
And the biggest advantage of this nursery is I can pop into BF and if DH suddenly got a day off I wouldn't hesitate to keep the baby at home and waste £25.
I'd also like to take in the baby's own carrycot as I didn't like the look of the cots and bedding, would that be ok ?

Sorey but it does sound grim

If they can't even keep the cots nice - that's just awful.

Can you really not put uni on hold or do something to go towards it from home?

sorry, not sorey!

what are the bells and whistles at the other nursery?
what are the negatives in the Ofsted report?
The nursery we use (which is a university nursery but in a nice location and with older staff so not the same one!) got a fairly bad Ofsted last time but when we looked at the reasons it was because of things that we thought were actually positive, like not paying too much attention to the learning outcomes for activities in the baby room (ffs!) and planning activities day by day rather than week by week (which they do to enable them to respond flexibly to things like the weather and the needs of the particular children who come in that day).
I wouldn't honestly care about tattiness - we had our dcs in a very corporate nursery for a term where the equipment was spanking new but the staff just weren't that great and it was pretty awful.

as for taking the baby's own carrycot, you would have to ask them (and their response to this will probably give you a good clue abotu what they are like) - I know our place would be unlikely to let you because they haven't got the space, but they are happy to be as flexible as they can in general.

My dd is in a university nursery, it looks tatty and I had my reservations too when I put her in, particularly as she had previously been to a newly opened, private and very swish nursery. However, despite my glum thoughts I have been amazed at how good the staff are. Very inventive with the toys and re-arranges the toys they have on a weekly basis to keep the children interested. The tatty 1-2 year olds kitchen's linoleum floors are utilised to full effect by the staff who only a week ago removed all tables/chairs etc and covered the floor in sand and had paddling pools up to give the children a "summer holiday party" inside since the weather was poorer than hoped. I would say the nursery I used before would have cancelled the party rather than cover their lovely fresh carpets in sand... So if you give them a chance you might find their really good. And if you don't like it you could probably find a suitable, if slightly more expensive, nursery close to the uni and perhaps not do a full-time place?

Three other near to home nurseries all shiny new equipment, they've only been open 18 months so everything is the most up to date it can be.
And ok I'll say it, the staff all speak nicely and are smartly dressed, which again I know a baby doesn't care about but it does give a good impression.
Ofsted didn't say anything bad about the Uni one there just wasn't anything good either, everything was satisfactory.

In my heart I know I wouldn't have sent the older ones to the Uni nursery and if it comes to it I'll find the £30 a week extra, was just trying to convince myself the close proximity would make up for any short comings.

Thanks Snuppeline, that's a good point.

you know what, I think up-to-dateness of equipment and smartly-dressedness of staff are completely unimportant, but quality of staff is key.
Have you noticed any differences in how they engage with the children?
Are there any differences in staff turnover?

to give you an example, one difference we noticed between staff at the bad and good nurseries of which we have experience was that at the bad nursery there was no teamwork - a worker would be playing with a group of children in a room and not notice when another member of staff needed help, or (worst of all) no-one would step forward to take responsibility when you brought your child in.
Staff turnover is usually a good indicator of how happy the atmosphere is - you can ask individual staff how long they've been there when you go round.
Do you think the staff not being smart at the one nursery relates to a general sloppiness in their attitude to their jobs? Or is it that they are so focused in engaging with the children that they don't care? Smartness can go either way - can be a sign of high standards or of image being more important than reality.

That's true Seth, the trouble I find with these visits is they are so fleeting and everyone seems on their best behavior for the half an hour or so you are on the premises.
We've had some dreadful experiences with the big chains so I think I'm aware of those issues, more interested in the brand than the children but equally the lady showing me around the Uni nursery basically could not have cared less whether I sent my baby there or not, it was clear if you like that they were doing me the favor and there were plenty more students than places so she wasn't selling the nursery in the same way iyswim ?

that would put me off too Mamatomany. You would expect a good nursery to have a degree of pride and passion about all the aspects of their work, even if they are not short of customers.

I would try to put the equipment, decor, newness on one side and compare how the staff are relating to the children. What is your gut feeling about where your child might get more cuddles? If the person showing you round didn't feel it necessary to jump through hoops to get your business that isn't really a problem and may mean that you saw a more honest picture.

Maybe you could pop in on spec one day to see what they two places are like when you haven't arranged an appointment. They may say you can't come in because they have no spare staff to show you round - that would speak volumes to me.

If your baby is at one where you could pop in during the day at least you would see it warts and all and not when it is tidied up for pick up time. If you see things you don't like then you have the option to move to the bells and whistles one.

Have you thought about looking around childminders as your baby will be so young?

I don't like childminders if I'm honest, the thought of him spending his days in a car seat being dragged around on before and after school pick ups and taken to toddler groups with older kids puts me off.
I hadn't arranged an appointment last time, I never give them notice if I can't see around without them expecting me I would cross it off the list.
I think I might give the Uni one a try, it'll only be for 6 months maximum anyway with a bit of luck.

I wouldn't care about the equipment, but I'd go back and ask some more questions about the staff - you say they're young, but ask how long they've been there, how often they switch staff between rooms, how they cover staff ratios at lunch, what qualifications the staff hold, and whether the staff have opportunities to do further training at work (makaton, behaviour management etc - if they do it shows the nursery invests in it's staff and the staff are likely to be happier).

i did find working in a nursery and observing others during my training that staff time is limited due to keeping to min. ratios of staff due to cost. The extra money in 'better' nurseries seems to go on resources rather than more/better staff.

As a member of staff you can either spend your time doing displays, paperwork- ticking boxes/photocopying/presenting things nicely for parents, cleaning and tidying or spend it with the children.

This is a management choice though so def. ask staff how long they've been there as they want to work with children (the pay is so low you couldn't do it if you didn't really want to) and will stay longer if they are doing that...

This nursery sounds like the same one my DS goes to! Near a railway line, next to a car park, stuff a bit tatty etc??

Honestly I never thought for a moment that being next to a rail way line was that bad. DS loves it. He shouts TRAIN! everytime one goes past. It's in the city centre, so it's near a car park (what isn't in a city centre).

Yes the stuff is tatty. I don't whether this is the same nursery, but the nursery that my DS goes to is also a bit tired looking Uni nursery. But the bedding looks clean, but a bit tatty I agree. It doesn't bother me to be honest. Actually my nursery doesn't even have cots in the baby room. The babies sleep on mats on the floor. I was shocked about this at first, but DH has always slept there really well, so he must be comfortable - he is 19 months now.

let me know if this is the same nursery, I can let you know more about it.

I meant DS has slept there really well :-)

Lol no they do all have cots but they looked like they'd caged beavers in them with all the knawered railings.
The trouble is I've gone from nothing is too good for my baby because I earn shit loads to I'm a student how the hell can we afford (insert everything and anything) in 12 months, it's all a bit of shock.
I'm sure he'll survive.

I wouldn't be bothered about the staff being young - I've recently been shocked to find out how young one nursery worker is (19 when DS started) but she's wonderful, his favourite and so so good with the babies. Age doesn't matter when she's naturally good with them and doing well at her childcare studies (she's the main one that talks Makaton to them etc, meaning DS could sign 'please' before he could say 'mummy'!)

By the way, I know what you mean about childminders, but not all of them do school runs. DDs childminder just picks up her own DD, they walk to school so it's great exercise. And DD loved going to toddler groups right from the start (9 months).