How to pick a good nursery: Part 1 - Size

[TiggyD]

I've worked in small nurseries and large nurseries. The largest was a 180 place setting, the smallest about 30. In a smaller nursery the staff will know all the children and vice-versa. That would be impossible in one of the huge ones. How can the manager remember the names of 200+ children, 400+ parents and hundreds of brothers and sisters?

The number of children in the room is an important factor too. Too many children and the staff have to herd children rather than address them by name when doing things. I worked in a room of 45 pre-schoolers. You lose that personal touch. I would say you should avoid nurseries with more than 12 babies in the baby room(0-2), 16 toddlers in their room (2-3), and more than 26 older children (3+) in the big room, and don't bother with settings with 100+ places.

12 under 2's in one room all together sounds a lot to me... in my experience 6 is workable in that situation. 12 is workable if split between two rooms... so the 1-2's are separate from the under 1's.

The 26 figure for 3 to 5's is the number which playgroups were registered for. It is a workable number and has been used for many years (certainly since 1989, though I think it started being the max group size earlier than that). Even with that number it can get out of hand at times... my years of helping in playgroups tells me that! So if you find a nursery with more than 26 children in the 3-5's group... walk away. I would be surprised if the regulator is registering such places... but what may happen in very large nurseries is that two rooms (so 2 x 26) go outside together. Shouldn't happen... but I would wonder if it does - anyone experienced that?

Our sessional nursery school is registered for 40 x 3+ children per session. It is usually always full by January but it is a fantastic school with a well deserved reputation.

As chair of governors I recently spent a morning there and one of the most striking things was just how calm the atmosphere was. They operate a free flow system between in and outdoors and the children all seemed happy and engaged in their play. All the children have their own key worker, plus there are support staff, and the QTS staff are usually surplus to ratio requirements.

IMHO it has more to do with good management, and the quality and number of staff available than the number of children attending.

I think that parents should view all nurseries in their local area and make their own decision, based on what they see, what they have heard (through word of mouth) and based on what would suit their child best. I really don't feel that you can have any hard and fast rule about this....

Disagree with not bothering with 100+ places
My DD goes to a nursery/pre-school which - if fully booked - can take 150 children.
My DD is in one of 4 or 5 rooms for 2-3 year olds. Each room has up to 10 children (depending on the day) and they all seem to know each other across the room.
My DD is greeted by name by staff from all other rooms across her age range.
As long as there are enough separate rooms to keep it a more personal environment, I do not see a problem with the overall size of a nursery.
A big plus with a bigger nursery is also that they tend to have big gardens/outdoor space

and they all seem to know each other across the other rooms that should be
Of course they know each other in their own room...

I think too small is also a problem. I visited one place which had all under 2s in one room (5 children). The one baby who couldn't move was being ignored as both members of staff were engaged with 4 one year olds, I think itches a huge range of development to all be together.

We are in a similar situation to notinmypocket. I have to admit I was a bit sceptical about big nurseries at first, but it has lots of rooms, with appropriate ratios in each, most have up to 12 kids in (the pre-school rooms have more). Staff are lovely and there is very little movement of staff. All the room staff call the kids by name, and to be honest most of the staff in the nursery seem to know my kids. The manager is always around the rooms and knows the kids names and is very friendly to all parents. The otside space is fantastic and the kids spend a LOT of time outside (or have free-range in and out).

Being a big nursery they have facilities for lots of extras besides the purpose built outdoor play equipment there is a sensory room, proper cooking lessons, stretch & grow, music & dance, nature walks, visiting animals etc. And they also have a big kitchen which does proper cooked food every day.

We love it!

I disagree. Nurseries can vary so much in set up, i think you need to go and view and ask questions about how it is organised not rule out places on facts and figures.

DS goes to a nursery with just under 30 children on roll but only 12 in one session. The are based in one room with a garden but with access to a smaller room for naps/nappy changing/quiet time. There are other areas used less regularly for specific activities (like TV shown maybe once every 1 or 2 months)

DD was at a preschool with 35-40 children on roll (so similar figure to nursery above) but there would usually be 24/26 in a session but they were registered for up to 30 so if occassionally you needed an extra session for important appointment/funeral etc your child was ok to stay. There was only one room but two garden areas one hard surface one grass, of which one was open access during main play session access it was dependant on weather which. There was no specific room for naps just an overflow room for lunch and for older children to do reading/writing activities.

So two very different settings that on paper would appear quite similar.

Oh and dd is now at school and somehow the infant head teacher knows the names of the vast majority of pupils (4 reception classes, 3 yr 1 and 3 yr 2). So that isnt impossible it is totally dependant on motivation.