how to chose a nursery?

[fairycakes]

thinking of putting dd into a nursery one day a week so she can have contact with other children, which she has next to none at the moment - she is one.
how do you go about choosing (have seen thread below about websites) but are there any other things i should look out for, i really dont know where to start, and i dont really know any other mums to get recommendations etc.

also how long usually are waiting lists ?!! thanks

call round all the possible ones, go to visit, talk to other parents in the area about their own experiences or any they have heard and then go with you own feelings. dd should then go for a settling session to check she is happy there

In my experince whn you find 'the one' you just know. I visited 5 or 6 and left feeling a bit flat, went into the one I chose and came out ona high and felt great. The choice was simple then.

for us it was just as tc says - we visited three - one within seconds of walking in I knew there was no way dd1 was going there, the second one was okay - nothing I could put my finger on but the third one felt just right..... and it was - dd1 had the best time and there were a lot of tears the day she left when we emigrated to Australia.

When we got here to Aus - I went to look at a nursery and again within seconds of walking in side I knew there was no way Dd1 was going there.....

You could also check out OFSTED reports on their website, ask about the food they eat, activities offered, routine, staff qualifications etc.

You could also check out OFSTED reports on their website, ask about the food they eat, activities offered, routine, staff qualifications etc.

I made a list of questions to ask them all, have summarised it below in case any of it is useful;

Food - typical menu and who cooks the food
Staff - age range, experience, turnover
Diary - is a log book/form filled in for each day
Cleaning - are staff responsible
Medicine - what will you give
Illness - procedure
Activities - what activities are continuously offered and which "come out" for certain sessions
What are the policies on dealing with bad/good behaviour
Is there a weekly plan for the room
Are there any pets

Agree that you will know though which is the right one. I sent ds (18 months) for the same reasons as you initially for 2 days at first (suggested on here that one might not be enough) but that has now been changed to 3 mornings; mon, wed, fri as he had real trouble settling in due to the long break between visits. Also he had trouble sleeping. I now pick him up after lunch at 12.30pm and take him home where he sleeps for a good couple of hours cos he is worn out! Just thought you should know you might need to be flexible as far as the one day goes!

Forgot staff qualifications and ratio of qualified staff to children (1 qualified staff member to 3 children is the minimum in ds's room) Important as at a lot of places I looked at they counted college students into ratios.