choosing a nursery - things to look for, questions to ask?

[squareorange]

Hi, am going to visit some nurseries soon - I know that the feel of the place will have a lot to do with the final choice, also OFSTED reports. And location and opening hours. But, are there other specific things I should look for, or questions to ask while there? I'm thinking more to do with what they do with the babies development (dd will be around 8 months when she goes), approach to feeding etc (we're trying the blw approach but not sure if we could expect a nursery to follow that too?).

Any tips or advice appreciated, thanks.

Hi squareorange-

Make sure you ask the members of staff that will be in charge of your child how long they have worked in the nursery- ask about turnover of staff- if its a good nursery they will have long term members of staff and low turnover and that is worth its weight in gold definetly.

Also important to try and speak to as many parents as possible who have kids at your chosen nursery- ask them how long their kids have been there- how they find it etc.

Always meet the manager/owner- !! this is a biggie!! I made a very big mistake by not meeting the manager of my childs previous nursery.

Lastly- when your in the nursery- have a good thorough look around- do the children seem contented and happy - what activities are they doing etc. Check everything out that you can - you will be glad you did.

Good luck

I am always happier when parents ask a lot of questions and the questions that parents always seem to want to know is but sometimes forget to ask are:

-Do they use learning journeys and how they do them,

-How they plan and what kind of cycle do they use (6 weekly, 12 weekly, termly if its less your child will be observed and planned for more)

-Do they go on trips (some nurseries dont due go out due increased insurance costs)

-Do they include any student/volunteers in the ratioed numbers if they do how do you feel about this?

-How often do they go outside? and do they have provision for going outside in all weather (all in one suits ect)

-How many children do they have in a room per day?

-What kinds of sensory activites do they offer the babies? baby rooms should offer a lot of messy play such as jelly play, shaving foam, water play, heuristic play, sand ect

Also a good nursery will follow any technique you are doing for your child within the setting and should go along with your daughters established routine as much as possiable :) hope this helps

Thanks for the responses, that's really helpful

Having just switched nurseries, the big things for me were

1. How often do they go outside & can they still go out if it's raining (a good nursery will have a sheltered/covered area for this)

1. Watch how the staff engage with the kids. At some nurseries, they literally sit around. At others they will be part of the childrens games. I always think this really tells you about the quality of the staff who will be looking after your kids