Choosing a nursery - What questions to ask?

[NurseSunshine]

I'm 26 weeks pregnant with my first baby. I am taking a year off from studying so she will be going into nursery from 10 months old. A friend has told me I need to be putting my name down for nurseries now as they might have long waiting lists and she recommended just turning up at nurseries and asking to be shown around/ask them questions.

Can I do this? Is this what everyone does?

What should I be looking for specifically?

What sort of questions should I ask?

Thanks :)

only just seen this...

Within a few minutes of visiting my dc's nursey I had a good feel about the place and the staff. TBH I don't think I asked any questions as they explained so much to me. They had set times for 'look-rounds', no-one was allowed to visit without an appointment, sounds strict but they do it so visits don't clash with meal / nap-times. Parents are allowed to come in at anytime once their kids are attending, so I know they weren't doing it to cover up anything bad.

Low staff turnover is generally a good sign. We're 3 years in now and only 3 members of staff have changed.

Happy noise and busy-ness are a good sign. Anywhere that is dull and quiet or full of shouting / chaos might not be great.

The basics you might want to check are what they do with naps and what times the children nap, what they have at mealtimes, are the children allowed to choose what they want to play with and go outside whenever they like, do they go on outings to the shops, park, library, sickness policy (they can get lots of bugs when they start), how they help them settle in are they affectionate with children (my dc's nursery staff cuddle the kids and kiss them on the cheeks).

Gut instinct and common sense is all you need really. Ask around and see if anyone you know has sent a dc to each nursery (facebook status are good for this ).

Check ofsted reports. That's what they're there for. Rule out any who have had unsatisfactory or just satisfactory under that management.

Hi, Dont just check ofsted reports, also visit as many nursreys as you can in the area in whcih you are looking for and compare.

What area are you looking for a nursrey?

How early you have to put a name down for a nursery really depends on what area you are living in.

The best way to find a nursery in my opinion is to visit a few and get a feeling for what you want. I would suggest setting up an appointment to be shown round, but why not pop in to arrange it face to face? I agree with Meglet that it's often more them explaining than you asking questions. My local ones gave me a booklet with more details in and you can always phone back to ask questions.

Things I would want to know are - can you cope with real nappies? how do you cope with different weaning methods (really tells you how flexible they will be)? what happens about bottles/formula /expressed milk? what sort of routine do you have? where do babies sleep? is there any outside space for the youngest? how many different staff work there (ideally you don't want different staff every day)? do they make much use of supply staff (not a great sign if they do)? how long have they worked there? how do they communicate with parents?

Hope that helps!

Oh - and I never bothered looking at OfStEd. Probably because I walked into the second nursery and got such a great feeling, I didn't feel the need.