Nursery handovers

[BlackholesAndRevelations]

hi all,

I have my two children in nursery two days a week (they're 3.5 and 21 months old).

The younger one's carers give me a half decent handover but I get little to none for the older one. I have to ask "so how was she today? How did she get on?"

Also, yesterday the younger one had a large bite mark on his forearm. No signing an accident book or even mentioning it, which made me think they aren't keeping close enough eye on him because if they had been, they'd have noticed. He woukd have cried when it happened (there's still a slight mark this morning!)

Am I being precious or is there something lacking in the level of care here?

Thanks!

DS was about that ave when he started nursery and out staff always (unless I'm in a tearing rush!) give a detailed handover. Activities done, nappies filled , food eaten, sleep had etc.

Any incident is written up into an accident book - for example my DS fell and got a minor carpet burn which had vanished when I collected him; but it was all written up (including the treatment of cuddles! ).

I'd be speaking to management maybe?

Ave? Age!!!

When are you collecting?
is it bang on closing time?
Have you spent ages speaking to the staff in the younger's one room that it is now clocking off time and the staff are rushed speaking to you (they might have their own children to collect or a bus to catch or a million and one reasons why they need to leave work promptly)
The ratios for the younger one is 1 adult to every 4 children but for the older one it is one member of staff for every 8 children, so it means that the staff of the younger children can spend more time speaking to you, as they have less children.

Thanks for the replies. I'm collecting an hour before closing time most days. Fair enough if the ratio is higher with the older child but I still feel like I have no idea how she's getting on there. Had one parents eve way back in the autumn and didn't really learn much then.

I have emailed the manager re: the bite though, don't really think that should be allowed. Also, when I picked him up I noticed he pushed a little girl. I told him off but then suddenly thought I have no idea what he's really like there either!

They're just too young to be completely in the care of someone else without my being aware of how they're getting on/ behaving/ what they're doing.

Is this typical of all nurseries?

Sorry, not that it shouldn't be allowed as I kow it's unavoidable. Just that they should have known about it and informed me.

No, it's not typical of all nurseries.
Some nurseries take great care in the recruitment of good, quality staff who have the skills needed to communicate with parents and understand that parents are customers who need to be treated with respect
Sadly, some don't
Where I work, buliding up relationships with parents is given priority- it helps so much when working with children if we know as much as we can about their families and their home life. This means that we have enough staff on duty to spend time chatting to parents and have enough staff to also look after the children at the same time.
This is not always the case in nurseries where they operate to the bare minimum, to keep costs down.
As for the bite mark- yes they should have noticed and told you. Sometimes, these things go unnoticed, even in the best settings.

Another point, sometimes the person you talk to at the end of the day might not have actually spent all day looking after your child. Staff get moved around, to cover shifts and to maintain ratios.