Is this standard for a School Nursery?

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Do the Nursery Nurses engage much with the kids?

The local school nursery has offered DD a place this coming year. It has great facilities, has a wonderful outdoor space (covered) and the kids are free to play indoor and out as much as they want (both areas permanently supervised).

They are encouraged to manage their play with the use of little photos - each play area has enough spots for photos as are allowed to be on there so they can play there is theres a slot (and put their photo up) or play elsewhere u til a slot comes up.

They have milk and a story halfway through the three hourly sessions.

Im happy with all of the above. However, the staff are more observant than interactive. I wonder if its the new style - so so much emphasis is placed on meeting objectives and targets etc that I wonder if thats what has made them step back rather than diving in.

Its making me doubt the Nursery but the other half of me thinks - maybe this is how school nurseries are these days?

What is your experience?

No they don't really interact with the kids either here. I don't mind that -the kids get to spend time with their friends and lean how to socialise. The adults step in if things get out of hand or if someones left out and sometimes will start off a mass game of something in the playground but mostly just watch over them.

Glad its not just mine!

Its a bit if a change from her being at the CMs who is constantly on the floor playing games with the kids.

When there are 40 or so children in the group - they do need to be able to play without adult involvement. That said, the teacher or TAs do often have a 'station' they stay at and interact with the children there.

With experience of both school and private nurseries - I would definitely advocate school nurseries. Much more educational and focused on learning through play (rather than just childminding and keeping children occupied).

I am very happy for her to move into a Nursery (she will keep the CM place for wrap around care anyways) as I do think it will be good for her to learn to handle a larger group of kids as well as being used to going to the school every day.

When dd was in school nursery the staff certainly talked an interacted with the children. My daughter's nursery did have some adult led learning, for example a story or an autumn walk in the school grounds or a walk looking for different shapes and colours.

However everything is very child led. The adults certainly do plan and record developmental milestones. Nursery is more about providing the next steps than formal teaching.

Children do learn through play and what looks like chaos is often an excellent learning experience.

I'm a nursery teacher and all the adults in my nursery interact with the children all the time!

If there are 3 adults present, 2 will be working with a small group on specific skills or projects, and the 3rd adult will be "floating" either inside or outside to ensure that all the children are engaged in an activity of their own choosing.

We all carry cameras and notebooks and make observations of any important learning that we see.

Making effective observations isn't just about sitting back and watching - we ask questions, show the children how we would do something, give help if asked, encourage children to try different ways of doing things etc.

My son's nursery class has a teacher and 2 TAs, and although they have free play sessions there is also a lot of structure and interaction - they have several whole group and small group times during the day and when the children are choosing their own activities there are adults around talking to them.

Obviously at a 1:10 ratio all the children aren't being interacted with all the time, but I have never got the impression the adults just stand back and observe.

There is great benefit in having a balance of free, social play and adult supported focused activity.
A child learns through open ended play and exploration either by themselves or with a friend/adult alongside them.
The adults role is to learn about the child as they are learning. When appropriate enhancing the child's thinking and develop the learning further through conversation/open ended questions or providing new vocabulary.
At Banana Moon Nursery we intend to provide open ended play opportunities alongside more focused learning with an adult to build on the child's interests and thinking.