What is the collection and drop off policy at your child's nursery?

[uberconscious]

Hello,

I started a thread about nursery selection but I wanted to know specifically about dropping off and collecting your child.

So some nurseries I visited required passport or photo ID at signing in and then strict policy of not having direct access to the children (great!/safe!) For collecting children the key worker would hand over the child at the front gate after you arrive and notify reception. The key worker would ID you as the parent and allow your child to leave with you. (Like!)

On the other end of the spectrum I've seen parents walk in and collect their child and leave. I felt it was unsafe and not a suitable way to ensure child safety in ensuring they did indeed leave with their parent / guardian.

There are some nurseries I've visited which are a middle ground of providing a key card system.

Would anyone be happy to share your child's / children's nursery arrival and collection process and your view?

Hi,

My nursery expects you to go into the room and collect your child personally but you are escorted in and out into the building by a member of staff.

All staff meet you at point of registration and soon get to recognise you as you're coming and going regularly. Interacting with other children is frowned upon. If any other family member picks up for you occasionally they keep a photo so they can verify who they are - understandable as they can't be expected to remember all the grandparents etc. If there is an emergency and someone else collects your child you have to provide them with a one off password in advance.

Problem I have seen with key card/finger print entry is that one parent will let anyone in who is also waiting at the door so staff are unaware of who is in the building. This was one reason for us not selecting a nursery that has finger print entry as it actually decreased their security.

I feel more comfortable with collecting from the room because I can also see my child's surroundings first hand and see how the staff interact etc.

Hope that helps

Preschool, not full day nursery -

Drop off: nursery worker stands at the door and parents and children come in. Parent leaves without child, nursery worker ensures children don't leave after they come in.

Pick-up: parents form an orderly queue and are allowed in one at a time while nursery worker calls children forward individually. Workers know the regular adults so no ID needed. If it's not the regular adult, the parents need to tell nursery in advance and adult is given a password which they need to have the child released.

You can't get in without an adult opening the door and staff are vigilant about being at the door whenever people are coming or going.

DS1 was at a full day nursery for a bit when he was a baby. It was pretty similar, iirc. Definitely no ID, and a gate you had to be buzzed through.

At a nursery I worked at we had a video monitor at the front door. The parent would buzz it and anyone in the nursery could pick up and say hello. If they recognised the parent they would buzz them in and they would make their way to the child's room , if the staff member didn't recognise them as they didn't know the child they called the childs room and the room leader would check the intercom and let them in or if it was a grandparent go down to the front desk and greet them. When starting you wrote down people that were allowed to pick up ie mum dad and granny along with their pictures and signatures. If so e one else was picking up we asked for a photo if poss but otherwise happy to just use a password.

Our nursery has a combination lock on the front door which they change fairly regularly.

You go into the room for both drop off and pick up. For pick up your child generally recognises you. If the staff don't know you they will ask you to wait until they can find a member of staff who does.

People who might pick up dc but not regularly such as grandparents have a password, nursery also have photos of everyone they might encounter.

Same as whatsagood (tiny village nursery where everyone knows everyone)

How interesting the differences are.

Our nursery is smaller than some of these by the sounds of it. You ring a doorbell and a member of staff answers the door- they then recognise you (no ID). Child is then called to hallway to put coat on. There is a password system for pick ups by another adult say on off by a grandparent.

If you need to speak to keyworker they might come out of the room or you might go in. You are allowed in rooms or garden but this is discouraged at busy pick up times as there is often a queue at the door and policy is one child collected at a time. In reality staff might pass the message to get children ready if they see people waiting in a queue to make the process a bit faster.

I always say hi to other children and love out when other mums say hi and bye to my child. Often children will say hi X mummy or call X is your mummy here. I would hate it if interacting with other children was not encouraged.

Our nursery is in a big old house in the countryside. The only reason you would be in the car park is to pick up or drop off DCs.

Drop off:
Parent mocks on the door. A member of staff opens it and says hello. 2+ hang their bags up on pegs and go into the main room. If child is unsettled then parents go with them. Under 2, parent takes child to the baby room upstairs. If child is asleep then a member of staff will escort parent to the cot room. The. Parent lets themselves out.

Pick up:
Parent knocks on door. Member of staff opens it (or sometimes another parent as the hall can get crowded when there are lots going in and out in the middle of the day. There's always a member of staff standing in the hall of its busy. I usually then go into the main nursery room where the kids play and stand and see how long it takes them to notice that I'm there! Chat to staff about how they've been all day and then collect bags etc and we let ourselves out. Quite often I go upstairs by myself to collect DDs bag from by the baby room in the evenings, but by that time all DCs are in the main room downstairs. Then we say bye and let ourselves out.

In the summer sometimes they are out in the garden, so parents let themselves in through the gate into the garden. Often there will be a member of staff cleaning the front room who will point parents in the direction of the garden.

We have a list of people who could collect the DCs when we first registered. Think everyone has done at least one drop off before they did a pick up anyway.

Compared to some, it doesn't have such strict procedures. But I don't think there are ever more than 25 children in the building and all the staff know all of the children. The main room and baby room look out onto the car park, so it would be easy to spot if there was someone hanging around. It is literally in the middle of nowhere and the staff ratios are always really good. I have no issues, it's one of the best nurseries around, the staff are lovely and my DCs love it there

Okay, that post was far longer than I expected it to be

Our nursery has a key pad at the front door. Go to room, chat to staff, drop off/pick up child, leave. It doesn't feel unsafe to me at all. The staff know who the parents are, and they greet you at the room door and chat to you before you pick up.

I wouldn't have been happy with a nursery where they didn't give parents access to the room. I like being able to see how my child is spending her day, and how the staff interact with the children.

Littleducks I realise that I made my nursery sound really mean! Ha, no perhaps not discouraged but my nursery take children from tiny babies and yes is quite big- 4 main rooms separated by age groups, another separate area for the very young babies and is split over 2 floors. So "interacting with others" would be hanging round the baby area when your child in in the adjacent room for 1 year olds. Of course it's very different as they get older and naturally recognise X's mommy and say hi, and I often get a 2 year old swinging off my pony tail as I'm trying to wrestle mine into coat and shoes

I wouldn't be happy with a nursery that doesn't let parents into the room where they get looked after. You'll never get to see how the staff interact with children, or cleanliness, or the quality of toys etc. Terrible idea.

Drop off - ring bell. Nursery worker opens door, lets us into DS2's room. Hang up DS2's bag and coat on his peg and hand him over to nursery worker.

Pick up - ring bell. Nursery worker opens door, lets me into DS2's room. All the regular nursery workers in the nursery know me and know that I'm DS2's mum, so no ID requested. Sign DS2 out, get coat / bag, and leave. If someone else is doing pick up, then we have to tell nursery in advance of pick up. If the nursery workers do not recognise them (e.g. first time Granny is picking up DC), then the adult picking up needs to produce a password.

I'd have reservations about parents being able to access the nursery using key cards because, as pp say, people do tend to hold doors open for other people heading towards the door, so that could make it easier for adults to get in without the nursery's knowledge.

Your first description sounds OTT and unwelcoming.
It's good to be able to go into the room to settle your child (if needed), to see the room, so they can show you something, so you can speak personally to the person who is looking after them.
Staff will know the usual carer who delivers / collects the child, and will have systems in place where there is a change to that routine. The first system isn't one I'd want at my child's Nursery.
As a point of interest, if the Key person is bringing the child to the front gate, then doesn't that leave the room out of ratio ?

Ring bell, staff see you on monitor and/or recognise the voice (ds can reach the bell but not be seen), you get buzzed in. If they don't recognise you, someone comes to the door and asks who you are.

You go into the room to get your child, get quick update on their day, help get shoes on, and then take them. If they don't know you they will check for a note that parent is expecting you to collect, and ask for the password. Once I had an emergency and asked uncle to pick up, and texted the password rather than tell the whole train. Got a phone call half an hour later saying that he and ds were playing happily at nursery, he'd been given a cup of tea, but they weren't letting ds out without the password. Then the text turned up!

Only 30 kids in 3 rooms, so easier to keep track and let a parent grab child and go, whereas dn's nursery had 250 kids, 32 in his room, so main barrier was to the room and you were practically frisked before being allowed near any child.

At DD's nursery, you have to buzz for entry and there is fingerprint access for certain staff to open the door to let people in and out. You go to your child's room to collect them, where a member of staff hands them over to you (they know those who collect each child regularly). On enrolling, you have to provide names and passport photos of people who have your permission to collect your child on your behalf.

I love our nursery. It's in a tiny village, it's got to be the biggest business there.

Ring a bell for building entry, door is released by whoever is in the office beside it. A nice warm Hello! usually every day.

I bring my dd into the nursery room and our key worker comes over and chats to us while I get her coat off and bag hung up. She then either jumps up into their arms for a cuddle or runs off to get playing.

Leaving is similar, and key worker gives a daily update on eating, nap length, if she's been happy generally, and if there are any of the dreaded incidence slips to sign.

I always say hi to the other kids that Coke over ... If hate my daughter to pick up a cue from me to not be friendly to people. I also say hi to the other parents - no big chats just a hello.

We get buzzed in, and go and collect. Feel like testing their system tbh.. They let DP pick up the other day despite him never going there before. DS clearly recognised him, but it's not good enough really.

We had to give a list of people who could collect DS and photocopies of their IDs. We have a card for entry into the building and then you have to go to your child's room where a member of staff hands him over. They do check IDs of people who collect less frequently and are not recognised immediately.

We buzz and and let in by reception- who recognise my husband and I and go into room to collect DD, chat to key worker about her day. Friendly hello to other children/parents. Same with drop off. List of others allowed to collect with reception. They all have a password, and we let staff know in the morning if someone other than parents will be collecting.
I wouldn't be happy to leave my DD in a place that didn't allow me collect from her room.

We ring the bell, whichever member of staff is nearest the door lets us in. They ask if they don't recognise someone and get another member of staff to confirm. We go down the corridor, shoes and coat off and into the room. I tend to drop and run in the morning. At pick up I have a chat with staff and the other children before getting stuff ready to leave.
If someone new is picking up the staff ask for a description and a password. There's a sign on the door asking us not to let other parents in as we leave.
DS has been to three nurseries and they've all been the same.

I wouldn't like a nursery I wasn't allowed into. And I'm not keen on the idea of parents being able to let themselves in

At our nursery you are let into the front door by one of the staff who is looking after reception, and the inner door is protected by a key code. When you are through that door you can go straight into the room your child is in, to drop off or collect. The staff in his room all know the parents. I've had to supply a list of other people who might potentially be required to pick him up in case of emergency with a password, and they also request photos or a description. It works really well and feels safe to me.

In the morning we buzz in and handover child to keyworker at the entrance to the room.

At night we buzz in and handover from keyworker in the room.

Neither Ds1 or 2 have ever had to be picked up by anyone except us, but if someone else needed to in an emergency the nursery have a list of emergency contacts and there's a password.

It's a small nursery - no reception area or anything - so I think this is enough.

Thanks everyone! Although there are so many variations, it's nice to read that on the whole parents are happy with the system they have. It made me realise the importance of going with instinct / heart when choosing the nursery. I really appreciate your comments and I'm feeling much more informed when doing the show around visits.

Our nursery has a keypad and parents can then go into the rooms to get their children. We are asked never to hold the door open for someone else. The rooms are not huge and staff know the parents. I would be very uncomfortable not being allowed to see my child in the room and see what the environment is like and that she is settled and happy. Also lovely to see her interacting with staff and other children, have a relaxed handover, and see what toys etc she's been into that day. Not being allowed in and having a staff member bring her out would be a deal-breaker for me - it would make me feel like they had something to hide, or that they basically distrusted parents!

Exactly the same as whatsagoodusername!