Door policy and safety

[Wispygypsy]

Just wondered what the door policy is at other nurseries?
We have to ring a bell to be let in, in theory by a staff member, but can let ourselves out.
The trouble is, that when you go out, often other parents are waiting to get in and will walk into the nursery while the door is open. There's a sign up asking parents not to let other parents in, but if you need to go to work and there are parents and babies standing out in the rain, it's really awkward to wait in the foyer and pretend not to see them. There don't seem to be enough staff around. I feel that at pick and drop off times, there should be a dedicated member of staff for opening the door to parents.
The nursery has just had a good Ofsted report and I dont want to make a fuss, but at the same time, I worry about security a bit.
What are the door policies at other nurseries?

*there doesn't

*there aren't
Oh my life!

We are generally seen out and if we do let ourselves out the other parents know to wait and not walk in past you. But our nursery tries to have set times for comings and goings to reduce the time that a member of staff has to be on the door.

If another parent lets me in and I don’t recognise them (so they don’t recognise me) then I tend to report it to a member of staff, though it hasn’t happened for quite a while.

Are you willing to pay extra fees to have another member of staff just to open the door.
If you use the nursery regularly then surely the parents must recognise each other?
In my nursery the parents have to ring a bell and are let in by the manager
They are normally let out by a member of staff
If you are worried about security then you should talk to the nursery

We buzz to be let in. On one room there’s no glass in the outside door so they check over the video camera. If they know you, they let you in, if not they ask you for letters from your password. Similar for the other room, but it has a glass window so we they check that way. Always shown out personally as well, and they check no one is waiting in the outside that they don’t know before opening the door. Very secure, even though this is a smallish “sleepy village” nursery.

At my daughters Nursery you ring a bell to be let in and are generally shown out by a member of staff but there is only a small area between the door and the room and each age group has their own entrance so the member of staff is hopefully only away from the children for a short amount of time.

Ours has a double fingerprint system - so one to get into the yard where the buggys live and another to get into the building. You wouldn’t have time to get in the second door unless someone was holding it open for ages

At ours, you knocked or rang the bell and were let in if the door was shut and locked (if shut, it was always locked). But in the warmer months, the front door is often left open (with a stair gate inside past the shoe area), but it's a small nursery. Even if the door was locked and I was leaving, someone could go in as I was coming out. We had no strict door policy. But the difference is that it was a small nursery (one main room, just inside door, and two smaller rooms down the hall, plus bathroom/kitchen off the hall). The children and staff were often in that first room just inside the door. Children were never in there unattended without staff and it's like one room. You couldn't just walk in and have no one notice you. Staff were standing right at the door usually at pick up or drop off times. Even if the door was open (with stair gate shut) and you walked in, you couldn't get down the hall to another room without them seeing you. It would be like a random person entering and walking around your house while you were standing right there. But unless it's hot and they have the door open, it's always locked and shit. Someone locks it behind you as you exit, so they would see someone coming in at the same time. So no door policy, strictly speaking, from a parent's perspective but it's a small private nursery (probably about 14 kids max on any given day) and we didn't need one. We all knew each other and policed ourselves. In a bigger commercial establishment though, yes, I would expect something more strict and I wouldn't feel bad about not letting someone in if that's the policy you're told to follow.

lol *shut

We've got a double door set up so you can get into the reception area by tailgating, otherwise you ring the buzzer then a staff member let's you into the actual nursery rooms.

We don't let other parents in even if we know them. Everyone understands.

Parents ring a door bell and a member of staff comes to let them in. There is then 2 doors, one to the baby room and one to the toddler and pre school room which need a number code to be entered to get in. Staff and parents know the code to get into whichever room their child is in. All parents know that both doors have got to be shut behind them when they leave and they know not to let other parents in who are waiting at the door, even if they recognise them. There are occasions where parents forget to shut the main front door behind them which infuriates me. I don’t understand how you could leave the door to a nursery open!!!
We have repeatedly asked parents that they ensure the door is closed when they exit the building. I see other nurseries have staff follow parents out and this seems to be the only solution to the problem.

Thank you for all your replies. Love the idea of fingerprint or door codes! By the sounds of it, our nursery's door security could be improved on compared to others

Ours is buzz to be let into reception then have to wait to be let in to where the rooms are. I have felt really awkward before coming out of there and shutting the door behind me in front of people holding car seats with babies in etc waiting to be let in as I feel quite rude but safety first!
Someone was being let in the other day and my DS ran past them, she still stood in the way and asked a member of staff if it was okay to let me through, I was fine with this! I think when the safety of children is concerned it comes before politeness etc. Of course not everyone does this and someone will smile and hold the door open for you, mostly I find the males (dad's) do this. So it is something that needs to be reminded often with big signs etc imo