Key worker never in room problem

[pinkbumble]

Hi everyone,

Just looking for a bit of advice. My little boy is 21 months and has been at his nursery since 8.5 months. We moved him to this nursery after we were unhappy with his old nursery. Because of the central location, it is more expensive than other nurseries, but we were so happy with the nursey we decided it was worth it. His first two rooms were fantastic and he had a wonderful bond with his key worker in both rooms.

He has been in a new room for a couple of months and he doesn’t seem as settled. When I pick him up he seems happy enough, but they sometimes mention that he has been unsettled and recently said that he has been rejecting hugs and cuddles, which isn’t like him because he’s such a cuddly and loving little boy.

My problem is, I never see his key worker in the room. We bump into her in the corridor and every now and then she will be there, but I’ve got a feeling she might be splitting her time between two rooms. I don’t know if I’m expecting too much but I would expect his key worker to be there pretty much all of the time, like in his old rooms. I feel like the reason he isn’t settling is because he doesn’t have a consistent adult comforting him and playing with him and building a bond.

They chose this key worker for him because he knew her from his old room so they had a bond already. He doesn’t really have a bond with anyone else in the room.

So I want to raise this but don’t really know how. Usually I’d think to raise any concerns with his key worker but I can’t because I don’t see her. Do I just raise it with whoever is in his room in the morning when we go in? I don’t want to make a big deal about it, I just want to discuss a way of making it a bit more consistent for him. I’m not great at these things and I don’t want to make anyone feel bad, but I want to make sure I’m getting the best for my son whilst I’m in work.

Any advice on how to approach this would be great, thanks!!

You should speak to the key worker or manager and arrange an appointment to discuss your concerns.

Be aware, there is no requirement for a key worker to be with the child for any particular length of time. There are good, practical reasons why they might not be. But one of the key person's main roles is to communicate with parents, so she should certainly be doing more than just bumping into you in corridors.

You do only see a tiny snapshot of a whole day, so she may possibly be with him more than you think.

My main concern here is that the manager should, from the start, have given you clear information about staffing arrangements and key-worker duties. By not doing so, they may have left you with false expectations. Judging by other threads and conversations with mums, it’s quite a common for parents not to fully understand the key worker role, and group childcare providers ought to being more to put this right.