"What sort of things matter to you?"
I completely see what Georgie is getting at. If it matters to you, then ask it. Too many people don’t ask what they mistakenly think they’re asking 'a silly question ' and the result is they get anxious or in a pickle.
A lot of the questions parents ask (or are told to ask on threads like this) are not necessary. If they weren’t doing the right thing over numbers, safeguarding, first aid, and so on then they simply wouldn’t be allowed to operate as registered childcare providers.
Take Ofsted grades with a pinch of salt. Their inspection regime I shall widely considered to be methodology flawed, producing very inconsistent and inaccurate results. Much of what they look for is a million miles from what parents want from childcare.
Don’t be too worried about staff qualifications either. . It’s likely to make very little difference, no matter how much people within the childcare industry love to obsess about it. The evidence is that qualifications and Ofsted grades make no significant difference in terms of outcomes for children.
The key is to make sure that your expectations are in line with those of the nursery. Most of the disagreements we see on these boards come about when something has happened and parents have just assumed things were going to be handled their way.
Don’t overlook the business side of things, even if contracts, policies, etc seem dull. Disagreements tend to arise mainly over payments, sickness, absence, etc. Often it’s a parent disputing something they actually agreed to in the contract.