New to nursery questions

[ALiceM20]

Hi so my toddler recently started attending nursery 2 mornings a week
I'm just wondering how long it usually takes for them to settle in? As soon as I turn to leave in the mornings he screams the place down, nursery says he calms down about 10-20mins after being dropped off and when I go to pick him up I can see him happily playing with a smile so it's not like he doesn't enjoy it but it's hard to leave him when he screams. How long did it take for your toddlers to get used to it if you experienced the same?

Also does your nursery do daily reports of what the child been up to, what and how much they ate etc? There is an app for our nursery where they're meant to update this stuff plus any photos but so far nothing so wondering if they usually do daily reports usually or weekly etc?

Most nurseries I've used have had a verbal handover. If they don't do this you can still ask your questions. "What did he have for lunch? Did he eat it? What did he do today? Did he have a sleep?" They will soon get used to the idea that you want to know. (Some parents don't as they are in a rush) Apps often don't get used properly but if you talk to the manager about it they may start updating it more often.
2 mornings a week is very infrequent at that age so he may take a while to get used to you dropping him off...at least he has fun once you've gone though.

I work in a nursery and yes children can become upset when parents leave in my experience they don't cry for very long and usually settle quickly, learning to distract themselves when upset is a really important miles stone. It is a skill that comes with age and practice. We have a good distraction technique which seems to help, it is always best to do a quick good bye, a kiss and a hug "mummy loves you and I will be back later to get you" hand him over then walk away. If this doesn't work then I found asking staff if he can go to his favourite activity and play there, or a special job to do.
We have an online system where we put our observations, we write them then they go into pending if they are finished or drafts if we need to do more to them. Then it depends on how much paperwork time we get finish them and get them published. There are not many nurseries who give their staff 'non' contact time. I do lots of my stuff unpaid and in my own time. This is common practice. We are not like schools where planning and paperwork time at work is mandatory.
We have paper feedback forms which are a nightmare and we give verbal feedback, we have a broad where all of the daily information is shared. I personally hate the paper forms because it discourages verbal interaction between parents and staff, it's impersonal and also its nice that parents show their child they are interested about their day. That interaction is really important between parents and children.

Without wishing to be obtuse, the matter of settling in is one of those "how long is a piece of string " questions. Children can settle instantly, never, or anything in between: days, weeks, months. You also get children who settle then go through next unsettled period later. There isn’t always an obvious reason why or process by why to address it. In fact, beware of childcare providers who profess to have all the answers/solutions on settling.

Your expectations of daily reports should be precisely what you agreed with the nursery when you discussed the childcare arrangements prior to starting.

I’m guessing the app is Babysdays or something similar. This is often misunderstood as being wholly a parents' Information tool or observations tool. In reality it is an entire suite of over a hundred functions, and it’s up to the nursery exactly how much or Ho was little it uses of those various functions.

Good communication is vital to a good childcare arrangement. If you’re not happy with the communication then you absolutely have the right to address it with the nursery manager. But by the same token, the nursery manager would have every right to be disappointed that a parent had brought the problem to a public discussion board instead of talking it on vet with with them face to face.

Thank you ladies
Id love verbal handover but honestly it's chaos when I pick him up lots of parents picking up their children and lots of others dropping off others so it's hard to get a chance
So I was hoping they would use the app to update parents more often
They post lots of pictures daily on their Facebook group for parents about what activities they did but it's always from babies sections and the bit older children section close to never from the section my toddler is in and if they do it's usually from the afternoon sessions rather than morning ones my one is in

I will try doing quick goodbye from next time he's in
I usually send him to nursery with his favourite plushie but just realised we forgot to take it home so it's still at nursery
Not sure if they will let us pick it up tomorrow or if we have to wait till his next session

Of course they will let you pick up his comforter!
Can I suggest that you arrive to collect about ten minutes early, it will be less busy and you can get a more detailed handover

You’d most likely find they’ll be happy to spend a couple of minutes sharing verbal information at handover if you ask. They may just think every parent just wants to 'grab and dash' after a long day at work, and feel under pressure to get the children out quickly if there’s a lot of parents collecting at the same time. It’s simply a matter of not giving in to that pressure, dealing with each parent in turn, and giving each the time they need. It only takes a minute or two. There’s no reason why you should miss out just because other mums are in a hurry.