Nursery age ranges in rooms

[MonsterCookie]

What’s the best age ranges for the separate rooms in nurseries?

Most try to stick to the ages for the different ratios: Birth to 2, 2-3, 3 to school. The more rooms, the more they have to change rooms and be unsettled.

Personally I would say:
9 months until 18 months.
18 months to 2 1/2 years.
2 1/2 until 3 1/2.
3 1/ to school.

I really liked the nurseries that had a baby room 0-18mths, wobbler room 18mths-2, toddler 2-3 etc.
Sadly the one we decided on doesn't have the split for the 0-2

We do 0-2, 2-3 and 3+.

In an ideal world with the space and staff we would do 0-18mth, 18th - 2.5, 2.5 to 3.5 and then preschoolers going to school that September. The tricky bit would be the ratio crossovers.

When my two went the baby room wasn't really done on age it was 0 to walking, then walking to about 2 then 2 to 3 and 3 to leaving. My oldest son was huge for his age and had a best friend a little older so normally moved up a bit earlier so it was mostly down to the individual child rather than their age.

Ideally I’d say:

-0-1
-Walking and at least a year old - 2 years
(I wouldn’t have wanted my 9MO in with 2YOs because she was an early walker, nor would I wanted my running, climbing 15MO in with non mobile infants)
-2-3 years
-Preschoolers going to school next year

Ours has 5 rooms with some adjoining but they aren’t strictly age divided-they go more on development. But roughly speaking it’s:

6 weeks -walking which adjoins to a room for wobblers up to about 20 months.

20ish months - 28 months adjoined to a room for up to about 3.5 years depending on when they are due to start school

Preschool room for the year or 18 months before they start school. Roughly 3.5+ but might be earlier for a summer born.

My DD is a Sept birthday and will probably join the preschool room in April when she’s just over 3.5. She’ll be there until she is a few weeks off 5. The preschool room has 2 parts, the first bit is for the younger ones to transition them and then the older ones have an Early Years teacher and it’s more structured.

I like the fact ours goes more on what they are ready for, not age. We have some teeny twins (were very prem) in DD’s room that haven’t been moved up as quickly as they are giving them more time.

Ours have 0-2, 2-3, 3-5, although precise moving times depend on the individual child (as long as they are old enough for the ratio in that room), and the nursery has the ability to physically divide the 0-2 space a bit if they've got a lot of non-walkers. I'm not keen on too many rooms because it mean more changes of staff for the children, which I don't think is great for building strong relationships, and I'm particularly not keen on a change at 12-15 months/when walking well because for a lot of children that would mean they arrive at nursery, get settled, and then a couple of months later change room/staff.

I think 4 rooms is ideal.

Babies to walkers (approx newborn to 1)

Toddlers (approx 1-2)

Pre-school (approx 2-3) I'd expect potty training to place in this room, only moving to nursery once they can use the toilet fairly independently.

Nursery school (approx 3+)

Ideally you'd want rooms adjoining or some mixing so it's not a massive upheaval when they move from room to room.

Ours has 0-2, 2-3 and 3+. It might be nice to have 18-2.5 room but honestly it's absolutely fine as is. DS just started toddler room at 2 and is loving phonics!

2 to preschool and I can't say it's really working out.

Ours is 0-2, 2-3, 3-5. But they aren't really rooms as such as it's one open nursery (it's quite small). The babies are behind a stairgate but very much still 'in' the room. And there's flexibility about when moving between. It's a lovely wee place