Viewing a nursery - what should I look out for?

[BJ22]

I'm going viewing a nursery today for my DC to attend when I go back to work in a few months time. He'll be 8 months old, attending full time.

Obviously, I'd much prefer to stay at home with him or him go just a couple of days a week but circumstance dictates that I need to return to work.

I spoke to the owner for a good 10 minutes on the phone earlier and she seems lovely. It's a family run business, small sized and been operating for 8 years. Ofsted is good. Food hygiene rating is 5 and they have various other awards and all of their staff are trained in pediatric first aid. Its really wonderful to have such a good (on the face of it) nursery just a couple of minutes walk from our house.

I did wonder though, are there any other questions I should be asking or is thetr anything that should I be on the lookout for?

Any advice would be welcomed. Tia x

*there

Look for how happy the children are, and if any are a bit sad how the staff respond. Look at the environment - is it tired and in need of TLC? Do they have outside space? Do they take outings?

And general vibe.

How free-flowing and child-led the activities are. Outside space and how often they can be outside. Any trips into the local community or parks. Contact home and pictures - eg daily online logbook. How keyworkers are decided.

I can't think of anything else right now but these are some of the questions we asked 🙂 Don't forget that nursery comes with lots of positives - conversations with other adults and learning from the other children are just a few. I'm sure he will really enjoy it too!

Three things from me: 1) obviously they are required to commit to a staff/child ratio but at least 2 of the nurseries we went to view had not adhered to these - so check to see how many staff are about and actively engaging with the children. One friend told me a story of how a young woman was left in charge of 10 two year olds, she noticed when she went to pick up her DS. On complaining she was told that there were other staff in the building so they had met the requirements! 2) what are the security arrangements at the nursery? 3) how happy and confident are the children there?

for you. It's hard for many women when they go back to work. I was dreading putting my little one in nursery and going back to work but he loves it.

See what their arrangements for naps are. One we viewed had a separate room upstairs where the babies napped alone in either a pushchair or a cot and staff would apparently watch on a video camera with checks every 10 minutes.
Another nursery the babies napped on a crash mat in an open annexe off the main room with a staff member present at all times and checks every 5 minutes.

-Cleanliness, eating area, loos etc
-Outside play area
-Split of age groups
-Staff:child ratio
-Are the children happy?
-Are the staff happy?
-Logistics - parking, security, plenty of space for coats and wellies etc
-cost of extras - snacks etc

Are the children happy
Do the staff seem happy
How do the staff respond/treat the children

Cleanliness
Outdoor area
Food menus
Nap area
Quiet room/sensory needs

General gut feeling.

We viewed 3, could of walked out half way through 2 of them.

I went with gut feeling. The nursery we ended up choosing wasn't the most modern, didn't have the most facilities but I felt comfortable leaving DD there.

To me the main things is how happy the children seem and whether they get enough attention.

When my daughter did her settling in the other day all the other children were waving at me, coming to say hello and offering me their toys. I figure sad, lonely, neglected feeling children wouldn’t do that. One went and sat on one of the nursery workers lap because she wanted a bit of a cuddle. One brought a book over to another worker so she read him
a story.

I’d also want to know how responsive they are to an individual kids needs. So if they are doing a noisy activity but one kid wasn’t enjoying that what would they do? In our nursery for example they have a separate sensory room where they’d go for quiet time and or maybe they take some kids out for a walk while the others stay and play.

If a child doesn’t eat at mealtime what would happen - offered something else? Offered something separately if they were hungry later?

I’d also ask about staff turnover.

Staff turn over is very telling. When you say family run, are there staff other than family working there? I'd ask about staff turnover, how long staff have worked there. It's usually a good indication of how it is run, if staff are hapoy there, not over stretched or uncomfortable with how things are done etc

visit during nap too if possible. see how there REALLY getting those kids to sleep. Ask about what happens if they wont eat? wont play? what happens when the whole group is doing X but little johney wants to do y?

Definitely this…staff turnover tells you everything you need to know…happy staff = happy nursery.

Yes!! Ex Nursery Manager here. High staff turnover can be a huge red flag.

Staff turnover is very important, and I'd ideally be looking for an experienced older nursery worker looking after the babies.

Can you go into this a bit more?
There is been huge staff turnover at our nursery.

Echoing this again. It’s one of the key things.

Also how old are the staff? Are they all very young or do that have some older, experienced staff (who are less likely to take crap from management).

Have a look at the ratios as you are wandering. Also do the children and adults in each room seem familiar to each other?

Thank you every one so much for your suggestions! There are some really good points here that i hadnt even considered.

We went last night and the nursery was lovely. The owner was keen to introduce us to staff members who seemed happy. Not rushing out the door etc and happy to stay for a chat. The staff are a good mix of older, more experienced and younger members and the baby room team leader has been there since opening (8 years ago) AND worked with the owner previously. I had seen on another potential nursery that pretty much all of the staff had been there less than 2 years so that was a definite no go. The children were all really happy and smiley, the kids go outside pretty much every day weather permitting.

Gut instinct was good. I'm going seeing a few more just for comparison but this place just ticked for me!

Thankyou all again 💓

I'm sorry to say but it can indicate a poor quality setting. Being overstretched, ratios not taken seriously, not enough resources etc. Staff won't stay where they aren't comfortable with the quality of care they are part of providing. There may be other factors such as wages, managerial style.

@BJ22 that all sounds very promising. Glad the visit went well.

Thanks for clarifying. We've felt trapped there, as all the others in the area also have awful feedback/turnover.
It's under new management now (the whole chain has been bought by a Dutch company).

I'm sorry you feel that way, must be tough. Hopefully the new management will improve things.