What to ask a nursery?

[Yarnie]

Hi all

I am 25 weeks pregnant with my first child and doing some research about nurseries as the good ones in my area (Holland Park/Notting Hill) are over-subscribed (aren't they always).

I have identified a few names of places which come recommended and plan to go and visit them. I'd love some advice on what you would want to know about a new nursery.

I'm a bit daunted by it all, and know that I'll forget to ask something critical!

Hi Yarnie
The most important thing to remember about choosing a nursery is to trust your instinct. You'll get a good sense of which nursery is best for you and your LO as soon as you walk through the door. Most nurseries are commercial enterprises and when they show you round they will often tell you whatever you want to hear - and in many areas this is dictated by Osted!

Look at the babies and children - do they look happy? Are they having fun and interacting with the adults around them?

Aside from the obvious questions about routines, sleeping arrangements and menus I would want to know how staff are organised (do they use 'bank' staff, what is staff turnover like, how long has manager been in place etc).

And don't be too hung up on how the nursery looks - of course it should be clean but not too clean - toddlers are messy! DD has been in two different nurseries - a swanky, expensive one with beautiful facilities (one of the larger chains) and a small, slightly scruffy, chaotic independent. I would choose the independent again any day - she loves it.

Am sure other people will have new suggestions but I hope this helps get you started!

I'd also want to know how often they move rooms.

At DDs nursery they move up a room approx every 6 months. Which seems very often. BUT it suits her really well, she seems to have a huge developmental surge whenever she moves up a room and it stops children getting bored if they're in a room with children much younger than them.

1 of the smaller nurseries I visited kept all children from 3-24 months together in 1 room. The older children would get bored and it didn't seem fair on the babies either.

HTH

Hi Yarnie. I agree with Emmalinac. Trust your instinct. I would also ask staff turnover, number of qualified staff per child. Food and menu changes, do they have a cook on site. Discipline procedures. Seperate room for sleeping. Nappy changing procedure (one we looked at did it at set times only!) Look at outside space and equipment. Also look at security arrangements. Does you child have a key worker? Do the toys and equipment look in good condition. How will they communicate each day what you DC has done (ie nap length, milk drunk etc. I know it sounds silly but the one we eventually chose invited us to come along when we wanted to no appointment. It felt to us like they had nothing to hide and wouldn't have time to do anything different to their normal routine. Hope this helps

blowninonabreeze is right about finding out about moving rooms.

Some nurseries use age markers - DDs current nursery moves children out of the baby room at 12 months, whether they can walk or not. This is better for the nursery in terms of planning but not so good for the child. Other nurseries will use developmental markers which I think is preferable.