Nursery visit - what to ask?

[Cariad007]

DS will be going to nursery when I return to work in April so I've started ringing around nurseries in the area and a couple have suggested I come and have a look around. What sort of questions should I ask when I visit, apart from the obvious ones like sickness policies, staff to baby ratio etc?

The main thing it to look look look. Watch the staff and children. Look at resources. Look at cleanliness and get a feel. Practical questions can be asked later.

Most of the practicalities will be answered by the info books they give and during the tour. I looked at several for my boys and both times followed my instincts. I just got a good feeling and could see them in the nurseries we chose. The other ones just didn't seem right. So I would say , visit them all and you will probably just know which one seems best for you.

It sounds wank but you will get a feel. My mum came with me (she was a primary school teacher for 30 yrs) and we agreed that the nursery was calm. Despite there being 15 babies in a room all wanting different things.

That has been my feeling since. When they closed a room because of mouse droppings it was all calm, when they are rocking a screaming child to sleep or breaking up a fight. Normal things will happen, but it's how they deal with them.

K

Look for happy children and happy adults
Does it look like the children are allowed to make a mess and have fun
What qualifications do they have
Is there am eyp/yet
How do they engage parents- do they do home link diaries or open evenings or share children's learning
Do they go out in the rain
What arrangements do they have for settling in
Agree with pop that you will get a feel. It should feel welcoming and homely and not be clinically clean or dirty.

Thanks, some useful info here. What is eyp/yet insancerre?

Early years professional or early years teacher. My phone auto corrected it
This is a post grad qualification for those leading practice in early years ensuring high quality care and education

I second 'having a feel'

I looked for mess. I worked in a nursery where they tidied up the children's wonderful creations when they went for snack, because they looked untidy. They were heartbroken and it was detrimental to their learning and play.

Obviously things have to be tidied away at the end of each session though.

Some things that made me 'know' the nursery I chose was the right one, even though it was far from the 'smartest' and has a rubbish website etc, were:-

• Didn't need to make an appointment to look round, they were happy for me to drop in whenever (outside of lunchtime). Made me feel like they had nothing to hide.

• I took DS with me to look round all the nurseries (through necessity) and the staff really engaged with him and just naturally seemed to be very interested. They didn't really do this at other nurseries we visited.

• Small. All the staff know all the children in all of the rooms, even if they don't work with them directly. And the children all mix in the garden twice a day.

• When I asked about ages of specific babies while I was there, just out of interest/habit, the staff knew exactly how old they all were ie he'll be one at the end of November, she's just turned 10 months etc.

• Staff seemed really happy and relaxed and had all been there quite a long time. Very laid back about going along with DS's routine and anything else we wanted.

• Happy to do as many settling in sessions as we wanted, over however long a period we wanted. No charge if less than half a day.

• All the children seemed really happy and engaged and the staff seemed to know them so well individually.

And of course, just that 'feeling' that others have mentioned. We've been really happy so far, after a year, and most importantly so has DS.

As a side note, I felt like my choice was really justified the other day when there was a mix up over a pair of trousers and DS had come home in the wrong pair. When I took them back at the next session, one of the women from the baby room handed me his own pair and said 'oh I thought these must be his, they smell like him'. I must have looked a bit aghast as she reassured me it was a good smell (washing powder etc!) but that all the children have their own smell. It made me feel really happy that they know my DS, and the other children, so well that they can recognise them by smell alone.

Haha petshopgirl
My staff had a similar conversation in our nursery yesterday
Except they were saying how they could tell which child had pooed by the smell!
That's what you call dedication to your job :)