Why questions do I ask when looking round a nursery?

[Charingcrossbun]

Just that really! What do I ask? What do I need to know?
DS is 7months and won't be going until he is 10months...

What!! Not why! Stupid phone

Adult child ratios
Example activities
How much time they spend outside (more good in my opinion)
How they split age groups (move up based on age or development or mixture)
How they communicate with parents eg daily sheet, regular parents evening, hangover each morning/ afternoon
What you / they provide (affects cost to you) eg nappies wipes snacks

Good list. Especially the hangover each morning.

Staff turnover.

Meals - how many, how often, snacks, where so they eat, is there a rotating menu, do they make the food or is it bought in

Sickness policy

Where do they sleep and do they follow your routine

Last one - are nappies included in the cost

Thanks ladies. Went armed with your questions but I'm still overwhelmed. Realised I will have to go and look at a few as really I have no idea!
This nursery was "open plan" meaning you had one room with bits sectioned off and babies/ tots sleeping whilst everything went on around them.
Is that normal? Seemed to work as they were asleep but I can't imagine DS doing that. But then I can't really imagine anyone else looking after him... He is 7 months and I'll have to go back to work in feb so am trying to be realistic. Plan A is still win the lottery don't go back!

Babies sleeping while others play in the same room seems fairly normal in nurseries- I couldn't imagine how my dd would sleep at all at nursery without me let alone on a mat on the floor while others play at the other end of the room- but she does!

I think most important thing is how the staff seem with the children- are they engaged, are the children laughing and smiling, are they interested in things or just milling about

I think a lot of nursery choice comes down to how you feel and what your gut reaction is.

My gut reaction turned out well and we've enjoyed 3 years in a really friendly flexible environment where every child is an individual and has a good relationship with all the staff.

Oddly their Ofsted rating doesn't reflect this but I think it's because they run the nursery for the benefit of the children not Ofsted's paperwork!

Go with your gut!!

I totally agree about the Ofsted stuff. We chose one that was "good" rather than outstanding but it had a really nice vibe and all the kids and carers seemed happy.
The other nursery had a lot of written feedback for parents but I couldn't help thinking I would rather staff be spending time with my child than filling in paperwork.
TBH I wouldn't be happy with the open plan thing. It's not just sleep but smaller children can sometimes get a bit trampled by the older children. Staff can't catch everything.

I agree with cantmakecarrotcake, go with you gut. I cried when I visited the first 2 for DS because I couldn't bear the thought of sending him there, even though there was nothing wrong with either. The one he's at was the 7th we visited and I knew straight away that this was the right one for me him.

How many of the staff are first aid trained.

Look at the Millie's trust Facebook page to see why! Only one staff member per floor "needs" to be trained and if your dc starts choking while they are in the toilet or on annual leave it could be a disaster