Questions for a nursery

[Luxme]

My LO will be 14 months when I put her in a nursery and whilst its 8 months time, I want to secure a place sooner rather than later. I'm a FTM so this is my first time I've found a nursery, what sort of questions should I be asking and what are the things to look out for in all of your experience?

I think it's mainly just gut feel. You need to ask yourself, would you be happy leaving your child there for the day?

But specific things...

• do they accept childcare vouchers?
• will they have funded places when your child turns 3?
• what are the illness/calpol policies?
• are they shut bank holidays?
• how does payment work (i.e. do they average the costs over 12 months, or are you paying different amounts each month depending on the number of days in the month)
• what do they do if your child won't eat what they are given?
• how often do they take the kids outside?
• do they put all the kids down for a nap at the same time, or do they do it whenever a child looks tired?
• what do they do if your child won't sleep in a cot (might not be applicable for you...)
• what do you need to provide (some places provide nappies, etc, some don't)

That's all I can think of at the moment... hth

what is staff turnover like? How many staff are first aid trained and what is their approach to discipline....and then go with your gut.

What record keeping/ daily reports do you get
Do you get any discount for your holiday periods (increasingly rare)

Can they allocate a key worker to your LO to help settle them.

Do you know any local mums from groups you could chat to - you might find there are one or two favoured nurseries in your area which may also put your mind at rest.

Are they open 52 or 50 weeks per year
Toilet training policies
Illness policies.
Medicine policies
And above all look for happy confident children

Good suggestions already but also ask about policy putting your dc in for extra days at short notice occasionally eg. When you are ill. Flexibility in this regard has been very useful to us.

And when you're there look at how the staff interact with the kids. Lots of cuddling, sitting on the floor and happy kids tend to mean happy and motivated staff

do they charge for late pick ups?

Do they do sibling discount.

What they do during staff illness (use agency or bank staff). Bank staff are generally better as it provides more consistency for the children.

If children are weary when you enter the room, this is a good sign as it shows they are used to being cared for by the same people.

As others have said, look at what the staff members are doing. Most should be sitting with the children, joining in with activities, talking or singing with them.