Nursery viewing

[Greygoose21]

Hi,

So I’m currently on maternity leave. I’m planning on going back to work in September so I’m starting the whole nursery viewing process.

I’ve got the first one today. However I don’t have a clue what I’m looking for in a nursery. I could to to this one today and think it’s good, nice vibe/ staff ect. Then I might go to one next week and see that the last one wasnt all that.

What would every one say they key things are to look for.
Unfortunately because of everything going on I can only view once the kids have gone home, suppose it won’t be the same but.

Ahhh I feel for you. When we viewed nurseries the thing I was most looking out for was the kids and how the staff interacted with them. It must be so hard not being able to see them 'in action' as it were. Otherwise I don't think it's about 'looking' for things really more just asking questions about the things that are important to you and whether you're happy with the answers or not.

It is a shame you're not seeing the children, as I think how they are interacting with each other and with staff is key. For example, I viewed one nursery where they were all running around screaming, hyper and toys everywhere (not in a fun way, just very chaotic) and I knew it wouldn't suit my DC. The nursery we chose was much quieter and calmer. Maybe ask what the atmosphere is like on a normal day.

Things I asked were: what is the settling in process, (I didn't want a 'leave your crying child and don't look back' approach. Our nursery encourages several weeks of settling in sessions and you only leave them completely when you're comfortable to), are age groups separate or all together, is it child-led play (I didn't want 'everyone do this, everyone do that), is there free flow access to outside space (I.e. can they go out whenever they want or only when the group go out), hours and term times, is lunch provided, is there a place for children to nap, how do they help with potty training, how do they deal with difficult behaviour, general ethos of the nursery, staff experience, check that everything is laid out in a child-friendly way, breadth of resources, do they have walks, special events such as Christmas plays etc. Would your child have a key worker and how is your child's development communicated to parents - ie daily diary or online profile. Do they have any extras such as forest school? As another pp said, ask about whatever is important for you and go with your gut. I knew the moment I walked into our chosen nursery it was the right one. I got the right feel from staff, children and general ambience of the place.

Cleanliness is what ended up making the decision for me. We were stuck between 2 nursery's, both seemed great and had good reputations.
Nursery 1 was in an old building (think odd shaped rooms, turrets and small windows) and was primarily outdoor based and nursery 2 was in a converted 20century house. Nursery 2 was just so much brighter which made it seem cleaner. My lo loved looking out windows so I knew she'd love the big patio windows looking out onto the enclosed gardens.

Other things I realised afterwards that I prefer about the one we chose:
I'm quite rural and one nursery based in the village and one just inside. I liked how the one in the village would visit the local library, walk to the park, see what the greengrocers was like etc. The other one just couldn't do that but did lots of forest based activities.
The vilage one was mainly kids from the village, who my lo would be going to school with. The other one served 4 villages so she wouldn't have made so many local connections.

Hope that helps you in some way!

oh settling in process is very very important as others have said. Some places take your wee one 1 month from their official start date and ease them in slowly but others say 3 times and that's that.

I visited a nursery and it all looked great on first appearance. The manager really sold it well to us. As PP’s have mentioned the settling in process could be a big key for you! We were given 3 sessions to settle in and it turned into a disaster with the nursery basically telling me to man up and walk away from my screaming hysterical child who had never been left with anyone other than very close family. Once he was in the staff were completely different, always appeared miserable and it was an effort for them to be there. It was always my child’s problem why he hadn’t had a good day. We lasted about 6 weeks before I pulled him out. In that time he never so much as touched a toy and would scream the minute we drove into the car park.
A couple of months later we looked at another nursery- much smaller setting (previous one was one of the big chain nurseries). The difference between the two was incredible. From the first visit I knew my DS would fit right in. The manager allowed us to visit 3 times altogether and we took DS on the last visit for an hour to see how he liked it. On every visit everything was so calm. The previous nursery was full of screaming crying children always. The settling in process was so much nicer, we are given much better daily updates etc.
I guess it’s going to be very difficult to see the nurseries without children and staff present. Maybe ask the nursery if they have any parent reviews etc as the second nursery had loads to read. They also had a Facebook group with hundreds of photos of the children so you could genuinely see them enjoying themselves.
Unfortunately it is one of those things though that a nursery can look great on an initial visit but really not be all that it turned out to be. The manager and staff could put on a show whilst parents are being shown around etc.
Key points for us in general were:
Settling in process
Eating arrangements( in first nursery food was provided which DS had issues with being extremely fussy and never ate whilst he was there, second nursery is bring your own packed lunch which suits us ten times better)
Areas to sleep/rest in
Cleanliness
Toys available(I know this sounds strange but the first nursery all toys were wooden and quite plain etc, second nursery has loads of toys that DS has at home or that interest him more so we found that made the transition easier)
Hours they can offer you
Use of outdoor play
Ofsted rating
Parent reviews

Sorry I realise this is really long winded but I hope it helps!