home visit for nursery school admission?

[BelleCurve]

DS will be 3 in a few weeks and we have applied for him to start nirsery near the childminder. Now they said they need to do a home visit to complete the paperwork. I work fulltime and ds is at childminder so this wont be very easy to arrange. What are they looking for and is this standard practice?
I'm trying not over think it, but seems a bit unusual? PFB disclaimer so i have no idea about schools yet!

AFAIK, it's normal. They just want to introduce themselves to your ds in familiar surroundings. There must be other parents in your situation, so the school must have a way round it.

My sons nursery did this, it was optional. I really appreciated it as they had time to chat about his likes and dislikes.

Very normal and considered good practice. It is optional but I know most people have them and appreciate them. They are not looking for anything other than to build a positive relationship with you and your child. Having said that, I do lots of them and its fascinating!

Thanks, that's reassuring! It just seemed like such a burden on the (understaffed) school, that I wondered about it. I will try to arrange it for a day when I can take holiday.

They could visit your child at the childminders if she doesn't mind; I've done it a few times