Should a nursery school be a calm ordered environment?

[tightfisted]

I think it should be, more or less, but when I´ve visited they appear to be full of noisy, running wild, accident-prone children. My DS would be terrified. I expected quiet group activites, stories, children sitting around teacher or busily painting/making things. Am I completely out of touch and unrealistic? I´m referring to 2-3 age range.

Is one's home a calm ordered environment? Well mine's certainly not and I would expect nursery to be similar I think. Calm at times but fun and lively at others.

IMO kids shouldn't be running wild, but I would expect the environment to be lively, not calm and quiet.

Are you talking daycare, pre-school or playgroup type nursery?

sometimes animated, but with definite times in the day when things chill out. i'd be more worried if the children didn't have chance to let off steam.

Bit of both I think. If ds had had to be in a calm ordered environment for too long he'd have gone doolally. And he's never been one for making things. He does like stories, but he likes to be a bit physical too.

hm, yes lively is good, but I saw lots of children running around, seemingly without any activity to keep them busy.. I´m talking about a pre-school..

at ds2's pre-school the 2.75 hrs were broken down into a series of sctivities - some noisy some free play, some quiet, a group story ( calm and quiet) and outdoor play ( lively and noisy)

If you are after calm maybe look at Montessori

Don´t have a Montosorri here.. Hm, what about a Steiner School..? There is one near me I know. What are they basically about? In terms of pre-school?

Iota, that´s just what I had expected. But it´s so hard to judge when you´re only in the class for 15 minutes and the techer isn´t very forthcoming..

I was also going to suggest a Montessori. The one my ds first went to at 2 was very ordered, regimented and strict, everything was timetabled. Ds hated it and cried going there every time he went but apparently it does suit some children. He transferred to Playgroup at 2.5 and adored it so much he begged to go on weekends. The Playgroup was mainly free play with diffent toys each day, they had stories and milk time etc but he wasn't forced to do art for 30 mins/day like at the Montessori.

ds just had first day, but would certainly call the environment quiet and calm, at least for first hour- trays of painting, clay, lego, jigsaws etc, with enjoyably lively outdoor play later, but definitely not wild.

i actually thought it was a bit too quiet if anything! can't win, obviously. are there any others you can look at?

we rejected one nursery (montessori) as it was deathly quiet and a bit weird (children do make a noise you know )

ours is a happy medium really

Hm, looks like the Monti would have suited DS! Lots of people say I need to toughen him up for the real world (!!) He likes quiet play and reading and avoids any noise or rough and tumble like the plague. But basically then, noise is normal but some kind of structure play is also normal?

structured play isn't the exclusive domain of any particular type of nursery, all ofsted inspected ones have early years goals to reach and carry out observations on

I think nursery schools should be calm and ordered, most of the time.

After all, the kids are only there for a few hours of the day, right? So all the rest of the time, quiet, calm and ordered.

bit of a hijack but wow, those montessori nurseries don't sound like they really got the idea to me.

DS nursery is "montessori-lite" - they can't recruit enough trained teachers here oop north but works on Montessori principles. It is very relaxed, there are structured activities offered but its up to the children if they take part or not. Lots of free play.

Running around is what pre-schoolers do best. They like it.

PFB?

i read a description once of what to look for at this sort of age that really stuck with me - in general terms because i can't remember all the words - something like 'children buzzing contentedly around the room engaged on their own projects'

If you keep him out of noisy environments, then in my opinion he won't cope very well when he has to be in one.

Plus, 2 children don't make twice as much noise as one child, they make 4 times as much. Now multiply this effect by 20, throw in the types of boys who really like to run about and stamp on things (like mine) and the types of girls who squeal, and what have you got?

Hell on earth, IMHO. Heaven in ds1's. Playschool, in other wordfs.

Choosy Floosy, I really like your 'children buzzing contentedly around the room engaged on their own projects' idea.. This is exactly the thing to look out for! And it´s how it is in his playschool (where he´s happy)

Colditz, I agree he will never get used to noisy environments if he´s never in one, but then I don´t like them either and it´s only as an adult that I can choose to avoid them. This doesn´t seem right somehow. Isn´t it a bit too early at TWO years old to show him it´s a rough and tumble noisy world out there? In any group situation DS will just withdraw if things are getting raucous. Isn´t it unfair to force him to stay in that environment?

Unfair to force him, yes, but unfair in the long run to not give him chance to get used to it.

But saying that, constant chaos is not good. Do you think maybed you caught the playschool at running around time, rather than calm time?

FWIW, I think he's just not ready for such a noisy environment - don't think you need to 'get him used to it' - I think that as he matures he may well be able to deal with it. No point forcing him when he's not ready.