Nursery likes and dislikes

[TheFutures]

Hi mums I was intrigued and wanted to find out what mums love about their child's nursery and what they believe should be different. Asking as I have become a nursery manager and would like to make a few changes.
Appreciate your comments thanks

This is going to depend massively on the individual Nursery.
Have you thought about doing an survey / questionnaire for the parents at your Nursery ?

Or - perhaps even more telling - following up those who enquire and then don't choose you, see if they will tell you why not / what other Nursery they chose had or did that yours doesn't ?

Hi,
Thank you for your reply!
I have already done a survey with the staff and parents at my nursery just wanted to ask on here to see if I would learn anything new.

I'm a new manager so just trying to make a difference in a positive way.

Following up parents- that's an idea I didn't think off, will do that this week thank you!

Dd is in the process of beginning nursery. O love that her nursery is calm, chilled and quite natural looking - not bright primary colours everywhere. I also like the staff being quite chilled - they allow dd to approach them on their own terms rather than runnung up to her and being Ott and gushy.
I wish there was a dummies guide for the first few days - I have all the policies but something that told.me exactly what to domin the morning I.e. put her lunchbox and water bottle in separate pikes in the kitchen, put her name and bag on a peg. These details make me nervous!

Surely this depends on what kind of nursery it is? Do you follow a particular early years teaching philosophy? Do you have a lot of outside space, do you do forest school? etc etc.

Are you interested in what dads think about nurseries too?

Outdoors time, massive garden and a farm so they can walk down the lane and see all the animals, obviously not possible everywhere. Main thing is the staff are great, and different rooms for the 'part time' and full time kids!

19Hannah can I ask what the benefit is of different rooms for part time and full time children? It seems like an unnecessary segregation to me, rather than a plus point.

Hi,
Thank you so much everyone for sharing your own experiences and preferences!!!
I do apologise I've mentioned mums and not parents but of corse I would like to know what the daddies think too!
Yes we work alongside the EYFS, and we do have a pretty large garden. In the garden area we have a digging area construction area a swing climbing frame sand and water play and a soft play area for babies under 2 with a jungle theme.
Yes, I would like to know more, why do you believe the separation of full time and part time is necessary?

You work alongside the EYFS?
What does that mean?

EYFS is a guideline that is used by Ofsted practitioners to understand the stages of development. There are 7 areas physical personal emotional social and communication

I know what the EYFS is
I just don't understand the alongside bit

Sorry posted it without finishing my sentence

7 areas:
Communication and language
Physical
Personnel social and emotional
Mathematics
Literacy
Understanding the world
Expressive arts and design

This guideline is for ages 0-5

staff in professional uniforms is important to me, i recently looked around a nursery where the staff weren't in uniform and i had no clue who was a parent and who was a staff member, the place was also a bit tatty in terms of decoration which put me off and this was an outstanding nursery that was part of a national chain.

Ok so we need to understand the EYFS in order to understand what stage your child is at according to the EYFS, your child's strengths weaknesses, abilities and interests.
This guideline highlights which activities your child enjoys most, and area your child may need more support in

Staff at nurseries will then plan activities around the assessment of the EYFS for your child personnel development this is known as an adult focus activity.
I hope I have made it a little more clear!

My DD is at secondary but I've been accompanying my SIL who's visiting preschools to choose one for her DS. I'm intrigued as to how settings manage the balance of free flow play/child initiated learning with not letting the place descend into chaos.

I can't see any point in segregating full and part time children either.

Notanotherusername1234, thank you so much for your comment I believe presentation is important we all judge as humans therefore if something is good we need to present it well!

Thanks thefutures
I do know what the EYFS is
I'm a nursery manager and an EYT
I was just intrigued by your choice of words
Alongside implies you have chosen this approach and use other curricula too
While, to me the EYFS is a statutory document that I have to legally comply with
It sets the legal requirements that I have to meet
Sorry, didn't mean to detail your thread 🙂

I like the nursery/preschool that

Is homely rather than festooned with laminated numbers and letters from Sparklebox or Twinkl

Have well trained staff (preferably some more mature practitioners) who have chosen to work in early years and really understand child development rather than opted for it because they couldn't think of anything else .

Caters to the individual child; my DNephew will need a quiet space he can retreat to at times not 6 whole hours of stimulation.

I love that fact that they go outside everyday unless the weather is absolutely terrible. I like that they have waterproofs and wellies for dd to use so I don't have to mess about remembering them. When dd was smaller I liked that they provided nappies etc so I didn't have to remember. I like the fact that every member of staff knows my dd's name (and ds even though he doesn't attend) and always greet her. I love the fact that the children grow and cook their own vegetables. If someone has a birthday on a nursery day, they all bake a cake for that person. I like the way staff listen to what I say and work really well to resolve any issues. When dd went from the toddler room to the preschool room she was initially reluctant. The nursery let her make the change in her own time. We all encouraged her but it was her choice to finally make the move.

That was longer than expected, sorry!

Hi,
Yes free flow can get very messy but this is why staff are allocated in areas so for example one staff may be dealing with snack, one staff member in construction area, one in creative area and 3 in garden area. Adult focused activities will take place when the garden is not in use and all the staff are allocated in the play and creative room. If all the children and staff are outside then adult focus activities can be done outside.
Ratio is 1:3 until 3 years then 1:4 above 4
No staff member should be left alone with children, this is for prevention and safeguarding.

My son's private nursery does extras for the pre- school children such as baking and football. He loves these! They also celebrate events such as Halloween and fireworks night (as well as the usual religious festivals) by directing craft activities towards these i.e. sparkly "fireworks" made with pipe cleaners.

The baby room does not have a separate sleeping area and the cots make the room quite small. I would have preferred a separate quiet area for naps. This is obviously space dependent.

The garden is large and they encourage the children to go out in most weathers appropriately dressed of course. The babies and tinies have a separate area so they can be a bit safer when the older ones are tearing around in trikes.

They display the menu so parents can see what is on offer. This is changed weekly rotated monthly. Freshly cooked. They are consulting parents on making changes.

I would like a "parents evening" once a term but staff always give basic feedback as they bring the child out.

The Futures
Are you not in England?
The ratios are
Under 2 year 1-3
2 years 1-4
3 years 1-8 or 1-13 with a level 6 qualification
And there's nothing preventing adults being on their own with children. I've worked in outstanding nurseries where staff had groups of children on their own
I think those things you mention must be the policies of your particular setting

The separation means that the paying children are in a different room to the children that only take free hours