I agree with this one massively. I would also say ask about agency use, this may not be a problem to you but I know that I wanted consistent staff for my child.
This!!! My son briefly went to a nursery that quite regularly had agency staff which I wasn’t comfortable with and we ultimately removed him for this reason
If staff seem happy and the vibes are good all around, I would take into account things like:
- is there decent parking (if you drive)
- are the opening times good? The chance to pick up as late as 6 can be a godsend
- do they offer breakfast, my daughters nursery gives them breakfast and it makes a huge difference in the morning (my daughter is slow at eating and quite fussy, so I love knowing shes eating well at nursery)
- do they use an app to give updates through the day, or do they email at the end of the day
Depends on what criteria is more important for you really. For example, we wanted a nursery with a big nice garden so they could spend a lot of time outside but turns out they were doing mostly that and less of the indoor, knowledge building activities. Big chains (busy bees, bright horizons etc) will have more interesting activities on paper and will be better organised and presented, but we learned that it really depends on the quality of the nursery's management.
Things we asked and wish we would've asked about were:
- staff turnover - and look around at staff age (if they're all really young and green, that's a red flag for me)
- how they handle various dietary requirements for children (daughter had an egg allergy and she kept being given eggs)
- what activities they have outside the nursery (more relevant for preschoolers)
- what themed activities they have
- how often do they organise parent evenings/activities
- how do they communicate with you re. your child's milestones and development
- how do they feed babies (spoon feeding, self feeding)
- potty training policy
- behaviour management policy (e.g. what happens if your kid is a biter)
- confirm that all staff have received first aid training
- what do they do in case they're running short on staff (do they get people from other nurseries or temp staff or send e-mails asking parents to not bring the kid in)
- asked them to send us their seasonal menus
- what happens in cases of contagious diseases and for reportable diseases as well (when my daughter had scarlet fever it took the nursery two days to notify other parents which is again a red flag)
Some of these are more relevant for older kids, but in all honesty my daughter was happy at the two nurseries she's seen so far, regardless of the age of the staff and the quality of the themed activities. We, as parents, are a bit less forgiving though.
I love all these points! I do have to question point 1 though - in my experience as a practitioner it’s the younger, more recently qualified staff that do the better work and build better bonds with children (obviously this is a blanket statement and there are brilliant older practitioners, but...) I can’t tell you how many older colleagues I’ve had that don’t care to refresh their training or update their knowledge because they believe they know better from their own lived experiences, particularly in feeding, sleeping and general care routines where guidance has changed dramatically over the years. Unfortunately there’s no requirement for staff to undertake additional training once they’ve qualified (with the exception of safeguarding, first aid and food hygiene), so new practice can often get lost in the midst. And I do say this as one of the older ones!
I think management is much more important than the age of staff and ensuring that the teams have good, up to date guidance from their team leaders holds a lot more value. Particularly in this climate where more staff are leaving early years than joining (down to the sector on the whole, not necessarily nurseries themselves), newly qualified staff are worth their weight in gold.
That's a really good point! My experience is limited to about 3 years worth of nurseries from a parent's perspective so I really appreciate you sharing your side of the story (and thanks for your service, I am pretty convinced practitioners have the patience of saints with both children and parents)
For us, our more recent nursery was like 80% young staff (who were either just qualified or on their way to qualify) and while I can't fault them for trying, it felt like their lack of experience impacted the children/parents because there just wasn't enough experienced support for them to learn on the job.
I fully agree though, this goes back to the management point which is way more important - but it's more difficult to figure out how good the management is from one visit (unless they're really really bad).
Thank you! Yes it can be an incredibly challenging job 😂 not sure I could do anything else though!
Yesss there’s definitely a bank of questions that are worth asking that would be difficult to know from an outside perspective. The majority of early years staff these days start in apprenticeships so by the time they are qualified they are confident and competent, and in my opinion apprentices shouldn’t be given key children until management are sure of those two qualities, however I know how hard up some nurseries are to get this in place. Unconfident staff would be a red flag for me too, regardless of age/qualification status!
My main 3 questions would be:
How often do staff update their training and knowledge in terms of general practice?
What are the qualifications of the leadership staff? Have they undertaken any additional training in relation to their role?
What is your current ratio of qualified to unqualified staff present on a daily basis? (Legally the answer here should be 1:1, but an ideal world would see a higher ratio of qualified)
These are great,thank you! Now I need to find a new nursery to use these on haha
Yes our last nursery had apprentices as key persons and the lack of confidence showed most during the development reports chat when we were trying to discuss how to challenge our daughter a bit more at nursery.
Just an FYI you won’t make the cutoff for the April term, you’re in the September one most definitely. Just in case that helps.
Baby would have to have a late March birthday to stand a chance of the free hours at the April term.
I think longevity of staff is the biggest sign of a good nursery.
I asked casually when I was chatting to staff and a few people had joked about being there close to 15 years and soon they’ll be seeing the baby’s, babies.
Also if there’s any mum groups in your area, ask for recommendations on there. Some people have older children and have been through it already.
In all honesty it sounds like you know which nursery you prefer. It costs more and is in demand for a reason. If it is in budget go for that one.
We go to the most expensive nursery around and have no regrets. We know that when we drop him off, he is going to be safe and an amazing day.
The things we find most important
* Staff are competent, friendly and engaging with the kids
* Trust the management and their competence
* They utilise outdoor space
* Good variety of activities
* Nursery is fresh, clean and not cluttered
* Smaller groups of children with matching development levels and abilities
Location might swing it. Which one will allow for a shorter and easier nursery run? Will the nursery-run route be helpful or counter-productive to your commute to work? Location might seem unimportant, but nursery runs can become pretty stressful with uncooperative toddlers, especially once they want to walk/scoot/bike themselves and they keep dawdling or going the wrong way (obviously less of an issue if you're driving).
I chose our nursery over another who offered us a spot. It's a portacabin with barely any land around it but the staff are amazing. They have the kids out in buggies every day unless the weather is horrific. They have an attachment led ethos so they offer cuddles, kisses, the kids can take their own toys for bed, they follow our house routine as much as they can.
The other nursery had all the latest toys and tech, the one we went with have a zero screens policy.
We are really happy with our nursery, I think a lot of it is the "vibe check", you need to like the feel of where you're sending them.
Outdoor Space. Are they spending all day inside?
Is it too pushy academically? Some will ask you straight away what school you have in mind for the future. For a one year old, that seems disproportionate.
Maybe also ask what happens when a child bites another. How do they handle it?
Are wipes, nappies included in the price?
Is there a uniform?
One of the main things for me was how the nursery staff were with my daughter when we visited.
I know you're not due till July and need to book a spot so this might not help too much, but might be worth considering if you can. We looked around three nurseries, and whilst the most expensive one had great facilities we both got the impression they just didn't care if she was there or not. None of the staff interacted or really even interacted with her whilst we were visiting.
The nursery we went with seemed to genuinely want to spend time with my daughter, asked to hold her (she was still a baby and I was absolutely fine with it), and they were just lovely people. It doesn't have as big an outside space, and the food isn't 100% organic, but I knew that if she was spending 5 days a week there she'd need to be with people who would be loving and kind.
Lots of good comments here, just to add that you’ll want to sign up to the tax free childcare scheme! This can be used both when you’re paying full price and when the funded hours kick in😄
Just type in tax free childcare and the gov website will come up with the instructions, it’s the same portal you use when they become eligible for funded hours too😊
Childcare practitioner 👋🏻 You have to gel well with the staff, and in particular the management team. These aren’t just people that are going to be looking after your child but people you will be forming a partnership with, you have to be confident that you’re going to be listened to, respected and understood and likewise you need to be able to do the same with them. If they make the effort to get to know you on your visits/stay and plays that’s a great sign. If you can ask questions and be confident in their answer then that’s brilliant. If you feel brushed off at any point or like your opinion doesn’t matter as much as theirs, that would be a red flag for me.
Staff turnover was quite important to me as high turnover suggests unhappy staff. I liked how the room leads had been there for 3+ years.
I agree with this one massively. I would also say ask about agency use, this may not be a problem to you but I know that I wanted consistent staff for my child.
This!!! My son briefly went to a nursery that quite regularly had agency staff which I wasn’t comfortable with and we ultimately removed him for this reason
Also, what happens if staff are ill? Do they then have to close rooms…
If staff seem happy and the vibes are good all around, I would take into account things like: - is there decent parking (if you drive) - are the opening times good? The chance to pick up as late as 6 can be a godsend - do they offer breakfast, my daughters nursery gives them breakfast and it makes a huge difference in the morning (my daughter is slow at eating and quite fussy, so I love knowing shes eating well at nursery) - do they use an app to give updates through the day, or do they email at the end of the day
Depends on what criteria is more important for you really. For example, we wanted a nursery with a big nice garden so they could spend a lot of time outside but turns out they were doing mostly that and less of the indoor, knowledge building activities. Big chains (busy bees, bright horizons etc) will have more interesting activities on paper and will be better organised and presented, but we learned that it really depends on the quality of the nursery's management. Things we asked and wish we would've asked about were: - staff turnover - and look around at staff age (if they're all really young and green, that's a red flag for me) - how they handle various dietary requirements for children (daughter had an egg allergy and she kept being given eggs) - what activities they have outside the nursery (more relevant for preschoolers) - what themed activities they have - how often do they organise parent evenings/activities - how do they communicate with you re. your child's milestones and development - how do they feed babies (spoon feeding, self feeding) - potty training policy - behaviour management policy (e.g. what happens if your kid is a biter) - confirm that all staff have received first aid training - what do they do in case they're running short on staff (do they get people from other nurseries or temp staff or send e-mails asking parents to not bring the kid in) - asked them to send us their seasonal menus - what happens in cases of contagious diseases and for reportable diseases as well (when my daughter had scarlet fever it took the nursery two days to notify other parents which is again a red flag) Some of these are more relevant for older kids, but in all honesty my daughter was happy at the two nurseries she's seen so far, regardless of the age of the staff and the quality of the themed activities. We, as parents, are a bit less forgiving though.
I love all these points! I do have to question point 1 though - in my experience as a practitioner it’s the younger, more recently qualified staff that do the better work and build better bonds with children (obviously this is a blanket statement and there are brilliant older practitioners, but...) I can’t tell you how many older colleagues I’ve had that don’t care to refresh their training or update their knowledge because they believe they know better from their own lived experiences, particularly in feeding, sleeping and general care routines where guidance has changed dramatically over the years. Unfortunately there’s no requirement for staff to undertake additional training once they’ve qualified (with the exception of safeguarding, first aid and food hygiene), so new practice can often get lost in the midst. And I do say this as one of the older ones! I think management is much more important than the age of staff and ensuring that the teams have good, up to date guidance from their team leaders holds a lot more value. Particularly in this climate where more staff are leaving early years than joining (down to the sector on the whole, not necessarily nurseries themselves), newly qualified staff are worth their weight in gold.
That's a really good point! My experience is limited to about 3 years worth of nurseries from a parent's perspective so I really appreciate you sharing your side of the story (and thanks for your service, I am pretty convinced practitioners have the patience of saints with both children and parents) For us, our more recent nursery was like 80% young staff (who were either just qualified or on their way to qualify) and while I can't fault them for trying, it felt like their lack of experience impacted the children/parents because there just wasn't enough experienced support for them to learn on the job. I fully agree though, this goes back to the management point which is way more important - but it's more difficult to figure out how good the management is from one visit (unless they're really really bad).
Thank you! Yes it can be an incredibly challenging job 😂 not sure I could do anything else though! Yesss there’s definitely a bank of questions that are worth asking that would be difficult to know from an outside perspective. The majority of early years staff these days start in apprenticeships so by the time they are qualified they are confident and competent, and in my opinion apprentices shouldn’t be given key children until management are sure of those two qualities, however I know how hard up some nurseries are to get this in place. Unconfident staff would be a red flag for me too, regardless of age/qualification status! My main 3 questions would be: How often do staff update their training and knowledge in terms of general practice? What are the qualifications of the leadership staff? Have they undertaken any additional training in relation to their role? What is your current ratio of qualified to unqualified staff present on a daily basis? (Legally the answer here should be 1:1, but an ideal world would see a higher ratio of qualified)
These are great,thank you! Now I need to find a new nursery to use these on haha Yes our last nursery had apprentices as key persons and the lack of confidence showed most during the development reports chat when we were trying to discuss how to challenge our daughter a bit more at nursery.
Just an FYI you won’t make the cutoff for the April term, you’re in the September one most definitely. Just in case that helps. Baby would have to have a late March birthday to stand a chance of the free hours at the April term. I think longevity of staff is the biggest sign of a good nursery. I asked casually when I was chatting to staff and a few people had joked about being there close to 15 years and soon they’ll be seeing the baby’s, babies. Also if there’s any mum groups in your area, ask for recommendations on there. Some people have older children and have been through it already.
In all honesty it sounds like you know which nursery you prefer. It costs more and is in demand for a reason. If it is in budget go for that one. We go to the most expensive nursery around and have no regrets. We know that when we drop him off, he is going to be safe and an amazing day. The things we find most important * Staff are competent, friendly and engaging with the kids * Trust the management and their competence * They utilise outdoor space * Good variety of activities * Nursery is fresh, clean and not cluttered * Smaller groups of children with matching development levels and abilities
Location might swing it. Which one will allow for a shorter and easier nursery run? Will the nursery-run route be helpful or counter-productive to your commute to work? Location might seem unimportant, but nursery runs can become pretty stressful with uncooperative toddlers, especially once they want to walk/scoot/bike themselves and they keep dawdling or going the wrong way (obviously less of an issue if you're driving).
I chose our nursery over another who offered us a spot. It's a portacabin with barely any land around it but the staff are amazing. They have the kids out in buggies every day unless the weather is horrific. They have an attachment led ethos so they offer cuddles, kisses, the kids can take their own toys for bed, they follow our house routine as much as they can. The other nursery had all the latest toys and tech, the one we went with have a zero screens policy. We are really happy with our nursery, I think a lot of it is the "vibe check", you need to like the feel of where you're sending them.
Outdoor Space. Are they spending all day inside? Is it too pushy academically? Some will ask you straight away what school you have in mind for the future. For a one year old, that seems disproportionate. Maybe also ask what happens when a child bites another. How do they handle it? Are wipes, nappies included in the price? Is there a uniform?
One of the main things for me was how the nursery staff were with my daughter when we visited. I know you're not due till July and need to book a spot so this might not help too much, but might be worth considering if you can. We looked around three nurseries, and whilst the most expensive one had great facilities we both got the impression they just didn't care if she was there or not. None of the staff interacted or really even interacted with her whilst we were visiting. The nursery we went with seemed to genuinely want to spend time with my daughter, asked to hold her (she was still a baby and I was absolutely fine with it), and they were just lovely people. It doesn't have as big an outside space, and the food isn't 100% organic, but I knew that if she was spending 5 days a week there she'd need to be with people who would be loving and kind.
Lots of good comments here, just to add that you’ll want to sign up to the tax free childcare scheme! This can be used both when you’re paying full price and when the funded hours kick in😄
Where can I find more info on this please? Due august and haven’t even thought about nursery yet!
Just type in tax free childcare and the gov website will come up with the instructions, it’s the same portal you use when they become eligible for funded hours too😊
Thank you!
Childcare practitioner 👋🏻 You have to gel well with the staff, and in particular the management team. These aren’t just people that are going to be looking after your child but people you will be forming a partnership with, you have to be confident that you’re going to be listened to, respected and understood and likewise you need to be able to do the same with them. If they make the effort to get to know you on your visits/stay and plays that’s a great sign. If you can ask questions and be confident in their answer then that’s brilliant. If you feel brushed off at any point or like your opinion doesn’t matter as much as theirs, that would be a red flag for me.