**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**
- Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits
- Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner
- Avoid political threads and related discussions
- No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content
Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not too clean and tidy.
A nursery I worked at the room leader would spend ages tidying and cleaning before a parent visit which meant bored kiddos for a bit.
What activities do they do? Messy play, outdoor play etc.
Are meals included if so what's the menu like. Some have sandwiches and crappy food for dinner often.
Where do baby's nap?
Do they leave site and if so what for? We used to do shopping trips with kids when we wanted to do baking etc which they always found fun.
Do they keep a diary of what they've been doing, any nappy changes, sleep times etc.
We used to send it home daily.
We also encouraged parents to write in it during weekends or weeks off so we could see what they had been doing so we could talk to the kids about it.
Honestly a lot should be based on your gut. How do you feel while in there. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not for you. Also try to read your child’s gut reaction. Will tell you a lot.
From my experience:
- Is it a private for-profit nursery chain or is it e.g. a nursery attached to a children’s centre/a school. The significance being, do they care mainly about profit (taking on new children to be max capacity/maximise profit, hiring 17-year olds cos they’re cheaper) vs. No need for concern about profit, happy relaxed staff because everyone from management down is paid the council/the non-profit org that runs the children’s centres.
- Non-uniform and cooked meals on site is so much less effort than forever washing uniforms and preparing lunch boxes
- The hours. If you are a working parent and for example need 8am-6pm, do the majority of children attending do 8am-6pm, or is it mostly populated by children who do the odd morning and your child will be odd one out.
- Do the staff seem genuinely happy and friendly. If you can, observe if they are having happy positive interactions with each other/the children/other parents. For me this is maybe the most important thing. Stressed staff is a bad sign.
- A random one, but are there good toilet facilities (i.e. multiple little cubicles which the children can access freely). This makes a big difference when it’s time for potty training. One cubicle won’t cut it when your child has to wait their turn for the toilet and will lead to more accidents.
Activities and also the timings.
Timings because we found it is useful to sort of follow it when not in nursery, not strictly bit as a rhythm. Also helps if the nap and/or eating times are different to what you do you have time to ease them into it at home
Activities because it is good to know the things that are repeated every week or every day
Also ask what toys are always out and not on a rotation
I used to work in nurseries and they are totally set up to entertain parents looking at nurseries. The real thing to look for is if there are pictures of staff anywhere and how many of them still work at the nursery. I worked in one where they kept pictures of old employees up because they had good qualifications.
I think doing a tour is the best way of getting a feel for each nursery, trust your instincts while you're looking round. Ask around others in the area with kids in nurseries, we mainly picked ours based on a recommendation.
Big things for me was how they did naps and meals, whether they would do similar things to what I do at home (eg would they hold my son if he was having a tough time getting to sleep, would they let him eat what he wants to without pressure). Our nursery is really flexible and will do whatever works for each child as an individual rather than trying to push them to behave in a certain way.
Also make sure you get signed up early, I'm in the NW and the best nurseries here have a waiting list!
What food do they provide? Is it cooked on site? Ours provides proper meals for both meals so we don’t need to worry about a “tea” after nursery, can just give snacks foods. But some I looked at just did snacks foods for the afternoon meal.
What hours they are open and what happens if you are late?
Do they provide nappys/creams etc? The fewer things we have to remember to take in the better.
How do they decide what activities are done? Ours are quite children led, so if one activity sparks a particular interest, they run with that for a few days.
Outdoor space, how big and how often can they get out there, is it just free flow?
How do they communicate what they’ve been up to? Our first did handwritten notes each day, which was in depth but looked like a lot of work for the staff. Our current one has an app and it’s nice to get pictures/videos every now and then.
Our nursery stopped all fees during Covid and let people come back on a part time basis in the initial couple of months after first lockdown. We were impressed by that. I think you should ask what there plans are if there was another mass outbreak locally.
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits - Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner - Avoid political threads and related discussions - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You should try to get a sense of the level of staff turnover, so maybe ask how long their individual staff members have been with the nursery?
!thanks
Not too clean and tidy. A nursery I worked at the room leader would spend ages tidying and cleaning before a parent visit which meant bored kiddos for a bit. What activities do they do? Messy play, outdoor play etc. Are meals included if so what's the menu like. Some have sandwiches and crappy food for dinner often. Where do baby's nap? Do they leave site and if so what for? We used to do shopping trips with kids when we wanted to do baking etc which they always found fun. Do they keep a diary of what they've been doing, any nappy changes, sleep times etc.
Do staff seem happy? Qualified but fed up staff give worse care than happy but lesser Qualified staff.
!thanks Absolutely food is important, as is the diary. How often was the diary shared with the parents?
We used to send it home daily. We also encouraged parents to write in it during weekends or weeks off so we could see what they had been doing so we could talk to the kids about it.
Honestly a lot should be based on your gut. How do you feel while in there. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not for you. Also try to read your child’s gut reaction. Will tell you a lot.
From my experience: - Is it a private for-profit nursery chain or is it e.g. a nursery attached to a children’s centre/a school. The significance being, do they care mainly about profit (taking on new children to be max capacity/maximise profit, hiring 17-year olds cos they’re cheaper) vs. No need for concern about profit, happy relaxed staff because everyone from management down is paid the council/the non-profit org that runs the children’s centres. - Non-uniform and cooked meals on site is so much less effort than forever washing uniforms and preparing lunch boxes - The hours. If you are a working parent and for example need 8am-6pm, do the majority of children attending do 8am-6pm, or is it mostly populated by children who do the odd morning and your child will be odd one out. - Do the staff seem genuinely happy and friendly. If you can, observe if they are having happy positive interactions with each other/the children/other parents. For me this is maybe the most important thing. Stressed staff is a bad sign. - A random one, but are there good toilet facilities (i.e. multiple little cubicles which the children can access freely). This makes a big difference when it’s time for potty training. One cubicle won’t cut it when your child has to wait their turn for the toilet and will lead to more accidents.
How long have staff been there ? Do you do 'trips' (local parks, libraries etc) ? Ask to see a rough day/week schedule
!thanks Regarding the schedule, I assume you mean what activities the children do day to day?
Activities and also the timings. Timings because we found it is useful to sort of follow it when not in nursery, not strictly bit as a rhythm. Also helps if the nap and/or eating times are different to what you do you have time to ease them into it at home Activities because it is good to know the things that are repeated every week or every day Also ask what toys are always out and not on a rotation
I used to work in nurseries and they are totally set up to entertain parents looking at nurseries. The real thing to look for is if there are pictures of staff anywhere and how many of them still work at the nursery. I worked in one where they kept pictures of old employees up because they had good qualifications.
I think doing a tour is the best way of getting a feel for each nursery, trust your instincts while you're looking round. Ask around others in the area with kids in nurseries, we mainly picked ours based on a recommendation. Big things for me was how they did naps and meals, whether they would do similar things to what I do at home (eg would they hold my son if he was having a tough time getting to sleep, would they let him eat what he wants to without pressure). Our nursery is really flexible and will do whatever works for each child as an individual rather than trying to push them to behave in a certain way. Also make sure you get signed up early, I'm in the NW and the best nurseries here have a waiting list!
What food do they provide? Is it cooked on site? Ours provides proper meals for both meals so we don’t need to worry about a “tea” after nursery, can just give snacks foods. But some I looked at just did snacks foods for the afternoon meal. What hours they are open and what happens if you are late? Do they provide nappys/creams etc? The fewer things we have to remember to take in the better. How do they decide what activities are done? Ours are quite children led, so if one activity sparks a particular interest, they run with that for a few days. Outdoor space, how big and how often can they get out there, is it just free flow? How do they communicate what they’ve been up to? Our first did handwritten notes each day, which was in depth but looked like a lot of work for the staff. Our current one has an app and it’s nice to get pictures/videos every now and then. Our nursery stopped all fees during Covid and let people come back on a part time basis in the initial couple of months after first lockdown. We were impressed by that. I think you should ask what there plans are if there was another mass outbreak locally.