Can a daycare nursery be too flash?

sunshine_1988

Hello
We have recently looked at a number of nurseries as our baby will be starting in November, and I used to be a nursery nurse.

I worked in a purpose built nursery which looked beautiful, however, we did display the childrens work etc on all the display boards. When we have been looking around for our own baby, we have tried to look beyond the 'mess' and by that I just mean toys out, paints/crayons out etc, and have tried to look at how happy the children look, how the staff are interacting with them, what work is on the walls etc.

We made the choice not to go for the purpose built nursery but to go for an old barn house which has been converted into a nursery. The reason for this was that whilst the purpose built was lovely and shiny and new, it was quite small and seemed very minimal. The other nursery had lots of different rooms, decorated in all different styles and colours and generally seemed much fuller and fun.

I would say have a look around as many as you can, try a settling in session and see how your LO gets on. As others have said, they may just be trying to find thier feet especially if they are new.

Hope your LO is happy wherever you choose. x

londonsurrey

Not related to your actual nursery, but in our local shopping centre, I have sometimes seen 2-3 girls who look somewhere between 17-22, dressed in shirts with a nursery's logo. They're shopping for things, and shepherding about six children of similar age but assorted appearances (making it less likely that it's a family group) with them.

The thing that strikes me is how the girls look bored, and shepherding the children perfectly nicely(i.e. not unkind), but quite indifferently, as there's no eye contact, no smiles and nothing beyond a terse "Go, go" and "Come, come".

I assume that these shopping expeditions are billed as "outings" to the children's parents. Lol.

cte1111

My DD went to a nursery like this for a while. When I initially went for a look round I felt like you did, e.g. perhaps a little overwhelmed. However after looking round some others, then I decided to go for the smart one. It was actually a very good nursery. It was a few months old, like the one that you looked at, and run by someone well qualified who had managed other nurseries then started her own.

We moved so had to move my daughter to a different nursery and only then realised how good the first one was. The carefully planned activities, well trained staff and excellent food all made a big difference to the day to day experience of my daughter, the decor was kind of by the bye. I think it was just new and showed the owner really wanted to invest in the nursery and TBH suited her personal design taste.

I guess what I'm saying is, if they are taking a lot of care with the decor, food and toys, then they are also probably taking a lot of care with less visible elements - e.g. ensuring the children have an appropriate program of activities, staff are well qualified and retained, records are kept well etc.

Chakani

From our experience with nurseries and preschools, what I would say is, I would never consider a nursery based on what the building looked like, or what the manager said, or even what the Ofsted report said.

The people who will be looking after your child are far more important than what the place looks like, or what is on the walls. It would ring an alarm bell for me if I was shown around while it was empty, I would much rather sit in the corner and watch how the staff interact with the children, how they react to my child, and how my child reacts to them. If the staff and children aren't there, how can you judge the atmosphere?

One nursery we used, until I pulled our son out, gets very good (often outstanding) reports, it's spotless, has a "proper" chef etc, but the management are so interested in the paperwork that they don't bother much with what the staff are doing in the rooms with the children - also they seemed to employ staff based purely on their qualifications, so several had degree-level qualifications, but didn't interact well with the children, and saw their job as a stepping stone to management, not as a caring role.

Saying that, some parents I know feel safer in the knowledge that the security of the building is high tech, and that all the inspection boxes have been ticked.

A good nursery could be in a shiny building, or an old prefab. It's the staff that matter.

thatgirlsam

Reminds me of when we were looking for a nursery school for my dd

One we visited sounds very much like you have described, I loved it, dd's Dad hated it and said the children were like robots

Another we visited he loved, I hated. You could smell it from the path, the stench of hamster was unbelievable, the children were doing whatever they liked and it just looked old, scruffy and hideous to me.

Luckily we met in the middle and chose a school inbetween. Clean, bright but with plenty of creativity for little ones

I like the sound of the nursery you describe OP! But it won't appeal to everyone, go with whatever you are most comfortable with

make_me_wise

alinwales wrote: »

- there is no (that the wife remembers) childrens' art on the walls, plus displays are all bought-in - no letters cut out of paper and the like. There's not bright colours anywhere ("it overstimulates" they say)

This seems strange to me. I am a teacher and have worked in foundation and years 1 to 3. I am very fortunate to have a creative teaching assistant who puts together the most amazing displays. The whole idea of them is to encourage the children to look at the displays, read them and learn from them.

To encourage the children to do this they are imaginatively put together and have eye catching fun colours. Respecting the fact though that it is the childrens work that must stand out most. This forms at least 50% of what is in any given display in my classroom. It is one of the best methods to encourage little ones to apply themselves and produce the best work they can. They feel proud to have what they have written or drawn mounted on the walls for all to see.

Bright colours dont overstimulate children, they offer a warm, welcoming environment where children can relax and be themselves. Children should be able to feel completely at ease and not be worried about creating, exploring and discovering for fear of making any mess. It is in environments that dont stimulate children that you get chaos as they quickly become bored, distracted and play up.

I 100% agree with the posters who advise you to observe how the stafff interact with the children and how the children respond to them. This will tell you all need to know as to whether this nursery suits your child.

GobbledyGook

It sounds rather sterile to me. I wouldn't be keen on a place that didn't have any of the children's work up on the wall as to me that should only happen on the first and last day of term. It would also make me wonder how often the children do crafty things.

Did your wife have a specific appointment or was it coincidence that the children were outside? Can you ask the other parents you know who have been to see it if it was the same? Are they open to you popping in at some point or is it strictly by appointment only?

The key thing to me is how the children interact with the staff. Are they engaged and enjoying themselves? Is there a good balance between adult-led activities and the children having the time to play imaginatively?

Also if they are not that much more expensive than other nurseries I'd be questioning how sustainable their choices are. Are they going to be able to keep highly-qualified, well paid staff whilst keeping fees low or are they going to start to struggle eventually? Same with equipment - if it gets damaged are they going to be able to afford to replace it like-for-like or will standards start to slip? Are the children then most important thing or the image?

alinwales

I'll try and fill in what I can

They are curerntly priding themselves on 'no staff have left' - not that it's too difficult in 6 months of being open.

I totally agree that it's the staff that make the difference. I remember now that the wife took both children (our girl is 6mths) and they were both whisked off to have some fun. Wife saw dd in the baby room, looked like she was having fun. The view to the garden was a bit obscured though so unable to see exactly what they were up to.

I do know that the wife had to specifically ask for an appointment during the day, as they had held an open evening arrangement the previous night and the following night for prospective parents from the other nursery - we weren't happy with that! I'm going tonight to take a look, but as wife has seen it in the day then that's OK for me.

We will get a settling in session before the main start - hopefully the missus can hang around for a short while to get an idea of what's going on. Thoguh to be fair, our son is very laid back and will get on pretty much anywhere.

I'm a bit concered about the cost sustainability too. It sounds like they had a bit of cash to start with (to buy a newly renovated house outright, then rip out the brand new bathroom to replace with kiddy toilets and the like).. but will they hike costs at some point? I don't know. If standards slipped and they bought 'inferior' play equipment, I don't think I'd mind... it's what he has at home!

The other nice thing they do is provide a seating area in the kitchen (which is open-plannish) for parents to have a quick cuppa when they drop the children off. I can see that as a good way of engaging with other parents, assuming they're not all whizzing off to work!

milliebear00001

Chakani wrote: »

From our experience with nurseries and preschools, what I would say is, I would never consider a nursery based on what the building looked like, or what the manager said, or even what the Ofsted report said.

The people who will be looking after your child are far more important than what the place looks like, or what is on the walls. It would ring an alarm bell for me if I was shown around while it was empty, I would much rather sit in the corner and watch how the staff interact with the children, how they react to my child, and how my child reacts to them. If the staff and children aren't there, how can you judge the atmosphere?

One nursery we used, until I pulled our son out, gets very good (often outstanding) reports, it's spotless, has a "proper" chef etc, but the management are so interested in the paperwork that they don't bother much with what the staff are doing in the rooms with the children - also they seemed to employ staff based purely on their qualifications, so several had degree-level qualifications, but didn't interact well with the children, and saw their job as a stepping stone to management, not as a caring role.

Saying that, some parents I know feel safer in the knowledge that the security of the building is high tech, and that all the inspection boxes have been ticked.

A good nursery could be in a shiny building, or an old prefab. It's the staff that matter.

This. 100%.

Turn up 'on spec' without an appointment. How do they feel about you popping in to see them interacting with the children? What's their staff-child ratio for each age group? What's a 'typical day'? What opportunities do they provide outside the nursery building - park trips etc?

Above all else - go and watch (carefully) how they interact with the children before you make a decision.

GobbledyGook

alinwales wrote: »

The other nice thing they do is provide a seating area in the kitchen (which is open-plannish) for parents to have a quick cuppa when they drop the children off. I can see that as a good way of engaging with other parents, assuming they're not all whizzing off to work!

Is this in addition to parents being welcome in the rooms to see staff, see what the children have been up to etc?

There's a nursery near me that actively discourages parents from setting foot in the rooms where the children are. Parents seem to be expected to just steer clear of the rooms - I'd never look further than that before deciding not to send mine there.

If the nursery is not welcoming to parents then (IMO) they either have something to hide or (most likely) they work so close to the edge ratio wise that they don't have any spare capacity to speak to parents without planning.


Another thought. Are all of the staff fully qualified? Most nurseries I've experienced have a number of staff working towards qualifications so check they aren't spreading the cost of the top staff and chef by having more than average unqualified/low qualified staff.

Gut feeling is the best thing to go by. If your wife didn't feel comfortable with your lo in the foyer that says a lot to me. The childcare setting is such a big part of your life there doesn't always have to be a specific reason that makes you say no, just not feeling right is enough.