Questions You Might Ask

Questions you might ask when visiting a nursery:

• Is the nursery registered with SCSWIS (formally Care Commission) Can you see the certificate displayed? Ask to see it
• Is there a recent SCSWIS(formally Care Commission) report that you can look at?
• The standard ratio of staff to child is 1:3 for children 0-2, 1:5 for children 2-3, 1:8 for children 3-5. Are these ratios maintained during lunch hours and breaks?
• How are the staff supported? Is there in-house training, or mentoring/supervision systems, or support networks for the staff?
• What is the staff turnover like? (This helps to see whether the staff are happy, and stay for lengthy periods. It is not ideal to send your child to a nursery where there is a high turnover of staff, with frequently changing faces)
• Is there a key worker system? (This is where every baby or child is assigned a named early years practitioner to liaise with the parents, tell them about their day, stay in close contact with child and parent and so build up relationships.)
• How many members of staff are qualified in first aid?
• How many accidents have there been in the past year?
• How are parents involved in the nursery? Are there parent’s evenings? Are parents encouraged to visit?
• What is the policy on sickness?
• How/where do the babies/children sleep?
• How does the nursery stop un-authorised people entering the building? And how do they ensure that the right person collects the children?
• How are the children settled in? (Many nurseries say that they reassure both parents and children by having trial sessions and settling in sessions. 'It's a matter of building up trust. You have got to get to know who is looking after your child before you leave them. Once you see them and know how they behave and what they do, you feel more confident.')
• What does the nursery want to know from you? It's really important that the nursery asks you about your child, her habits, likes and dislikes, and tries to incorporate them as much as possible into the daily routine. A good nursery will try help your child to adapt gradually
• Do the children look happy and occupied?
• Does the staff look happy in what they are doing?
• Are the walls decorated with the children's own work? (Beware the nursery that has lots of posters and drawings - but not the original work of the children)
• What do they do if your child is unhappy? (And you should think about what you want them to do)
• What is the behaviour policy?
• Does the nursery feed into a particular primary school?

You may think of other questions when you make your visit.

The chances are that you will think of other questions once you have left, but you should ring up and ask, or go back again, until you feel satisfied.