What brilliant things does your nursery do?

[Gooders79]

I've been invited to provide some feedback to our nursery. I've a good idea of some bits that could do with a brush up but limited experience of other nurseries. Any examples of little things your nursery does which you think are great?

[buggie]

The nursery my daughter goes to has a system where (as I understand it) each there are several children being "observed" each week (one from each key worker group - if that makes sense), all staff will watch out & note down observations on the observed children & the key workers do a couple of longer observations of their child during the week & it is discussed at the end of the week to help understand how the child is progressing, what they enjoy/what they need help or encouragement with.

It works out to be about once every 6wks that the child is observed & we're informed when their "on the board" so we can see what's been noted/how their doing. Find it really useful & while the nursery are fab at letting us know what's going on, it's nice to see what progress she's made since her last observations. We're also encouraged to jot down observations we've made so they know what we're seeing/doing too.

[AnnaCBH]

Trips out! When my daughter was at a day nursery she went on one trip, in a year and a half. I spend a lot of time up at Hilly Fields and there are always children from Catherine House nursery up there digging about in the mud or ambling round, whatever the weather. It's so lovely to see and made me sad that my daughters nursery didn't do that. She's now at a Nursery School and I could rave about them from dawn to dusk so she's winning now and that ok! Does your nursery have a home school book? I would always write something in my daughters that they could use to start a conversation with her about, and to jog her memory of what she's been up to, again I don't think the previous nursery ever used it but hey, I did my bit!

[alaska721]

My daughter's nursery does a "Forest School" day every couple of weeks where the children spend the whole day in the woodland area at the back of the school. Even if it's wet they go out there (in waterproofs) and can get very muddy. My daughter loves it especially when they come across bugs, frogs, snails etc.

[Yak]

Trips out (ours go to the Tate Modern once a month at the moment, lucky kids!). They also have an early years trained artist who works on special projects with the children (the nursery has 2 branches, so this is split between them).

How do they handle birthdays? In ours the birthday child gets to bake a cake during the day to share with everyone - saves parents bringing in OTT stuff that may not meet everyone's dietary requirements anyway. Trips to the shop by bus.

They also ask for pictures of the children with their families for one of the home corner comfy areas. They also have a pile of feedback sheets for us to record our own observations / special memories from home, which then are put into the child's file.

We also have a parents / carers forum where you can meet the management team and discuss issues, which is really helpful.

[Bellenden Belle]

How old are peoples kids when they go on trips out? Three? Or younger?

[Yak]

From memory I think there were short trips on buses and to the corner shop from about 2. Then longer trips out from about 3.

[david_carnell]

Yak - could I ask where your children went to nursery please? It sounds amazing.

[MichelleT]

Trips out, people to come and talk to the kids (fire brigade etc).

[canela]

nursery walks those that want to a nearby playground every morning in small groups so they get a run around in a big space.

[Yak]

1st place, Addington Square, David. It's gives priority to parents / carers who live in SE5 or SE17, but some kids come from further away.