There are many questions you will have as a parent looking for a provider to care for your child. Some will be individual to your child’s needs and could be linked to health and development needs. It could be that your child has a particular way of sleeping or routine. Don’t shy away from asking the questions that you need answers to, in order to enable you to make the best choice of childcare provider for your child and family.
Example questions to ask when touring a nursery or childminder
- What is your ethos?
- What is your curriculum?
- What do you want children to learn while they are with you?
- How do you share what my child has done during the day?
- How do I know what I can help my child with at home?
- Are there any extra curricular activities that children have access to and if so do they have an additional cost?
- Who will look after my child? Do they work full time or part time?
- What is your staff turnover like?
- How experienced are the staff with babies? What training have they had?
- What training do staff receive to keep them up to date and develop their knowledge and skills further?
- What do I need to bring with my child each day? (including asking about clothing for outings such as snowsuits or hats and suncream)
- Where do children go on outings?
- Who goes with them?
- How many staff go out with children on outings?
- How many staff have paediatric first aid? How many staff working in my child’s room have paediatric first aid?
- Where will my child sleep?
- What supervision do children have while sleeping?
- What food and meals do you provide? Is there a menu that we can have a copy of?
