23 junio 2006

 

Plan B

I had said I was going to check out a third nursery. The three of us went yesterday as Andy had taken his morning off for my interview. It was yet another option and we were a bit sceptical to begin with. We had two references about the place, one of them indirect as it is the nursery where the children of one of the GPs at my practice go (not my GP though), and the other one directly from one of the mums I've known the longest whose child has been there for nearly a year. Both of them were delighted about them. The reason for us being sceptical is that we'd heard that their latest Ofsted report hadn't been favourable, so we were looking out for signs of it not being as idyllic as described.
Having said that, all we could see were confident, independent children, happy and engaged in play, with very good social skills; and staff that looked happy too, relaxed and genuinely enjoying their time with them. There was freedom to move from one space to the next, and it seem to work well. I asked how did the key worker manage if a child wanted to stay and the other one to go to another room, and they explained that is why they have more staff on duty than the minimum recommended by Ofsted, and apart from having less children allocated to each key worker, there is always one or two who have no children allocated so they are an extra pair of hand for situations like that. They also mentioned that Ofsted recommend staff being qualified up to level 2, whereas they are all qualified to level 3.
I also liked that Alexandra was encouraged to stay in one room to play with other kids while we were having the tour, and everyone was so friendly and receptive to her, and that includes children. And there weren't that many children, so they all seem to know each other very well.
Things I didn't like? well, they don't have a designated sleeping area either, but at least is better than in the second nursery I went to see: in this third nursery there are travel cots which they put up when and where children need to sleep, they are never left alone but the children who are awake are ushered to another room so it's quieter and calmer for the sleeping ones. I didn't like the fact they don't do afternoons only, so I would have to pay for the whole day even if I only want her for few hours a day (and a whole day there is considerably more expensive than in the other two nurseries because they have proportionally more staff).
Conclusion? My plan A still is in place - nothing would beat that nursery, I don't think! (hence the long waiting list). I guess this is my new plan B, but to sign up for that I would have to come to terms with leaving her there for the whole day which I'm not sure I can do just yet. Are you suggesting for me not to leave her there the whole day? Hey! if I'm paying for ten hours at a premium rate, I better use those hours, don't you think?. Head and heart in conflict again.

Comments:
Finalmente me confirmaron una plaza en la guardería que siempre queríamos. No sólo es la mejor en términos de tamaño, diversidad cultural del staff y niños (todos los avisos están en tres idiomas, uno de ellos español), sino que es la que más cerca me queda de la casa, así que puedo llevarla caminando también. Estará 4 tardes y una mañana.
 
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