What to look for in day care for your little one?
Any advice will be be much appreciated.
What to look for in day care for your little one?
Gamzallup on 25/07/2023 - 18:33
Last edited 25/07/2023 - 19:44 by 1 other user
Last edited 25/07/2023 - 19:44 by 1 other user
Comments
It really depends on the area and how full the center is. In Auckland it doesn't really matter. My wife use to work for 1 for few years.
Best thing is you need to figure out the requirements first and work around that. To get the best feedback, try to find local community groups on fb and ask on good/bad experiences from other parents. Also, go through Google reviews ( not reliable sometimes but you get the feel of it if more than 1 person say something)
Just to name a few.
* Dietary requirements ( some have started no sugar policy) if provided.
* daily hours ( full day, half, school hours)
* location with respect to your commute
* kids to teacher ratio
* Is the room big enough for said number of children and things to do inside and outside.Ask more questions and likely visit at the end of day and talk to parents coming to pickup their kids. Be polite as you might not get answers due to them rushing.
Here are some tips on what to check for and ask about when visiting potential daycare facilities:
Staff: You want to make sure that the staff are qualified, experienced, and caring. Ask about their credentials, training, background checks, and staff-to-child ratios. Observe how they interact with the children and how they handle challenging situations.
Curriculum: You want to make sure that the facility offers a developmentally appropriate curriculum that supports your child’s learning and growth. Ask about the daily schedule, the activities, the materials, and the goals of the program. Observe how the staff implement the curriculum and how they assess the children’s progress.
Environment: You want to make sure that the facility provides a safe, clean, and stimulating environment for your child. Check the physical condition of the building, the furniture, the equipment, and the toys. Observe how the staff maintain hygiene and sanitation practices. You can also ask about the policies and procedures for emergencies, accidents, illnesses, allergies, and medications.
Health and safety: You want to make sure that the facility follows health and safety standards and regulations. Check if they have smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and emergency exits. Observe how they store and prepare food and drinks. You can also ask about their immunization requirements, their sick child policy, their security system, and their supervision practices.
Cost: You want to make sure that the facility fits your budget and offers value for money. Ask about their fees, their payment options, their discounts, and their refund policy. You can also ask about their hours of operation, their holidays, their late fees, and their extra charges.
This is a good list. Most of these things are legislated for, but levels of compliance vary widely, particularly between inspections by ERO or the Ministry.
Having been heavily involved in the industry recently myself, I would say particularly:
Staff supervision: pay careful attention when you visit to how the staff monitor children. Are they active participants in their play and learning, or do they just stand back and watch? Do they turn their backs or get easily distracted? How do they respond to conflict or difficulties? Ask what professional development has been done recently by staff. And remember that one poor staff member doesn't make a centre bad, but if there's a pattern of poor supervision or lack of desire to improve, stay well away.
Don't be fooled by flash new facilities. Some of the clean, new facilities are staffed by people who hate where they work, hate the system they work for and are slowly getting burnt out, while some smaller, older centres are run by owner operators who are investing in staff who really care and love their jobs. Kids don't mind playing with old toys, so long as they're fun, sanitary and safe.
Staff to child ratios: I'll reiterate this point because it can be telling. If they're operating at 1:5 or 1:4 for under 2's and 1:10 to 1:9 or even 1:8 for 2yo and older, then that's within the licensed limits, but only suitable if every one of their rostered staff are competent. One less than competent staff member looking after close to the legal limit of kids is a recipe for disaster.
Visit at the end of the day and have a carpark chat to some other parents to get their feel. They will have a good sense of whether the place is well run or not.
Happy to answer any specific questions on policy or procedures.
As a first time parent and with our now 2.5 year old, from what I’ve seen there can be very big differences between daycares. Our first one split the children up by age group but our new one doesn’t. Our old daycare thought that other children biting our child was their way of showing ‘affection’. The staff and the management make a great difference. That daycare was CLEARLY run as a business, even when speaking with the owner and other parents, this was very clear. We no longer felt like our child was being taken care, we could see it in our daughter and she always wanted to leave when we came to pick her up. Our new daycare, although costing more, the staff are so much friendlier and you can actually tell they care. The owner was absolutely wonderful and our girl never wants to leave when we come to pick her up! I never would have imagined there could be such a big difference.
Thank you all for your advice! There are couple of large daycare centres such as Best start and Bear Park would not allow random visit into their centre and would only taken booking at a specific time that suits them. Does anyone have much experience in Beststart and Bear Park large daycare centre?
From our experience some years ago there were really very limited spaces available, and the well resourced centers always have waiting lists for under 2s. I would suggest do a google search of day cares in areas that you are considering, visit in person and ask for availability, it is possible if your child is under 2 then you don't get to pick a center it will be down to which ever has availability.
My daughter went to a expensive private center that has one room for each year group, the center later rebranded as Best start and there's a bear park on the same street, they both very good and we had a team leader jump over to the bear park.
Thanks! We will be visiting both Bear park and beststart, as well other centres. Probably good to put down names in several centres
When we picked ours I went to all the daycares between our house and the motorway to work.
I preferred privately owned rather than a chain and preferably by a teacher/former teacher (was able to find out on websites mostly)
Long term teachers - and ask how many are permanent (there is a Best Start local to us where most of the teachers were relievers on week by week contracts)
I wanted a smaller centre.
If you are in West Auckland I'm happy to recommend ours - we still go back and visit once or twice a year and my kids are 11 and 8.hi, we live in West Auckland and would love to hear your recommendation. Thank you!
Kidsfirst is original NZ kindergarten - all their teachers are qualified. BestStart is owned by the Wright Family and very much a business. If you are lucky enough to find a home-based carer who has been doing it for while and has a free spot that's gold. It's personalised and stable. Avoid places that operate with relievers constantly. Visit and watch for the interactions between the children and the adults, stay as long as you can. Don't be swayed by the fancy folders they offer with photos of your child's activities each day and write-ups. If they are spending time on that they are not responding to and interacting with the children. Are there books in the centre?
Anyone have experience with Kindercare?
@dealhunter I’ve send my toddler for almost a year now, and I’ve found Kindercare Constellation to be super amazing, caring teachers and the centre director is super on to things. And that’s after visiting many around our area (Albany). Happy for you to PM me with any specific questions!
Go into the place, right into the rooms where the kids are in the middle of the day.
Check out the smell in particular but also the general state of the place .. especially if your talking kids in nappies etc. If they cant keep it clean then they probably cant do a bunch of other things as well. If they can then its worth considering.
As a general guide this simple test worked well for me.
This is an old post but just in case people are looking for advice
You can search the ERO website and see what ratings and comments the centre got on their last visit
https://ero.govt.nz/audience/early-learning
Also ask about staff turnover - this is a big sign. The first place we sent our son was okayish, the staff were mostly really young - not necessarily a bad thing in itself but they were daft, only the one person who actually had a child themselves seemed to have any idea what they were doing. The staff would basically just sit on the floor all day chatting. Across the centre maybe 8 staff left in the 6 months we were there?
We now go to a BestStart and it is amazing, staff are constantly on the go with the kids, having activities and themed days, they take the kids on excursions every few weeks - local cafe for fluffies, inflatable world, library story times, playgrounds. Only one staff member is just leaving now after we have been there since Jan, and it's because she's had a great job opportunity. So while chains get a bad rap sometimes this one works for us, however, of note it was an independent place originally, BestStart bought it out in the last few years so maybe they had set a good culture up already.
You'll probably get pretty good gut instincts about places, this one felt good to us immediately whereas some of the others I visited (saw maybe 7 total) I would never have left my kid there.
A few people my partner talked to reckon you should go to any daycares you're interested in on a random day (as opposed to a scheduled appointment). See what they're really like.