Guest Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 I have been offered a job at a full day-care nursery. My previous roles have all been in schools and sessional day-care. I would love it if anyone who has worked in different types of settings could explain how they felt they differed in general terms. (Trying not to sound like an idiot!) I’m just curious as to how others have found it. Many thanks MCL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 I have owned and managed both types of setting (currently full daycare). The biggest difference I think is the opening hours meaning you might have babies and children at nursery for 10 hours a day. This has a lot of implications for routines, meals, sleeping etc. Also because of the long day, many staff work shifts which affects the key person role. My staff work shifts, but work the same shift all the time rather than a 'lates' week and an 'earlies' week which I think a lot of settings do. We also have a large number of children even though we're not a very big nursery (registered for 42 before numbers were abandoned!). This is because of the patterns of attendance and the fact that the long day gives more attendance options. So a big difference in a school is all the children arriving at the same time, leaving at the same time and all attending every day - therefore fewer children. This sounds like it is all about long hours but its more the implications of a full day. Oh and no school holidays. If I think of anything else I'll be back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 When I worked in full day care the thing I noticed most compared to sessional was the routines, they tended to be based around what the staff wanted rather what the children needed. The routines ate into the childrens activities. Snack, nappies, lunch, nappies, sleep. One or two places were lovely but I definitely prefered sessional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Thank-you for your help Beehive and Rea. You have given me some things to think about that never even crossed my mind! Thank you again. MCL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I agree with Rea in that routines can be dictated by staff rather than the needs of the children and I have been in several places that work this way. We try to follow routines from home as much as we can, particularly for under two's. This can appear to be harder to manage at first glance but actually works much better as babies are happier and more settled, therefore staff are less stressed and parents are happy. No brainer really and I'd highly recommend it if you have any influence over how things work Madcatlady! :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laura Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 We moved from term time sessional care, 8-30am to 3-30pm, taking from two to a day nursery taking from 6 weeks plus out of school club, 7.30am to 6pm all year round! What a mad 9 months it has been - incredibly hard work as it's our own business, run by myself and my mum, plus my sister who left her teaching job and joined us. It is very different, having different rooms for each age group has been strange but really works. The hours are much longer and rotas are a headache! We follow the children's routines in our toddler and baby rooms, they sleep when they need to not when we want them too. We love taking them out and about in their buggies exploring the local town, the toddlers all went to the pet shop today to but the rabbits and guinea pigs some treats - just lovely! We are now one of the largest nurseries in our area taking with 160 children on our books. We love it, but can't wait for that week off between Christmas and new year...... even when we book a holiday we tend to just 'pop in' and stay for a couple of hours! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Thank you Laura. I smiled when I read what you had written, sounded lovely :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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