Nursery

Ask about the room routine
How the settles work
Fees and funding
How they do observations and reports
Opening and closing time
Their illness and sickness policy e.g if little one gets a temperature etc

I work in a nursery. I would ask what their ratios of staff to children. Government requires 1 to 3 for under 2s, 1 to 5 for 2-3s and 1-8 for over 3s. If a staff member is a qualified teacher, the ratio is 1-20 which some nurseries use to try and "be in ratio" without actually having as many staff. Generally the more staff the better. Its good to ask about level of staff qualifications.

I would also ask about their policies for nap times, where children sleep, how often they are checked etc.

Its good to know their policies for children with allergies, is the whole nurseries food restricted if a child has a specific allergy? Or how do they ensure no cross contamination starts.

I would also ask about daily routines, how they implement the EYFS framework throughout the day. And do they have any additional support initiatives for SEN children or children with English as an additional language if that applies to you. Things like "Bucket Time", "Box Clever" and "Talk Boost" are always a good sign.

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I would also ask them about the amount of outdoor time the children have access to each day. In my opinion the more the better, activities for learning opportunities can be carried out outside and often children learn better through outdoor learning and child lead play rather than structured adult lead learning.

It would also be good to ask about how they teach phonics, in early years ages they should be being taught how to listen, differentiate sounds and gradually build up to things like rhyming sounds etc before starting to learn letter sounds. If a nursery just talks about letter sounds (which they tend to be truly ready for in reception) and doesn't mention the other aspects and stages of learning phonics, then they may be skipping out on an important step.

How do they monitor children's progress and how often do they give feedback.

If a nursery is happy to answer questions and volunteer information that is always a good

Ask them how they manage behaviour and support little ones emotional development, and their answer will determine or you will get an idea of if they actually are a caring setting

There is lots more you could ask but this is off the top of my head. If you have any questions about anything I have said feel free to message me. 😁