How to Choose a Nursery – Your Viewing Options

There are so many tough decisions to make as a parent and choosing a nursery for your little one is definitely a biggy! From brochures to video tours there are a variety of options to help you find out about our nurseries.

Starting nursery is a big deal. It’s often the first time your child will have been away from you for any length of time and it’s the start of their learning journey. With so much to consider, you may be struggling to decide which nursery is the right one for your child.

We have put together some of the ways we are enabling families to get a feel for our nurseries, even if a visit isn’t possible.

Recorded Virtual Tours

Just as you might view a house virtually, the majority of our nurseries now have recorded video tours, enabling you to look around from the comfort of your own home! Recorded tours offer an introduction to the nursery, enabling families to see the different rooms, find out a little of what the nursery has to offer and see some of the toys and resources available.

Bright Horizons virtual tours are available on our nursery website pages and our social media pages. Here’s an example of a tour at Southborough Woodlands.

Telephone Calls

It’s normal to have lots of questions when deciding on a nursery, including practical ones about fees and flexibility and, as we all adjust to the ‘new normal’, ones regarding the safety of nursery visits. Many families will also have emotional questions concerning how their child will settle into new surroundings, make friends, bond with their key person and adapt to seeing staff and visitors, some of whom may be in facemasks.

At Bright Horizons you can book a ‘meet the team’ call, where a member of our nursery team will be on hand to answer any questions, talk through any concerns and discuss your child’s individual requirements. They will be happy to talk to you about the care and education we provide and give you an overview of life in their setting. We want your child to feel comfortable right from the start so these calls are a great opportunity to raise any queries or concerns you may have.

One-to-one Virtual Tours

One-to-one video tours enable families to view the nursery virtually and ask questions along the way. As with our recorded tours, these help to get a feel for the nursery and see what the rooms or garden are like and what sort of toys, resources and activities are available, all from the comfort of your own sofa!

Group Virtual Tours

Many nurseries now also offer group virtual tours. Our nurseries hold these in groups of no more than three families. Like our one-to-one tours, you’ll be introduced to a member of our team and, where possible, they’ll show you around the nursery rooms.

During all of our virtual tours, it’s entirely up to you whether you’d like your camera and speaker on, it’s important you feel comfortable.

After-hours Tours

Pre-arranged, out-of-hours appointments are now available in many nurseries. These generally take place outside normal operating hours on evenings or Saturdays and enable families to have a look around, one family at a time. Please check with the parent enquiry team to find out what options are available.

In our nurseries there will always be at least two members of our nursery team ready to welcome you and between visits we undertake cleaning and sanitising of the nursery - keeping everyone safe is our highest priority.

One-to-one Personal Tours

Personal tours are specially designed to show you what the nursery offers, enable you to get a feel for the nursery and chat with the staff.

To comply with current safety guidance and give you peace of mind, where available, our personal tours are exclusive to each family, booked in advance and scheduled to allow sanitisation between visits. Our enhanced safety measures ensure that we remain a safe environment for you, our nursery children and staff, while giving you plenty of time to look around. To find out more about our COVID-safe nursery tours, click here.

Brochure and Resources

There is an abundance of information available for our families without you having to visit in person – the first stop is often our Bright Horizons Brochure. We also have resources available online, from information about us and news stories, to information about Early Years Development and our Growing Enhancement Programmes and Family Resources containing activities, blogs and more!

Facebook

Following a nursery on social media can be a great way of getting a feel for the setting. Their posts can help provide a glimpse into day-to-day life, illustrating what the children have been up to, what sort of activities they’ve enjoyed, as well as being a great way of getting to know the staff.

To support our families and their children with learning at home, we also share blogs, activity ideas and competitions on our main Facebook page, do take a look and follow us to find out more!

During these unprecedented times, our Bright Horizons nurseries are continually adapting and developing new ways of working, looking at how we can best communicate and deliver our services to ensure settings are welcoming and safe to all. For more information about your closest nursery, or to book a tour or call, please get in touch with our parent enquiry team on 0333 455 3294 or visit our website.

Extra Resources:

• We continue to monitor developments and government announcements regarding COVID-19, to find out more about our policies and procedures, click here.
• Candy Floss, our Bright Horizons health and safety mascot, is instrumental in teaching our children about safety, germs and illness prevention whilst also supporting families as they implement healthy routines and practices at home. Take a look at this resource for parents with Candy Floss’ Keeping Healthy Advice.
• As children were exposed to the new sight of people wearing facemasks, understandably many become frightened. We created a resource to help children understand why they may see people wearing masks and visors, and support them with their questions or concerns, helping families navigate through the pandemic.

Parent Reviews

We understand how important word-of-mouth recommendations are. Reading reviews and testimonials from other parents to find out what they think of the nursery you’re considering can be really helpful in getting a feel for the nursery.

Click here to watch Joanna, one of our parents, talk about her experience with us, including her son Dexter’s transition back to nursery after lockdown.