Can you share with me what you do.... kids in centre based care

I'm looking at a centre for my kids after DD1 doing FDC when she was a bubba and both girls since doing alternative care.
At the moment I dro them off at approximately 7/7.30am and they are picked up by 5.30pm. Most mornings they have breakfast at daycare. Some days they have a smoothie in the car or something similar.
I have a pretty good grasp on questions I want to ask the centres I look at. But are there any that people ask specifically of a centre (as a pose to FDC)?

Can girls have breakfast at a centre in the morning if it's an early morning?
Has anyone had any experience in Open Plan Learning for 2.5 - 5 year olds? Whats your experiences with this??

Any advice for me regarding centre based care as a pose to FDC? The girls need more exposure to kids thier own age as well as some more structure and proper learning. While FDC offers this, I can't get them both into the same place on the same days, but there are a couple of centres that i'm looking at that i can get them both in.

What food is offered and when? (I find if I pick up Liebling just before they are to serve food he is very cross with me and I have to wait for him to eat before we can go!)

How do you record a child's achievement and plan for their development? (In the UK there is a curriculum for 0-5 years, the Early Years Foundation Stage it is called, and highlights skills and understandings young children can work towards, including washing hands, playing with friends, showing awareness of size, shape, colour and texture, discussing different cultures - not about academics at this age and rightly so, IMO - you could use this as a baseline if you wanted.)

How do you deal with inappropriate behaviour?

Are there different "rooms" or areas for different ages? (Do you want there to be?)

What happens at naptime if a child doesn't want to nap?

Can I see some of the craftwork that has been done this/last week at the centre?

Where is the book area and how is it used?

Can I bring in my child and see how she interacts with the other children and the carers before we sign up?

You may wish to ask about nappies - some places provide their own, some request you provide.

Non-verbal questions I'd keep an eye out for are:
how much cuddling do the children receive?
do the children appear happy?
how much free play do the children engage in and is this supported?
are there any funny smells?

:

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What food is offered and when? (I find if I pick up Liebling just before they are to serve food he is very cross with me and I have to wait for him to eat before we can go!)

How do you record a child's achievement and plan for their development? (In the UK there is a curriculum for 0-5 years, the Early Years Foundation Stage it is called, and highlights skills and understandings young children can work towards, including washing hands, playing with friends, showing awareness of size, shape, colour and texture, discussing different cultures - not about academics at this age and rightly so, IMO - you could use this as a baseline if you wanted.)

How do you deal with inappropriate behaviour?

Are there different "rooms" or areas for different ages? (Do you want there to be?)

What happens at naptime if a child doesn't want to nap?

Can I see some of the craftwork that has been done this/last week at the centre?

Where is the book area and how is it used?

Can I bring in my child and see how she interacts with the other children and the carers before we sign up?

You may wish to ask about nappies - some places provide their own, some request you provide.

Non-verbal questions I'd keep an eye out for are:
how much cuddling do the children receive?
do the children appear happy?
how much free play do the children engage in and is this supported?
are there any funny smells?

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I'm going to be taking both girls with me when I go on Friday.
In peoples experience do most CC offer some kind of school prep/pre school program for kids that age? (i'll be checking that anyway :) )

Any good centre will have programs for all age groups and profiles (containing observations/artwork, etc) for every child. Even registered family daycare is meant to have both of these as well. All LDC should be using The EYLF(Early Years Learning Framework) or a similar approved framework. Many LDC are now employing qualified teachers in their kindy/pre prep rooms (whatever you call the year before school in your state) to provide a kindergarten program. In Qld teachers use the QKLG (Qld kindergarten learning guidelines) for the curriculum.

All the above. ... And most of all trust your own gut instinct. It will tell you if it's the right place for your family.
Your children will also be trusting their gut too so keep an eye on how they respond to the centre and see how staff respond to you and your children too.
It's important that staff are happy and relaxed because that influences how your children's day will be.
I'd also ask about staff turnover, family involvement ad flexibility in responding to children's needs and interests.

Thanks girls. Anyone else??

My DS is only in toddlers but I drop him off at 715/730 with his brekky and they give it to him. I'm in qld and see the day book with all the things they did and with codes next to them so I presume they follow some sort of guideline.

I agree with all of the above.
Also - what are the provisions if for any reason you are delayed and cannot pick them up by "closing" time? - Our centre gets someone to stay until you come and charges you $30 per 1/4hr on top of the day's fees.
Are they allowed to bring their own food? If so, what are the restrictions? - Our centre only allows children to bring in fruit, no other food.
What's their daily schedule?
Sunblock - do they provide or do you need to bring your own?
Medications - what's their policy?
Is the outside play area shaded?

Bump :)

I think my centre likes the kids to hae breakfast there as it gives the kids something to do before if they arrive earlier than the other kids in the group. My DS is only in nursery but is here get a feel for it. He has always been really happy to be dropped off and I took him for quite a few visits before the actually day he started so knew the ladies in his room really well.

We also get a book that gets brought home every day with notes and pics of what they have done during the day that I love (hubby collects)

I agree about the costs of late pick up. Some places have a very expensive pick up policy to discourage late pick ups.

thanks hun.
They would always be picked up by close. We usually get them now between 4 and 5 pm anyway.