Full Rooms, Settled Children: How to Fill Places at Your Nursery

Most nursery owners do not have a demand problem in the way they did a few years ago. Since the expansion of funded hours in England, many settings have waiting lists for some rooms and empty spaces in others. The baby room is full until next spring, the pre-school room has gaps on Mondays and Fridays, and three families who visited in the summer never registered. Occupancy is rarely a single number. It is a puzzle of rooms, ages, sessions and dates.

Filling places well means managing that puzzle deliberately: knowing exactly where your gaps are and when they will appear, turning visits into registrations, keeping a waiting list that actually produces starters, and being clear and honest about funded hours and extra charges. It also means being easy to find when a parent on maternity leave starts searching on their phone at 10pm.

This guide is for established day nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. It does not cover registering or opening a setting. It focuses on the work of keeping places full with families who settle and stay.

Start with occupancy by room, not overall numbers

An overall figure such as “88 per cent full” hides the detail that matters. A setting can be oversubscribed in the baby room while losing money on half-empty afternoons in the pre-school room. Before you change any marketing, build a simple forward view of every room.

For each room, list each day split into the sessions you sell, such as mornings, afternoons and full days. Then add the known movements: children moving up a room on their birthday or at a set point in the year, children leaving for school in September, families who have given notice and confirmed starters. Most of your future gaps can be predicted months in advance from dates you already hold.

This view tells you what to promote. There is little point advertising baby places you cannot offer until next year, but there is a lot of value in telling families now that pre-school places will open in September. It also helps you think about which session patterns to offer. If Fridays are always quiet, a four-day pattern or a Friday-only discount for non-funded hours may fill them better than general advertising.

The show-round that turns a visit into a registration

The show-round is where most decisions are made. Parents often see three or four settings, and they remember how each one felt more than what was said. Owners commonly focus on the building and forget the experience of the visit itself.

Before the visit

• Offer specific times when rooms are calm, not lunchtime or nap changeover, and let parents book online if you can.
• Send a short confirmation with parking, what to expect and who will meet them.
• Brief the room leaders so they expect visitors and can say a few words about their routines.

During the visit

1. Greet parents by name at the door, and introduce the person showing them round.
2. Ask what they need before you start talking: start date, days, hours, the child’s age and anything particular, such as allergies, sleep or additional needs.
3. Show each room in the order their child would move through it, and let room staff explain a typical day.
4. Show the kitchen, sleep area and outdoor space, because these are frequent questions.
5. Explain how funded hours and any extras work at your setting, using a simple example based on their own days.
6. Be clear about availability. If their preferred days are full, offer a realistic alternative or a waiting list place with a date.
7. Give them a short pack to take home with fees, funding, charges, settling-in and what to bring.

After the visit

Follow up within a day or two with a friendly email or message that repeats the availability and next step. Many registrations are lost not because the parent preferred another setting, but because nobody followed up and the parent’s life got busy. Keep a simple record of each visit, the outcome and the reason if they chose elsewhere. Patterns in those reasons, such as hours, price or a particular room, are some of the most useful information you have.

Running a waiting list that actually works

A waiting list feels reassuring, but many are full of families who found childcare elsewhere months ago. A list is only useful if it produces real starters on known dates.

• Record the essentials. Child’s date of birth, preferred start date, days and sessions, flexibility, sibling links and funding eligibility.
• Order it fairly. Decide and publish your admissions criteria, such as siblings first, then date of registration. Apply them consistently.
• Keep in touch. Contact families on the list every few months to confirm they still want a place. A short, friendly message is enough.
• Offer places in writing, with a clear deadline to accept, so you can move to the next family promptly.
• Be careful with fees and deposits. For families who will use funded hours in England, the DfE guidance does not allow non-refundable registration fees, deposits or retainers linked to taking up a funded place. Check your provider agreement with your local authority before charging anything to join a list.

A well-managed list also tells you about demand. If you consistently have more families waiting for baby places than you can offer, that is evidence for reorganising rooms, recruiting, or opening a second baby room, rather than guessing.

Funded hours: making your offer easy to understand

Funded childcare is now the starting point for most families’ decisions, and confusion about it loses registrations. Parents want to know whether you offer funded places, for which ages, on which days, and what they will actually pay each month.

The position in England

As of autumn 2026, the main entitlements in England are 15 hours for all three and four-year-olds, 15 hours for some two-year-olds from families receiving certain support, and 30 hours for eligible working parents from when their child is nine months old until they start school. The final stage of that expansion for working parents took effect in September 2025. Funded hours are based on 38 weeks a year, and many settings offer them stretched across more weeks. Working parents apply through the government’s Childcare Choices service, get a code and need to reconfirm their eligibility regularly.

Because the expansion brought in so many families with babies and toddlers, the pressure has moved to under-twos and under-threes in many areas. If your baby room is always full, explain your realistic start dates rather than just saying “full”.

Funded childcare outside England

The other nations run their own schemes. In Scotland, funded early learning and childcare provides up to 1,140 hours a year for three and four-year-olds and some two-year-olds. Wales and Northern Ireland have different offers, eligibility rules and ages. If you operate outside England, describe your local scheme accurately and check the details with your local authority or the relevant government website, rather than copying wording written for English settings.

Explaining it clearly

Write one plain-English page or leaflet that shows how funding works at your setting, with two or three worked example weeks. For example, a family using three full days, with funded hours applied and meals charged separately as a voluntary extra. Parents compare settings on what they will actually pay, and a clear example is far more persuasive than a long policy.

Extra charges: transparency as a selling point

Charges for meals, nappies and other consumables are a common source of parent complaints and local authority queries. Handled openly, they can become a reason to trust you.

In England, the Department for Education’s early education and childcare statutory guidance, in its updated form from 1 April 2026, sets out the position clearly. In summary:

• Funded hours must be free, with no mandatory charges and no requirement to buy additional hours to access them.
• Providers can charge for consumables such as nappies or sun cream, meals and snacks, optional extras such as special activities, and additional paid hours, but these must be voluntary.
• Providers must not charge top-up fees, charge for materials needed to deliver the EYFS, or add general unitemised charges such as an “enrichment” fee.
• Settings must offer reasonable free alternatives, such as allowing families to bring their own meals or nappies.
• Providers should publish the costs of chargeable extras on their website, or through the local Family Information Service if they do not have one, and invoices should itemise funded hours, paid hours, food, consumables and activities separately.

Local authorities can act if providers break these rules, so read your provider agreement alongside the guidance. The marketing point is simple: a nursery that publishes a clear price list for extras, explains the alternatives and sends itemised invoices removes a common worry for parents. Put the charges page on your website, link to it from your fees page and mention it on show-rounds.

Your Ofsted report card and how to talk about it

Many parents read the inspection report before they visit. In England, Ofsted began inspecting early years settings under its renewed framework on 10 November 2025. Instead of a single overall grade, each setting receives a report card with grades for up to six evaluation areas: inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children’s welfare and wellbeing; and leadership and governance. The five-point scale runs from urgent improvement and needs attention, through expected standard, to strong standard and exceptional. Safeguarding is not graded on that scale; inspectors record whether it is met or not met.

Settings not yet reinspected under the new framework will still show their previous outcome, so parents may be comparing an older single grade with a newer report card. That can be confusing, and it is an opportunity to help.

• Quote your outcome accurately, using Ofsted’s wording, and link to the published report.
• If you have a report card, explain in a sentence what the areas mean and highlight the strengths inspectors described, in your own words.
• If an area was graded as needing attention, say briefly what you have done about it. Parents respect honesty far more than silence.
• Do not imply a grade you did not receive, or describe an older judgement as if it were under the new system.

Childminders are inspected too, and the same principles apply: be accurate, link to the report and explain it simply.

Parent reviews and word of mouth

Recommendations from other local parents carry more weight than almost anything you can say yourself. Many families hear about a setting at a baby group or from a neighbour, then check online before booking a visit.

Ask for reviews at moments when parents feel most positive: a few weeks after a child has settled, after a parents’ evening, at a stay-and-play session, or when a child leaves for school. A short message with a direct link to your Google review page works best. Ask the parent to mention what mattered to them, such as settling in, communication, food or staff, because specific reviews help other parents decide.

Reply to every review, including critical ones, calmly and without sharing any details about a child or family. A thoughtful reply to a disappointed parent often reassures new families more than another five-star review. Never offer incentives for reviews or write them yourself, and do not ask staff to review the setting.

Word of mouth also comes from relationships with health visitors, local baby and toddler groups, family hubs and primary schools. Be visible and helpful in those places, for example by hosting a free stay-and-play or a session on preparing for school.

Staff retention: your quietest selling point

Parents often say they chose a nursery because the staff seemed happy and had been there a long time. A child’s key person matters enormously to a parent, and frequent changes in staff are something many families worry about.

If your team is stable, show it:

• Introduce the room leaders and key staff on your website, with how long they have worked at the setting and their qualifications, if they are happy for you to do so.
• Mention on show-rounds how your key person system works and how you manage changes.
• Share news of staff training, qualifications and milestones in your newsletter or social media.

Retention is also an occupancy issue in its own right. Every vacancy you cannot fill can mean places you cannot offer, because ratios set how many children each room can take. Investment in pay, training, progression and a supportive culture protects your income as well as your reputation.

Childminders: filling a small setting well

Childminders fill places differently. With a smaller number of places, each gap matters more, but each family also tends to stay for years and often brings siblings.

• Be specific about what makes you different: a home setting, a small mixed-age group, flexibility around school runs or outdoor time.
• Publish your availability clearly and keep it up to date, including when future places will open.
• Explain whether you offer funded hours and how they work with your hours and charges.
• Ask families who are leaving for school to recommend you, and keep in touch with local schools and childminding networks.

Local SEO: being found when parents start looking

Parents start searching well before they need a place, often during pregnancy or early parental leave, and they search locally. Typical searches include “nursery near me”, “baby room nursery [town]”, “nursery with spaces near me”, “30 hours funded nursery [area]”, “childminder [village]”, “nursery open 7.30am near [station]” and “pre-school places September”. Most of these happen on a phone, and parents look closely at the map results, photos, opening hours and reviews before choosing which settings to call.

The map results matter because they shortlist settings for the parent. A complete, accurate profile with recent reviews and good photos gives an independent nursery or childminder a fair chance of appearing alongside the larger groups.

Google Business Profile

Choose the most accurate primary category for your setting, and keep your hours accurate, including closures for bank holidays and training days. Describe the ages you care for, your rooms and sessions, whether you offer funded places, and how to book a show-round. Add photos of rooms, the garden, kitchen and sleep areas, without children’s faces unless you have clear written permission. Use posts to share open days and upcoming availability, such as “pre-school places for September”.

Reviews

Keep a steady flow of genuine reviews through the year rather than a burst once a year. Recent reviews that mention specific rooms, settling in and staff help parents and search engines understand what you are known for.

Consistent details

Check that your name, address, phone number and hours match across your website, Google profile, childcare directories, social media and your local authority’s Family Information Service listing. Old details from a previous name or phone number can lose enquiries.

A website built around parents’ decisions

• A page for each room or age group, with routines and the staff who run it.
• A clear fees and funding page, with worked examples.
• A published chargeable extras page, in line with DfE guidance in England.
• Your Ofsted outcome and a link to the report.
• Availability and a simple way to book a visit or join the waiting list.
• Area information, such as the schools your children move on to and nearby stations or workplaces, written for parents rather than stuffed with place names.

Local links

Mentions from family hubs, baby groups, primary schools, community organisations and local news help show your setting is established and trusted in the area. If you would rather spend your time on the children and your team, specialist SEO for nurseries and childcare settings can take on the profile, website and local links for you. Either way, expect visibility to build over three to six months rather than straight away.

AI search: what assistants tell parents about your setting

More parents now ask AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot for help choosing childcare, and Google often shows an AI Overview at the top of the results. The questions are detailed: “Which nurseries near me have baby room spaces from nine months?”, “Do any nurseries in [town] not charge extra for funded hours?”, “What does an Ofsted report card mean for a nursery?”, “Is a childminder or a nursery better for a one-year-old?” or “Which nurseries near [station] open at 7.30am?”

When a parent asks an assistant for a nursery, it leans on facts it can find and cross-check across several sources. For a nursery, that typically means:

• Consistent facts about your location, ages, hours and funded places across your website, Google profile and directories.
• Clear, current pages on fees, funding and extra charges. A published, itemised charges page gives an assistant something concrete to describe.
• Reviews that mention the same strengths your website describes, such as long-serving staff, good communication or a large garden.
• Honest FAQs answering the questions parents ask on show-rounds, such as how settling in works, what food is provided and what happens if a room is full.
• Mentions on reputable local sites, such as family hubs, community groups, local news and childcare directories.

Think about what an assistant could say about your setting today. If your website does not mention your baby room, your opening time or whether you offer funded places, the assistant cannot either. Keeping your availability and charges pages accurate also matters, because outdated information can be repeated long after it has changed.

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

Start with the forward view of occupancy for each room, then fix the parts of the journey where families drop out: the show-round, the follow-up and the waiting list. Make funded hours and extra charges easy to understand, and make sure your Ofsted outcome is described accurately.

Then make the setting easy to find and easy to recommend. Keep your Google profile and website current, publish what parents want to know, collect honest reviews and let your settled team speak for itself. Places filled that way tend to stay filled, and the families who come through them bring the next ones.