Nursery evaluation: comprehensive questionnaire template for parents
This comprehensive questionnaire template helps nurseries collect feedback from parents and guardians on the setting as a whole. It covers the child’s wellbeing, facilities and safety, care hours, educational practice, food and care, cultural diversity, communication with parents and whether parents would recommend the nursery.
Nursery evaluation by parents
Preview the questionnaire or copy the template directly into your LamaPoll account. The external questionnaire preview is in German.
We now use LamaPoll, for example, to organise our all-day school programme and many other school activities, such as parents helping with sports day, surveys of children and parents, and internal evaluations. The intuitive usability and security standards convinced us, as did the accommodating pricing.
What is this template for?
The template is designed for nursery managers, providers and early years teams who want a full picture of how parents see the setting and the care their child receives. It can be used in a single nursery or consistently across several settings run by the same provider.
The questionnaire works both for a one-off review and for recurring surveys as part of quality improvement. When several settings use the same basic structure, providers can spot shared strengths, differences between locations and areas that need action across the organisation.
What does the questionnaire cover?
The template looks at the nursery from several angles: the child’s experience, premises and organisation, educational practice and collaboration with parents. The individual topic areas are summarised below.
Child and wellbeing
The child’s age when they started nursery and at the time of the survey, general wellbeing, how much the child enjoys going to nursery and how calm and content they are when they come home.
Premises and facilities
The size of the setting in relation to the number of places and whether parents consider the nursery’s premises and facilities appropriate overall.
Play and development
Opportunities for children to develop through play, use a range of activities in everyday nursery life and pursue their own interests.
Safety
Parents’ perception of safety measures within the setting, including doors, stairs, sockets, furniture, fire extinguishers and other aspects of everyday nursery life.
Drop-off and collection times
The flexibility of daily drop-off and collection times and whether the available time windows suit families’ routines and childcare needs.
Closures and alternative childcare
Satisfaction with holiday arrangements and closure days, perceptions of the annual closure period and awareness of emergency or alternative childcare arrangements.
Staffing levels
Parents’ assessment of whether enough educational staff are available for the number of children and whether staffing levels appear appropriate in everyday practice.
Educational practice and development
Assessment of educational practice relating to independence, social skills, language development and creativity, as well as how closely it aligns with parenting principles at home.
Cultural diversity and inclusion
Perceptions of cultural diversity, desired openness towards different cultures and religions, and the inclusion and integration of children from different backgrounds.
Food, drink and hygiene
Satisfaction with food and drinks, access to drinks throughout the day and everyday support with hygiene and personal care, for example hands, faces or nappies.
Parental involvement and communication
Collaboration between parents and the team, invitations to celebrations or shared activities, and the suitability and quality of communication with parents.
Open feedback and recommendation
Open feedback on what parents particularly like or dislike about the nursery, followed by a final question on whether they would recommend the setting.
Example questions from the template
The template combines closed rating questions with open text fields for specific comments. The following questions are taken from the questionnaire’s main topic areas.
How old was your child when they started nursery, and how old are they now?
Does your child generally feel comfortable at the nursery?
Does your child enjoy going to nursery?
Is your child calm and content when they come home?
What additional comments would you like to make about your child’s wellbeing?
Is the size of the nursery appropriate for the number of places?
Do you consider the facilities suitable?
Does your child have enough opportunities to develop through play?
Do you feel that the relevant safety standards are met?
Are the drop-off and collection times flexible enough?
Are you satisfied with the holiday arrangements?
Are emergency solutions or alternatives offered when the setting is closed?
Do you consider the staffing level sufficient?
How would you assess the staff’s work in encouraging independence?
How would you assess support for social development?
How would you assess support for language development?
How would you assess support for creativity?
Is the nursery’s educational approach consistent with the principles you follow at home?
What additional comments would you like to make about the educational work?
Are you satisfied with the food provided?
Are you satisfied with the drinks available to your child?
Are you happy with how parents and the team work together?
Would you like to be invited into the setting more often?
Do you consider communication with parents appropriate?
What do you particularly like about the nursery?
What do you dislike about the nursery?
Would you recommend the setting?
From template to an effective parent survey
Three steps from adapting the questionnaire and sharing it with parents through to analysing the results and putting improvements into practice.
1. Adapt the questionnaire to your nursery
Copy the template directly into your LamaPoll account and adapt it to your setting. Pay particular attention to the introduction, nursery name, childcare model, opening hours and closure days, educational priorities, wording and response options.
Depending on the purpose of the survey, individual topic areas can be added, removed or adapted for specific groups of parents. For recurring surveys, keep the core structure as consistent as possible so developments can be compared over time.
2. Invite parents to take part
Distribute the questionnaire using a survey link, by email, with a QR code or through the communication channels normally used by your setting. Briefly explain the purpose, estimated completion time, participation deadline and how responses will be handled.
A clear invitation and an easily accessible questionnaire make participation more likely. Depending on the survey, one or two friendly reminders may also be useful.
3. Analyse the results and act on them
Closed rating questions show where parents are particularly satisfied and where action may be needed. Open responses add detail on specific experiences, expectations and suggestions for improvement.
For the survey to make a difference, the results need visible follow-up. The nursery should share key findings, planned actions and, later on, the changes made with parents in a way they can follow.
Why regular parent feedback matters
The survey provides more than individual opinions: it creates a structured basis for quality improvement and communication.
Improve quality systematically
The results show which areas already work well from parents’ perspective and where action is needed. Repeated surveys can also reveal whether implemented improvements are actually noticed.
Strengthen trust and dialogue
A structured survey also gives a voice to parents who may not share their views in person. Communicating results and next steps transparently shows that feedback is taken seriously.
Boost appeal and recommendations
Alongside the educational approach, families value reliability, facilities, food and care, and communication. A nursery that reviews these expectations regularly and visibly works on improvements can strengthen its relationships with families and make them more likely to recommend it.
Template note: The template covers many areas of everyday nursery life in a single questionnaire. Adapt the introduction, terminology, care hours, educational priorities and response options to your setting. Before use, also check the legal notice, privacy notice and the anonymity settings you have chosen.
