Most interview advice for early years is about answering well. We have written that one too, on the questions nursery managers actually ask.
This is the other half. You are choosing where to spend your working life, in a sector where roughly seven in ten providers cannot staff to full capacity. You have more leverage than you think, and the questions you ask are the only real information you will get before you accept.
About the room
Why is this post open?
The most useful question in the interview. A maternity cover, a retirement and a resignation after five months are three different situations. Ask it early and listen to how comfortable they are answering.
How long has the team in this room been together?
Stability in a room is the thing Ofsted inspectors see without being told about it. A room where nobody has been longer than eight months is telling you something.
What is the current staffing position across the setting?
The average setting is short 4.2 full-time staff. If they are shorter than that, you will be covering, and you should know before you accept rather than in week two.
Who would be my key children, and how many?
A vague answer here usually means the room is being staffed to the ratio rather than to the children.
About ratios and cover
How do you cover lunches and absence?
This is the question that separates a well-run setting from a stretched one. Everyone has a plan on paper. Ask what happened the last time somebody called in sick at 7am.
Do you run at the 1:13 ratio for over-threes?
If they do, ask who holds the qualified teacher status, EYTS or Level 6, and how often that person is actually in the room. The 1:13 only applies while they are working directly with the children. It is not a building-wide allowance, and a setting that treats it as one is running illegally at times.
About development
Would you fund my next qualification?
Ask even if you are not planning to study yet. The answer tells you how the setting thinks about staff.
What does supervision look like here?
Frequency, who does it, and whether it happens when the setting is busy. Term answers that are vague usually mean it does not happen.
Who was the last person promoted from this room, and to what?
Concrete, and hard to answer smoothly if the answer is nobody.
About the practicalities
What are the actual hours, and how often do they change?
Contracted hours and worked hours are different numbers in a lot of settings.
Is the salary you have advertised the salary, or the top of a range?
Check it against our 2026 salary guide before you go in, so you know whether the number is competitive for the role and the region.
What is your Ofsted grade and when was the last inspection?
Public information, so this is not a gotcha. What you are learning is how they talk about it.
What would you want me to have achieved after three months?
A manager who cannot answer this has not thought about the role, only about the vacancy.
Can I see the room, during session?
The single most informative thing you can do. Ten minutes in the room tells you more than the whole interview. If the answer is no, ask why.
Three answers that should worry you
- "We're like a family here" offered instead of an answer about pay, progression or hours. Warmth is not a substitute for terms. - Vagueness about why the post is open. People are usually vague about this for a reason. - Irritation that you asked. A good manager is pleased when a candidate interviews back. It is evidence you will ask questions in the room too, which is exactly what safeguarding depends on.
One thing to do afterwards
Write down what they said about staffing and cover, and check it against what you see if you visit again. The gap between the two is the most reliable signal you will get.
If you would rather know all of this before you take a day off to interview, that is most of what we do. Register with us and we will tell you what the setting is actually like: the room, the team, why the post is open, and what the last person in it said on the way out.