The standard JLK route

🏠 Two layouts, one route. Croydon has seven rooms and Lewisham has two — Tadpoles up to 2, then Frogs — so at both of those, stops 2 and 3 are genuinely rooms you walk between. Bromley is a single open space, mixed age: there you are not walking a family door to door, you are standing in one place and showing them how the day works around the children. The stops below still happen at every site, in this order; at Bromley they are moments in the tour rather than doorways. Never present an open space as the thing we lack — see Section 3.

Every JLK tour follows the same shape. Adapt the timing, never the order:

1. Welcome area — 5 minutes. Greeting, coats, drinks, four opening questions, set the shape.
2. Where their child would be — 10–12 minutes. Their age room at Croydon and Lewisham; that part of the space at Bromley. Where the tour gets emotional. Spend the time here.
3. What comes next for them — 5 minutes. At Croydon and Lewisham, the room they'd move into — at Lewisham that is Tadpoles into Frogs, and it happens only once, which is worth saying. At Bromley, how the same space grows with them and changes through the day. Plants the future either way.
4. The garden / outdoor space — 5 minutes. The visible distinguisher of a JLK setting.
5. One more space — 3 minutes. Kitchen, sleep arrangements, quiet or sensory area — whatever you have. In an open space the sleep and quiet arrangements are the single thing parents most want to see, so never skip this one.
6. Back to the welcome area — 10 minutes. Sit down. The practical conversation: fees, funding, registration, settling, follow-up.
7. The Family Bag handover — 2 minutes. Seated, named, slow.
8. Walk them to the door — 1 minute. Address the child by name on the way out.

Total: about 45 minutes. Tight ones can be 30. Loose ones can be 60. Same shape.

Why this order:

• Where their child would be, first — emotional weight is heaviest here; spend the time before they're tired.
• What comes next, second — plants the idea of continuity ("their child will grow into this").
• Garden in the middle — physical break, lighter conversation, often where the parent relaxes most.
• Practical chat at the end — once they've fallen in love with what they've seen, fees feel different.

💡 Don't reverse this order. Doing fees first puts the parent in evaluation mode for the whole tour. Doing rooms first puts them in connection mode. Connection makes evaluation easier.

• I can list the 8 stop-points of the standard JLK route in order
• I understand why the practical chat goes at the end, not the start
• I will spend most of my time in the child's age room

Each age band gets a different emphasis. Organised by age rather than by room, because that holds at every site: at Croydon these bands are seven rooms, at Lewisham they fall across two (Tadpoles, then Frogs), and at Bromley they are areas within one space. Talking notes, not a script — weave them in around what is actually happening in front of you.

Babies (0–2)

• Lead with the key person system. "Each baby has a primary and a secondary key person — this is who knows their feeding rhythm, their sleep cues, the way they like to be held."
• Name the person who would lead their care.
• Mention the sleep arrangements and the 10-minute sleep checks. Show the daily record sheet if appropriate. In an open space, say plainly where the babies sleep and how they are protected from the noise — it is the first thing a parent wonders and the last thing they will ask.
• Point out the baby cam / parent updates if your site uses them.
• If a baby is being fed or settled to sleep right now — pause. Watch. Let the parent see.

Toddlers (2–3)

• Lead with independence and how the space is set up at child height — their cups, their hooks, their wellies.
• Talk about the daily rhythm: arrival, free flow, snack, garden, lunch, sleep, garden again, tea.
• Point to messy play / sensory areas and what was being explored this morning.
• If toilet training is relevant, mention how the team handles it without making it a milestone they have to hit.

Pre-school (3–5)

• Lead with school readiness — what that means at JLK (confidence, language, independence, curiosity), what it does not mean (worksheet drilling).
• Talk about JLK Stories here — show one if you can.
• Show the writing and mark-making area. Read aloud one piece of a child's work if there's something on display.
• Talk about transition to primary — the local schools the children typically go to, and how JLK supports the move.

Garden

• "They get out here at least twice a day, in all weathers."
• Wellies, waterproofs — show the pegs.
• Mention one thing that's been growing or built recently — vegetable patch, mud kitchen, water tray.
• If it's a multi-floor site with no on-site garden, talk about the nearby park route and frequency.

Welcome area (the closing chat)

• Sit down. Tea topped up.
• This is when you cover: fees, funding, registration, start date, settling visits, the Family Bag.
• Always end with: "What other questions do you have?" Wait for the silence.

• I know what to lead with for babies, and where they sleep at my site
• I know what to lead with for toddlers
• I know what to lead with for pre-schoolers
• I will sit down for the closing practical chat — not stand at the door

The route is consistent. The execution adapts. Common variations:

Variation: your setting is one open space (Bromley).
The stops are moments, not doorways — but they all still happen. Stand where their child would be rather than walking to it. Show how the space is set up now against how it looks at lunch, at nap and in the afternoon: one space doing several jobs is the thing worth showing, and it is invisible unless you point at it.

Lead with what it genuinely gives a family, in your own words: the older ones look out for the little ones, siblings stay together all day, and their child never gets moved to a different room to start again with a new team. Never say "we don't have separate rooms", "it's only one room" or "we're smaller than most places." A parent takes their cue from you — describe it as a choice, because it is one.

Get in front of noise and sleep before they ask. "Have a look at how it's zoned — the babies have their own protected area with their own staff, and we bring the day to them rather than moving them about."

Variation: the parent is short on time.
Cut stops 3 and 5. Keep welcome → where their child would be → garden → practical chat → bag. 25–30 minutes. Still recognisably JLK.

Variation: the child is at a transition age (Croydon, Lewisham).
Show both rooms. Frame it as "this is where they'd start in September, this is where they'd be by Christmas." Plants the path. In an open space there is no move to plant — say so, because for some parents that is the whole appeal.

Variation: the parent wants to see the kitchen / food storage.
Add it after the garden, before the closing chat. Talk about the food provision, allergies, the kitchen team.

Variation: it's a sibling tour (older child already at JLK).
Start in their existing child's room — let them see their child first. Then move into the new child's room. The emotional warm-up is already done.

Variation: multi-site tour (parent considering more than one JLK).
Make the site-specific facts very clear — fees, opening hours, and the layout, since Croydon runs in rooms and the other two are one open space. End by saying "and if you visit our other site too, the team there will know you've been here — you don't need to start from scratch."

Variation: virtual tour (rare, but increasing).
Same order, different camera. Pre-plan the route. Have the Tour Script printed and within reach. Address the child by name even on camera — especially on camera.

🛠️ The rule: shorten or extend the route, but never reorder it. The order does the emotional work.

• I can compress the route to 30 minutes for short-on-time parents without losing the shape
• I know to start a sibling tour wherever the existing child is
• I understand the order does the emotional work — I won't reorder it
• I know how to add a kitchen visit if a parent asks

Scenario: Tomi, 2 years old, is starting at JLK Bromley in September. His Dad, Femi, is on a tour with him this morning. Femi mentions on arrival that he's got to be back at work by 11:30am — they have 35 minutes total.

Bromley is one open space, so Amy is not walking Femi from door to door. The stops still happen, in order — they are moments, not doorways.

The route Amy uses, compressed:

1. Welcome (3 min) — coats off, quick tea, four opening questions condensed into "tell me what you'd love Tomi to find here".
2. Standing where Tomi would be (12 min) — most of the time goes here. She names Grace, who would lead his care, and lets Femi watch a free-flow moment rather than talking over it.
3. How the space changes (3 min) — "It looks like this now; by half eleven this half is laid for lunch and the quiet end is set up for sleep. Tomi won't be moved to a different room at any point — the day comes to him."
4. Garden (5 min) — outdoor pegs, mud kitchen, "out here twice a day even when it rains".
5. Back at the welcome area, sat down (10 min) — fees, 30 funded hours, the September start, settling visits.
6. Family Bag handover (2 min) — named, given to Tomi first, written note from Amy.

Total: 35 minutes, on the dot. Femi leaves on time, having seen the shape of the JLK day, met by name the person who would care for his son, and felt the place. He never saw the kitchen — and he doesn't need to. He'll book a settling visit on the way to work.

What Amy did right: she didn't try to cram everything in, and she didn't apologise for the layout. Femi asked, half-way through, "so they're all in together?" — and instead of defending it she said "they are, and it's the reason the two-year-olds here talk the way they do; they're copying the big ones all day." She let the shape do the work.

Reflection prompt: When did you last lead a compressed tour? Did you keep the shape, or did you panic and reorder? And if you work in an open space — when a parent last asked "is it all one room?", did your answer sound like a choice or like an apology?

🎥 Video walkthrough placeholder — two 4-minute walkthroughs will be embedded here in v2: the room route at JLK Croydon, and the open-space route at JLK Bromley.

• I've reflected on a compressed tour and noted what I'd do differently next time