Nurseries near coombe area or norbiton station

[sweeta]

Can anyone tell me how Stars day care in Kingston is please? We will be moivng there in a month's time. They do have a month's settlling in period but I would like to know if your child is going there and you are happy with it. I have also had a look at Coombe day's nursery, please do tell me about your experience on it too. Will really appreciate your help on this matter.

Thanks

[serious1]

hi, you will probally get more response on the kingston local forum

[narmada]

My friend's little girl has been going to coombe day nursery for nearly 3 years now and they are really, really happy with it. I looked round little stars and thought it was nice - they were planning on building a separate sleeping room for the babies but didn't have one when I looked around so we couldn't choose there as my daughter would never have slept in the noisiness of the playroom and so would have been a complete mess!

There is also Dicky Birds in New Malden which is nice, my DD has been going there for 2 years and likes it although recently they have had quite a bit of staff turnover.

All of these nuseries are generally full though, so I would look well in advance (e.g., months ahead) of when you need a place.

[sweeta]

@serious1 - Thanks, will def look on the kingston local forum

@narmada - Thanks for your response. There are places in both the nurseries. Stars does have a separate room for babies/toddlers who would want to sleep. I did like Stars and they do have a place in there, but I am more keen on hearing personal experiences too. When I visited Coombe, there was some work taking place in the garden so the place looked a bit dishevelled at that point. Will definitely have a look at the nurseries again though. Dicky Birds is still a bit far from where we would be living.

[Snowballed]

I would second Dicky Birds. I choose it above Coombe Day Nursery. I didn't like the feel of Coombe, the manager was pushy & there is no outside facility for play when it is raining. Also, the staff at Dicky Birds were head & shoulders above Coombe Day (who werent even interacting just sitting chatting )

Also on price alone, Coombe is outrageously expensive, even for South West London, even though the manager tried to convince me it was cheap, but it comes in at way above everyone else.

[narmada]

ooh, how much is coombe day then?? I am really nosy!

Dicky Birds isn't that far from New Malden station - which is quicker than norbiton into waterloo anyway. You can get the 213 bus from clarence avenue down to the station.

[Snowballed]

For 3 days for a 3 year old they wanted £685 per month AFTER the Early Years Grant. Dicky Birds was £571.

I was convinced Coombe had not taken off the Early Years grant, but they had.

[sweeta]

I will check with Dicky Birds too. Just another query though: if they say `no' to a child do they give explanation as to why they say no or they just ask them to stop doing certain things. I am asking this question since the ofsted says that they don't give explanations as to when they ask a child to stop doing something.

I thought dicky birds was expensive than coombe. My DS is still not 3, and for 5 days a week Dicky birds was charging £1300 something and coombe was £1200 something. Will check again though.

thanks a lot again people for your input.

[narmada]

Bejaysus, that seems a lot.

sweeta don't get too hung up on what ofsted says - their inspections take a day and to be honest I am not convinced they get a very accurate picture of the day to day life of a nursery. I am sure you're better off just going and seeing for yourself. Obviously, if a nursery gets a satisfactory or below (3 or 4 rating) that would concern me and I wouldnt send my child there but really, don't take Ofsted as gospel.

Yes I think dicky birds tell them why they can't do certaint hings, but frankly I wouldn't blame them if they didn't sometimes. I have only 2 kids to look after and the words "because I say so" have definitely escaped my lips more than once.

[PaddingtonBearLondon]

Which one do the children seem happier at?

[Sheeman]

My son went there for 2 years from the age of 2. At first it was great, the staff were clearly under the close supervision of the managers and the room leaders were professional and caring, I especially liked the Yoga and sports lessons. However about a year ago when my son left, the rules in the place seemed much more lax - the staff always sat around chatting, the kids babies were coming home filthy and every other week another staff member would leave or start - one room had about 6 new staff members in as many months. The owner clearly has not got a clue of childcare - all she wants is the money - she was rude, dismissive of our needs and demands money, despite having already paid the fees.

[sweeta]

I put my ds for settling in session in stars day care. The first day itself was a disaster. The staff were rude to kids, they were putting the grass on the lawn and the children were asked to sit and watch the garden. Most of them started getting restless and the staff did not engage them at all. They expected them to sit on the chairs and when the children stood on the chairs they said, "put your bottoms down or I will take the chair away" in a rude way not stern.
There was a child bored and crying for an hour who started throwing tantrum and beating other kids, inspite of talking to him they gave him time outs and raised their voice at him whenever there was a fight where he was involved with other kids. Nobody came back to him after the timeouts. I raised my concern on the same day itself with the room leader wiht respect to the maturity of the staff, since one of the staff told the small boy that he was causing headache to all of them working in the garden. They also left a child with learning difficulty and 3 other kids unattended by anyone for sometime. The kids did not seem to be too happy. I have moved my son from there. I went for a personal meeting session with e manager the second day. She said somebody would call me, another manager called me and tried to justify the behaviour of her staff.

I have asked for my deposit back which I am not sure will be returned. The manager has said that she has a detailed account from her staff as to what happened that day and after speaking to her manager and CEO she will decide whether they would be giving my deposit back or not. I have told her I am happy to write my observations and give her too, to which I haven't had any response.

[sweeta]

@Sheeman- who was the manager then?

[Vashi]

Hi,

Can anybody tell me how Kings Meadow Day Nursery is ? My DS is 16 months old and i am planning to introduce him to a nursery near Norbiton station.

Thanks

[Ice124]

I think anyone choosing a nursery should take the negatives with a pinch of salt. At the end of the day not every Nursery is going to be able to please everyone. At the end of the day if they are full, still running and have been for years then they must be pleasing many more parents then the odd one that they couldn't please.