Leapfrog Nursery , Swindon (Broome), can anyone recommend please??

[teatree]

Hi,
I am soo stressed, depressed, worried nowadays as my DS almost 12 months will start nursery soon.. I feel panic rising up as soon i remember that he will go to nursery during the day - which is quite often. will he cry? (of course he will) will I cry? (of course i will) will he be all right? (not sure) will he sleep? (dont think so) will he be happy? (nooooo, i dont want to make him unhappy!!) will they take care of him? (nobody else but me can..) and this goes on and on and on..
the nursery is leapfrog in swindon wiltshire (broome) they also call themselves nord anglia i think.. it will help to hear at least what other mums think of this nursery, pls help, I am so stressed out, DH has a cool approach to this as usual and says 'he will be fine darling', which makes me panic even more..
Very very much appreciate your inputs, I dont want to have made a wrong decision in choosing this nursery.. but if i did, better i know before we start.. Thank you ever so much..

[DANCEDEE]

Hi teatree
I was a nursery nurse (now childminder),I have worked in three different nurseries in swindon and Leapfrog was the best one (abbeymeads). A close friend of mine works at broome, it has a good reputation and i have heard lots of good things about the nursery. I think you have made a good choice. I am sure your ds will be fine its always us mums that panic . Good luck hope everything goes well

[teatree]

Hi Dancedee
thanks very very much for your input, it made me feel so much better yesterday as we were just about to make our first visit (settling in session). It makes such a difference to go into a nursery with a positive approach..
may I ask whereabouts you are in swindon and whether you have a vacancy or not for a 1 yr old? Plan B is that we look for a CM in case ds does not like nursery at all, or we feel he is unhappy there. I lloke dfor CM earlier but in Wotton basset (where we live) are not lots of vacancies, the only appt I had was with a very nice CM in fact but she had no other babies/kids and it would have been her first job if we decided to go for her. My DH doesnt want him to be the only child in care as ds enjoys company and is very very active.. let me know pls where you are and whether you are interested in an appt.
thanks again..

[DANCEDEE]

Hello
I am in the Haydon Wick area , i am also a new childminder as i was a nursery nurse for 6 years .I have a NVQ level 2 and 3 in early years and education and i am first aid trained. I have a 2 year old daughter. I look after a 2 year old on a as and when needed basis because mum is on maternity leave, and i also have a baby coming to visit tomorrow . we go to lots of toddler groups mini musicians and soft play area's . I am a dance teacher so on monday and tuesday i can only mind until 5.45.

if you are still intrested in coming for a visit( not sure if i am in the area you would consider)you can email me and i can send you my contact number [email protected]

[teatree]

Hi Dancedee
sorry for late response.
Your qualifications sound pretty good to me and the fact that you have a 2 yr old daughter is fantastic. However, the area you live in is unfortunately neither close to office nor home.. we would not be able to manage to pick him up at 5.45 as we leave office earliest 5.30
Thank you very much tho for all details and your help, very much appreciated. I wish you all the best luck in your CM career

as to the nursery, you were right, it seems to be quite a good place. but after two visits, i realized observed two things that disturbed me very much : 1- very nice staff but no interaction with the babies whatsoever, the babies are just on the floor, some of them really tired and bored, some of them ok ish playing with toys on their own. is this something i should expect to face in any nursery? no interaction with babies?
2- as said above, some babies looked soo tired and the staff was talking to them like 'ohh, are you tired sweetheart?' etc but they did not pick him up to put into bed although it was about 3pm. as i spoke to our keyworker, she said they had some sleep, and she said they sleep in a corner but the next time i was there one baby girl was just in the playarea sleeping on a mat and my ds almost ran her over.. is this normal?

apart from this, everything seemed to be ok.. but these two points make me feel more willing to find a CM asap..

[DANCEDEE]

Hi teatree,

No this is not normal there should be lots of interaction and i dont think i would be very happy if my baby was left to sleep in the play area . I think your doing the right thing looking for a cm good luck

[rarrie]

TT - I have heard of some other people not happy with that nursery. However, if you are in WB, isn't the Busy bees nursery meant to be pretty fab? Also, closeish to the Broome manor one is Imagine, and that has a good rep too.

[Eldridge]

Hi we use Lfrog in Chelmsford and my dd loves it. Been there 10 months and was 7 months whenshe started. One of th things I liked when I was shown round originally was the level of interaction between staff and children. other things lke even the very little ones sitting around the table eating freshly cooked food and just v. happy and chatty with staff sitting with them.

My sister in law near Mchster said she was really disappointed how when her three year old went back to nursery after 10 days off with Chicken Pox, the staff made no epecial effort to welcome her back. In contrast when mine came back after two weeks off they all made such a fuss of her, were really pleased to see her back. Put my mind at rest etc.

So we'rehappy. Staff really nice etc.

[NKd1164308071762]

Can anyone recommend a good nursery or montessori for a 20 month old in Tower Hamlets, City of lOndon, Canary Wharf or Islington?