3 year old not happy in new preschool room

[GuiltIsMyMiddleName]

Hi all,
My 3 year old has recently moved into a new room at nursery (pre-preschool room).
She's been pretty happy at her old room but less so with this one, she's hiding behind my legs etc on drop off and doesn't seem that happy go in, needs to be coerced into the room.

Today on the way there, she asked where we were going, I said 'to preschool'. She said she didn't want to go.
I asked why, she said 'I don't want to see Natalie*, she's rough with me, she hit me on the head'.
Obviously this is upsetting but she's also 3 and says a lot of stuff that may or may not be true. Natalie is her key person.

She goes 3 days a week to this nursery and I hate to think or her unhappy there, or worse still, treated roughly.
As a bit of background, a few months ago, she said a 'scary man' held her down on the floor there.
I went to the nursery head about this and they launched an investigation and it appears nothing of the sort happened, no men present in the nursery or had access to her that day.
How do I handle this? Seeing as she has a vivid imagination and has told tales before?

*not her name.

[TotallyKerplunked]

I have this with my DS, he moved to the pre-school room of his nursery in August and has been pretty miserable about nursery since.

Like your DD I keep getting lots of reports from DS about his new key worker who he doesn't seem to like much. I have spoken to the nursery and I just think that the fact there are a lot more children/fewer adults in preschool means he gets less attention coupled with the fact there are children in there a lot older/bigger who can be quite rough means its quite unsettling for him.

All we do is talk with him, give strategies for dealing with the other children, encourage friendships and try to give him the confidence to talk to the adults when he is not happy with something, it does seem to be helping.

[GuiltIsMyMiddleName]

Thanks for your reply. I hope it's just an adjustment phase and she starts to settle down a bit. I'll keep asking her about this key worker though, the last thing I want is for her to be unhappy to go in because she's there.
I'm going to talk to some of the other mums and see if their kids have said anything about her.