Asquith nurseries

We had a great experience with Asquith in NW London. We've just left as DD is about to start at a nursery school attatched to a primary school and we were so sad to leave as they have played such a huge part in our life for the past 2.5 years. We were mostly very happy with the nursery and DDs carers, specifically key workers. MiL said she was always very anti nursery but has now completely changed her opinion. The garden recently had a makeover and is a fantastic play space for the children with wooden play houses, a huge sandpit and astro-turfed area for the babies to sit and play in. I also know that hours are being extended to cover 7.30am to 6.30pm for parents who need. Definitely go in to look around and speak to any parents you might know who go there.

We had bad experiences with an Asquith nursery; I took the DCs out and wished I had done so much earlier. Several other families removed children at the same time.

As well as several incidents specific to that time and place, I was concerned about high staff turnover and difficulties in dealing with a centralised management structure.

Mine went/go to Asquith in Caterham and we have always been very happy overall with it. The communication/head office can be crap but the local management have always been pretty good, they have very low staff turnover (I am about to have a third baby who will go at 10m and be cared for by most of the same people who were there for ds1 who is nearly 6). They have an outstanding ofsted and great outdoor facilities. Aprt from the odd minor exception over 6 years I have always felt the staff to be comitted, well[trained and very kind with the kids. Funnily enough we moved to Reigate from Caterham but kept them at Caterham as the Reigate one didn't seem to have very much outside space and was in a very cramped location, I felt - though I must stress that I have never looked around it and have never heard anything negative about it at all.

I think other posters are right - the chain is just an umbrella - there can be a lot of variation in particular ones so you need to go and look at the individual nursery rather than the chain - ours was originally an independent one taken over by Asquith some years ago. No nursery is perfect I don't think but Asquith Caterham is by far the best one I have seen and both my children have been really happy there and I will be sending my third there with no reservations.

we had problems with Asquith Day Nursery in Reigate.

Not long ago when we collected our DD from nursery the skin on her arms, legs and face was extremely red and inflammed. Having made enquiries over the phone (as we only saw the full extent of her reaction in the car on the way home) asquith confirmed she took part in cake making in the pre school room in the morning that involved her making skin contact with raw egg (and maybe even eating either cake mixture or the finished cake). DD has had an egg allergy throughout her time at Asquith's.

We were obviously extremely upset and shocked that this could have happened, especially as DD was in a lot of discomfort in the evening because her skin had reacted strongly to the contact with egg even many hours later.

Aside from the incident occuring, the response raised several other concerns about the care being given by their staff. Firstly it appears nobody in the room was aware of DD's allergy, or that she always has medicine and skin cream at the nursery for this eventuality. two weeks after the incident we found out her medicine was discarded last year and we were never told about this...

The incident calls into question the processes this nursery has in place for dealing with food allergies, both in ensuring all staff are aware and that medicine is readily available and used if required; the preparation process for starting introductory visits to a new room in the nursery; and the level of care and attention staff are paying to a child's physical welfare.

hope this post is helpful...specially if you are considering using this nursery if your kids have food allergies.

same experience as cornflakemum

tbh ours had a really bad ofsted but we didn't have any other options as no other nursery in our area did 8am to 6pm , they all did ridiculous hours like 9am to 5.30pm - how was i supposed to get to work for 9am? lol

anyway because of the poor ofsted they sent letters home saying they were striving to do better and spent loads of money on new equipment, decorating , more time on staff training and it really has made them pull their socks up

Our children spent a total of nine years in Asquith nurseries and were well looked after and thrived. AngelNanny is right though - the local management structure and operation is more important than the corporate name - ours was run by someone who had been manager for many many years, and had her own children there (a good recommendation!).

I have come across two that have been not very good to say the least.

Too be honest it would be more about the individual nursery rather than the chain itself as alot of the problems are due to staff and management.

Good Luck

my dd is at one, she started at 11 months and is now 4 years. We have been mainly very happy with the actual nursery - head office are absolutely rubbish with communication tho. But that doesnt matter on a day to day basis if you are happy with the staff at your nursery.

What type of thing is it that worries you about the ofsted? Also what is the date of the report? I agree (as another teacher) that ofsted get things wrong at times and that reports can become irrelevant over a short period of time.

Go and look round the nursery and ask the manager about the points on the ofsted that concern you. If they answer your questions openly and you are satisfied that they are working on any negatives from the report then no problem, if they are cagey about the report that would be warning bells to me and I would dig further.

The best thing is to speak to other parents who use that nursery. And go for a site visit. Trust your gut.

Agree that Ofsted don't always get the full picture.

we had our DTs at one, they loved it, we were reasonably happy with it, high staff turnover, but that isn't too unusual. I'd visit and go with yuor instinct, Ofsted don't always get it right (says the teacher!)