I’m a Nursery Agency worker in West London AMA

[Nurseychick]

I’ve worked in lots of different setting in rich and less well off areas. AMA

Do you like your job?

I worked as an agency nursery assistant for a bit. Some settings were fine but some the other staff would barely give me the time of day which made the job so difficult and isolating. I don’t want to make friends but it’s very lonely when no adults talk to you.

Do you find this?

That’s really hard.

Would either of you put your kids in nursery at a young age? How do you know if a place is good?

Yes I did have to put mine in at 11 months to go back to work (not as an agency nursery worker at that time) if I could choose I wouldn’t have put him in until at least 18 months, but he didn’t go full time and it’s just something I had to deal with. We got lucky with his key worker, she adored him and still does, we see her even though she’d not at the nursery anymore. It wasn’t easy but I saw the bond he had with the staff and he made little friends there but I did end up taking a big pay cut in the end and reducing his days to 3 a week. Not because I didn’t think he was getting good care but because it was too hard not spending more time with him and we don’t have family help.

Staff turnover is an absolute deal breaker for me. If staff don’t hang around long, they’re either getting burnt out quickly with long hours or it’s just not a great environment to work in. It’s not well paid job (criminally low paid for the level of responsibility involved really) so you have to be happy with your work setting to stay there. I could never have my son somewhere where I didn’t think the staff were looked after/happy in their jobs at least most of the time. Not easy though, it’s a tough gig, long hours are expected and the amount of admin to be dealt with on top of caring for the children is nuts.

Any chains of nursery's that you like vs wouldn't recommend and why?

I hate that agency nursery workers get paid more than regular nursery workers for much less responsibility. I was a senior at a nursery with a lot of responsibilities but still agency workers got paid more than me about £2 an hour more and didn’t have to do any assessments or observations, couldn’t be left alone with the kids etc

Good to know. do you think the staff are ever unkind or uncaring?