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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be pissed that the nursery forgot to collect my son from school...twice

11 replies

jillianbrown · 02/03/2012 22:45

have name-changed...

I work shifts, the nursery is paid for monthly in advance. they bill me the extra in the following month if i use them more than anticipated. i tell them in the the day before, then confirm in the morning if they are having him for an extra day. they forgot to pick up my (5yo) son a fortnight ago. i told the OWNER my son would be in that day, she wrote it in the diary but didn't put his name on the pick up list. they didn't notice he was missing from their care for forty mins until school phoned. first i heard was when school phoned me to tell me he wasn't collected. i was miles away at work and had to phone nursery to get them to go and get him. i was unimpressed and complained, they apologised. thought it wouldn't happen again.

two weeks later,this time his name WAS on the list. i phoned at lunch time to confirm they were collecting him. they collected from school and left without him, despite his name being on the list, assuming i had got him. another 40 mins passed, school phoned, i phoned the nursery and they said 'oh we've just realised, going to get him now. sorry'. I had school telling me he had been collected (staff member on phone in different office than child and teacher) and nursery telling me they didn't have him. i was frantic for 40 mins that my child was unaccounted for...nursery apologised again, said they would look at procedure, but were generally playing it down. another prob is that nursery couldn't contact their member of staff who was doing pick up as the person on pick up didn't have a mobile phone on them.

sent written complaint to owner who replied apologising, but providing what were essentially reasoned excuses for my concerns...

were they playing it down? am i being unreasonable or are they?

OP posts:
reddaisy · 02/03/2012 22:48

Complain to ofsted.

AgentZigzag · 02/03/2012 22:51

Even with the first time their admin (putting his name on the list) isn't your responsibility.

Is there any way you can change nurserys? I mean you're going to have problems with trusting them now aren't you? It's a pretty basic function not forgetting to pick your DS up I would say.

It must play on his mind too whether there'll be anyone to pick him up or not.

abbierhodes · 02/03/2012 22:51

Wow that is shockingly bad! I would report to ofsted and NEVER leave your child in their care again.

IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 02/03/2012 22:56

Report to OFSTED and more importantly find different childcare

halcyondays · 02/03/2012 22:57

Yanbu

Cherriesarelovely · 02/03/2012 22:57

that is outrageous. YA SO NBU!! Can you change to a different nursery?

runningwilde · 02/03/2012 23:02

Complain to ofsted and tell her - the owner - you have done this
Do NOT pay for those days

See the owner again and tell her this is completely unacceptable. They have not taken this seriously at all. Is this a chain of nurseries or a small nursey? Can you complain to anyone higher? This is a small child! They need to be mortified! Change nursery

jillianbrown · 02/03/2012 23:08

thanks for all the replies... this is a small nursery, not a chain a 'one off'.

the thing is, this actually happened a few months ago and i have been just busting to ask for opinions on here (did not want to out myself and potentially compromise son's care as a result). i have paid up (INCLUDING the days they cocked up - no offer from owner as an apology, i'm too mealy-mouthed to ask) and subsequently removed my child from their care. owner herself replied to my letter at the time, so nobody higher i can complain to. have not reported to OFSTED...is it too late to do so now do you think?

OP posts:
MummyNickleby · 02/03/2012 23:14

Never too late to contact Ofsted. I did after my son was in an accident at his nursery. Found out the truth behind the accident 2 months after it happened... Osted looked into & upheld my compliant (quite an achievement if you read the Ofsted complaints procedure).
Good luck Smile

jillianbrown · 02/03/2012 23:19

thanks mummynick - good to here you got some degree of closure re your own complaint.

i did contact ofsted at the time via email, and my work signature etc was used so it wasn't anonymous/a paper trail will exist, however, i did not tell them the name of the nursery. they asked me to give them a call. as he was still under their care and i was trying to sort alternative childcare i was wary in case it compromised his care/generally concerned about the implications of a formal complaint

OP posts:
MummyNickleby · 02/03/2012 23:34

Fully understand, it's hard when they are still there, you don't want to compromise their care.
Top tip: read the EYFS, you'll find all you need to know about safeguarding children rules. It'll make you feel better (it did for me) and you'll know you're doing the right thing.
Read Ofsted complaint procedure to make sure you follow their rules too. It looked to me like a complaint could be shelved just for not following their guide.
But you've done everything right so far Smile

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