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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be concerned about this re nursery?

35 replies

Hmmm21 · 28/10/2021 22:10

My son is due to start at his first nursery in a couple of weeks.

He's been signed up for around the past 6 months and I have been received email updates, like typical parent newsletter types, from the nursery since then even though he's not started yet.

Since he's been signed up I have had loads of emails to say different staff members are leaving and welcoming new ones, one being the nursery manager and various nursery workers.

I have started to feel really uncomfortable about the amount of staff that seem to be leaving in such a short space of time after having received yet another email today notifying me of another staff member leaving.

AIBU? I can't quite place my finger on it but part of me thinks is this just a really rubbish place to work? And if so, how good can it be for the children if staff members seem to be leaving in droves.

It's a really highly rated nursery in our area and a few friends have had children there before who loved it (none there currently though) but I'd go so far as to say there probably isn't any of the same staff there anyway now for friends experiences to really be relevant.

Am I just overreacting? I will happily accept if I am!

OP posts:

Original poster

Hmmm21 · 28/10/2021 22:10

Been receiving*

OP posts:

3scape · 28/10/2021 22:13

High staff turnover isn't a good sign.

TotallySuper · 28/10/2021 22:13

YANBU my daughters nursery has staff that have been there for 30 years, most of them have been there for more than 7 years. The only new ones they get are out of college rather than because someone has left etc. You can tell they all love their jobs, get fairly rewarded and looked after and want to stay. This would make me rethink the nursery in your situation.

Original poster

Hmmm21 · 28/10/2021 22:15

This would make me rethink the nursery in your situation

Thanks. I am to be honest. They were great with him during his settling sessions and have fabulous reviews from other parents. It just makes me very uneasy.

I don't know if I'd get him in anywhere else in such a short time frame though

OP posts:

RussianSpy101 · 28/10/2021 22:17

I would be concerned too. Like a PP, the nursery my sons attend has had the same staff for years apart from getting a new apprentice every year who usually stays on.
My DD is 8 and they’ve had the same staff members she had in 2014, albeit in different orders as they tend to shuffle the rooms around sometimes.

HalfShrunkMoreToGo · 28/10/2021 22:17

Has a new nursery opened nearby? If there's a sudden rush of people leaving either there's something wrong at a management level and people are fed up, or a new place that needs staffing from the ground up has opened and people are following their old colleagues.

Original poster

Hmmm21 · 28/10/2021 22:21

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

Not that I know of!

He is only going for two mornings a week so not full time. I think we'll have to go with this until I can get him in somewhere else as waiting lists are long and hes starting in two weeks.

OP posts:

SnackSizeRaisin · 28/10/2021 22:30

It's not a good sign but at least they are honest about it. Which suggests they don't see it as a problem. At my daughter's nursery we were never told about staff changes. A male member of staff works there now and I only know because I overheard someone talking about it. We can't go in cos covid and I didn't like the not knowing who is withmy child all.day.
Sometimes once one person leaves a few others do too. As long as it's not always like that it doesn't necessarily indicate a problem

WTGN · 28/10/2021 22:35

Having worked in a local private nursery, from experience this would set alarm bells. This nursery has great recommendations on social media but working there it was a very different picture. The owner was a bully. The staff were really immature and unprofessional. Go with your gut, it's never wrong.

marykitty · 28/10/2021 22:43

At my DS nursery we experience a huge Staff turnover during the first covid months (which was also when he started nursery...)
I was honestly really worried for a while, then situation stabilized again after few months and since 1 year there is no change, and DS is happy.
For us it was a combination of people not coming back after maternity leave, people going in anticipated maternity leave, vulnerable people going into anticipated retirement etc all within few weeks

LizS16 · 28/10/2021 22:50

My daughter is at a nursery where this has just happened and I also started having alarm bells. There's completely new management after 5 members of staff left. We were told the reasons why and they all had genuine reasons so I decided to give it a month and then look at potentially moving. It turns out it was the best thing that could have happened as the new management team is super enthusiastic and have just done really well on their last OFSTED. It seems like a much happier place and my daughter is now really keen to go. Maybe it isn't always such a bad thing to have new staff in?!

myheartskippedabeat · 28/10/2021 22:53

Has one of them set up another setting and poached all the staff?
That happend near here afew years back

LittleRedYoshi · 28/10/2021 22:55

In the past - yes, this would have been a warning sign. But in the current environment, no - lots of childcare providers are seeing this right now - there have been news articles about it. It's one of the areas that's been hit by Brexit - there's fewer childcare staff around now, so those that are still here have their pick of jobs and are moving around to take advantage - hence high turnover.

MissCruellaDeVil · 28/10/2021 22:59

I would be concerned, high staff turnover in an education setting normally means it's an unpleasant place to work, and this reflects on the provision for children.

mynameiscalypso · 28/10/2021 23:06

I think it's a really tough time for nurseries to find staff at the moment. Quite a few of the overseas staff at DS' nursery decided to go home to their families when Covid struck too and they've struggled to replace them. That said, the core management team have remained the same so there is some continuity. It's tough though - I want the people who look after DS to be paid well and be happy with their working conditions. I do get the sense that that is the case with DS' nursery but I think you're right to be concerned.

Pleasegodgotosleep · 28/10/2021 23:26

In the current climate I wouldn't be worried about this. Many council run/state nurseries are heavily recruiting. Private nursery staff are moving for better conditions/holidays etc. It will all level out soon.

MoreThanAnOffDay · 28/10/2021 23:38

That would put me off

My dds pre school have had the same members for years. Not one change

drpaddington · 28/10/2021 23:39

I've worked in a nursery for years. I find that it goes through phases like this- staff will leave one after the other- then it settles down. We have had lots of staff leave over the last few months and I'd say nearly all of them did so because they weren't happy. Honestly, lots of the staff still there weren't happy either.

That's not always the case though, sometimes there are genuine reasons and it's not a reflection on the nursery or the care provided.

Freddiefox · 28/10/2021 23:41

Lots of nursery staff have decided that it’s not really worth the money and its easier to work in a shop, or similar.
The money is better and it’s less responsibility.
I think covid gave people a chance to re evaluate their lives.
Covid and lock down was also a hard work, and lots of staff now feel undervalued so are moving on.

Megan2018 · 29/10/2021 06:17

I’d be concerned. DD has been at her nursery for a year and the staff changes have almost exclusively related to maternity leave (so a couple returning and a couple going on leave). One person has actually left and 2 trainees joined. They have a bank staff team who have covered some of the mat leave.
They do have 2 vacancies that they can’t seem to fill but that doesn’t seem connected to them as there are vacancies at all the local ones too (my facebook feed seems to spam me with all of them!).
Low turnover is one of the things I liked about it. I’d see how it is when you start but have a back up plan.

underneaththeash · 29/10/2021 06:24

Do you live in London?
It was a huge problem with all the nurseries we attended (3 of them), the population tends to be transient abs it’s a low wage and with the extra costs of living in London, staff tended to leave once they had a better paying job.

All the nurseries we attended outside London had much better staff retention.

CakesOfVersailles · 29/10/2021 06:36

It sorts of depends what the reasons are too. A kindergarten near me lost five staff members in a year but 2 were retiring after over 40 years in the early years sector, 2 were to maternity, and one was going back to uni for a higher qualification related to early years. Sometimes a good nursery can just have a spate of staff leaving.

But in general it is a concerning sign that would make me take a second look at the nursery.

MaverickSnoopy · 29/10/2021 06:37

My husband has worked in nurseries for well over a decade and tbh what you're describing sounds normal.

I'm sure there are some nurseries where this doesn't happen but nurseries can be toxic environments for staff. Low pay, poor work/life balance with high expectations due to ratios. Will never forget when one tried to Bradford score our child for illness (they didn't attend the nursery) because they felt my husband shouldn't have the time off to look after her (she had been rushed to hospital). So many more stories. The stress to our lives has been horrific - he has worked for 2 major chains and 1 smaller chain.

In my experience it usually goes in waves of people leaving. Usually one person leaves and it sets others off. However, at the moment with the pandemic, it is a huge time of uncertainty for nurseries. They are they chronically underfunded and a lot short staffed as a consequence, putting a lot on members of staff. I also have friends who work in various nurseries and am hearing the same from them. Lots of people leaving to work in supermarkets. Same pay, easier life. It's not just nurseries- I'm a Registered Childminder and Childminders are leaving the sector in droves as the childcare sector has been treated appallingly during the pandemic.

I'm sure there are nurseries out there where staff are very happy, the above comments do indicate that. In your shoes I would probably ask the nursery what their turnover had been for the last 2 years. Have you asked on any local Facebook groups about local nurseries and which people feel are best or worst?

ArthurTudor · 29/10/2021 06:40

Staff turnover at ours seems to get like this every now and again. I thought it was fairly common in nurseries? Maybe it depends on the area. I put it down to the wages being so low and responsibility quite high that after a while they seem to move on. Having said that the management is stable - I think that's very important.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 29/10/2021 06:53

Are these people, at least in part, work experience/placement trainees going back to college?

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