To be concerned about this re nursery?

[Hmmm21]

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!

@marykitty

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

I was going to say this. My DDs nursery had the same staff for years and then, due to COVID and some going on maternity leave and not coming back, several of them left all in one go. The situation has levelled out there now, but that might be a reason at your nursery.

OTOH, if your gut is telling you it's weird then always go with that.

Try Googling the nursery name. There are few places online I've found parent and staff reviews of our nursery - just keep going down the rabbit hole and see what you can find.

Normally it would concern me but there might be a good reason for it.

A lot of the staff at our nursery were working in the nursery whilst training for other jobs.

Nurseries have lots of bank staff too.

High staff turnover is never a good sign and I wouldn't want to send my child there either.
I'd do as you suggested. Start him there but visit lots of others and get him on the waiting list. Or can you or your partner dely returning to work until another space becomes available.?
You might find that the staff turnover settles down but if it doesn't at least you know he won't be there too long.

This happened at our nursery. It was to do with a change of management. Broadly, old manager left, new manager came in. I got on well with new manager, really great change as a parent, but staff were unhappy and left in high numbers including key members of leadership team. Staff at the nursery were then, overall, less experienced and tbh it did show especially in the preschool - DS2 had terrible preparation for school (hampered by the pandemic but I think the staff in the room would have been unable to replace the early years teacher status staff they replaced). New manager left under a cloud and actually old manager came back part time. I have no idea what’s happening now, but I suspect these things are like schools where it takes a while for the nursery to settle and regain its position. If you are able to choose another nursery you should consider it.

It's just common with nurseries I'm afraid. The work is hard but pay and respect are low. There is usually a high staff turn over and in my experience a lot of workers leave permanently once they have their own dc or a better paid job comes along.

I have worked in my current nursery for less than a year and have handed in my notice. Main reason is the huge amount of babies in the unit. 37 +. It takes 2 members of staff over an hour to do each batch of nappy changes. I have 8 key children with up to 6 in on one day. I don't get to spend much time with them as just the basic maintenance of feeding, nappies, getting babies to sleep takes most of the time. Coupled with unqualified staff than can't do meal dish ups or be left unattended, just adds to the pressure. I'm moving to a small nursery where I feel I can provide much better care. I feel bad for the children I'm leaving behind but the nursery is still advertising for more children. I know it's all about profit but I don't think it should be at the expense of the quality of care. I was in my previous job for 5 years so it's not due to me being flaky.

I’m in Scotland and this happened at the nursery my child attends very recently. Nursery sent an email to all parents explaining that due to an increase in nursery places for 3 year olds in local authority nurseries they were loosing staff to the local authorities. Who could blame them - im assuming school nurseries operate on much shorter opening hours and follow school holiday patterns.

@EbbandTheWanderingHearts

I have worked in my current nursery for less than a year and have handed in my notice. Main reason is the huge amount of babies in the unit. 37 +. It takes 2 members of staff over an hour to do each batch of nappy changes. I have 8 key children with up to 6 in on one day. I don't get to spend much time with them as just the basic maintenance of feeding, nappies, getting babies to sleep takes most of the time. Coupled with unqualified staff than can't do meal dish ups or be left unattended, just adds to the pressure. I'm moving to a small nursery where I feel I can provide much better care. I feel bad for the children I'm leaving behind but the nursery is still advertising for more children. I know it's all about profit but I don't think it should be at the expense of the quality of care. I was in my previous job for 5 years so it's not due to me being flaky.

I have e peri ended this in the past too.

I think YANBU to be concerned because it could indicate a problem but equally it could be benign. Our nursery is a small nursery and it lost two members of staff last year after having no staff departures for nearly 6 years. They were two older ladies who decided to take early retirement because they were very concerned about catching Covid/taking it home (this was pre-vaccinations). Which is understandable but also not an indication of a problem at the nursery! So maybe just ask the question.