To be despairing at nursery upheaval again

[AnyFuleKno]

Since dd was first in nursery 1.5 years ago she has progressed to her fourth consecutive room and her fifth key worker. I have found out now that her lovely key worker (dd has been with her for last 2 months) is leaving. I know staff moving on is unavoidable but fgs surely dd doesn't also need to move rooms each time she gets settled or have key worker changed so that staff members can move around? I am seriously thinking of looking for a new nursery with a more stable environment. It's just heartbreaking as she just starts to get used to the keyworker and look forward to seeing them on the way to nursery and then they move on and we have six weeks of dd saying 'I want to see x' each morning.

Is this typical or am I justified in being annoyed about this?

Sorry this is a bit of a rant and incoherent!

YANBU. That level of movement does seem excessive. Why has she moved rooms so much? The (large) nursery DD is at moves rooms at 18 months-ish and 3 years but then not again.

Is it worth having a chat to the nursery manager to find out what is going on? Trouble with changing nursery is it is yet another change for your DD, although it might be worth it if you can find a nursery with a more stable staff base.

the staff movement at nurseries is usually high but this seems excessive and I would be questioning why.

I would have a chat and look at others and see if the grass really is greener??

Best of luck

Not sure I understand why your dd's nursery has so many rooms. Aren't the rooms organised by age group and the carers belong to the rooms. So if a key worker changes, your dd (if she is still in the same age group) stays and the replacement/new key worker works in the same room.

I would be annoyed if every time a key worker changed, my dc had to change rooms too, and presumably friends. I think change of room is more disruptive than change of key worker.

At 3 years old, I don't think my ds has any particularly strong attachment to his key worker or carers (who are interchangeable), more his friends.

In answer to the OP, no it's not typical ime. DD started nursery at 15 months in the toddler room with one key-worker. At two, she moved upstairs to the "biggies" and stayed there until she left at 4 years old for school.

DS started in the baby room at 9 months with one keyworker. At 15 months, he moved to the toddler room. His keyworker is the same as DD's was. He'll move upstairs when he's ready to potty train to be with the same girls that looked after DD. Only two staff have left (and been replaced) in the five years I've been using the nursery.

Continuity is enormously important to me. DD and now DS (now 5.5 and 18 months) are incredibly attached to the nursery staff - DD still goes there sometimes after school and in the holidays. They're like family to us and I trust them every day with my children's lives and happiness.

I think you should definitely look for a more settled environment for your own peace of mind. apart from anything else, you must be beside yourself having to bond with a new keyworker all the time. I found that it's just as important that I bond with the staff as the DCs do, if that makes sense.

yanbu. Thats a lot of changes for a small person.

The staff turnover at my dc's nursery is non-existent. Only one person has left in the 2 years he has been there (plus one maternity leave and one very long term sick) and even the bank staff are the same people. The manager has been there 10 years IIRC. I feel much more comfortable seeing the same faces and being able to chat to them in town, and the younger girls help babysit sometimes. Agree with cashncarry like it's an extended family having a lovely nursery.

Sorry it took me ages to come back to this thread, thanks all for thoughtful answers. There are five rooms in this nursery so there's a high volume of change just progressing through all of those. I think the suggestion to look at some other nurseries is a good one and I'm heartened to hear that other nurseries don't necessarily have this high staff turnover!

Hi AFK - just wondered whether you had considered a childminder? I am a CM and have a great relationship with the little ones in my care. The children know what to expect each day and have continuity of care. We also follow the EYFS as a nursery does. Obviously I am biased, but just something to consider! Good luck finding something you and your daughter are happy with

Sorry to be rude but why do CM always reply to nursery threads suggesting a CM would be better? We know you work hard but often have vey good reasons why we don't one. Balijay - if she wanted a CM she would have one.

I had the same problem with one of the nurseries my DS who is now five went to. THere was such a high turnover and because I couldnt bond with the staff I decided to pull him out as it is very important to me that I also get along with the staff and that they are friendly towards parents. Too much of a change for your DC will disrupt her routine and yours. I would recommend that you find another nursery. After all the problems we experienced with DS we chose to use a childminder with our DD this time and I have to say that the CM we use is absolutely fabulous. I totally adore her and she treats my DD like one of her own. PUt it this way when I go and pick DD up she doesnt usually want to come home with me!!! I wish you the best of luck

I had exactly the same issue with my DS1's first nursery.

Eventually it was a factor in my decision to move him, and I was MUCH happier with his second nursery.

The nursery I chose originally didn't have a high staff turnover - but they did have a lot of rooms and they just managed their staffing logistics poorly IMO.

Incidentally, I think it's fine for childminders to mention their services on threads like this. It's all part of the childcare picture - and I'm sure people can make up their own mind.

If a nursery went on every CM thread and said " have you considered a nursery, mine is fabulous and we have a great relationship with the little ones in our care. The children know what to expect each day and have continuity of care" people would complain they were hijacking a thread to try and sell themselves. Shame some CM feel the need to self promote at every opportunity. Low self esteem maybe?

What's your problem mnistooaddictive??? Balijay posted a polite and helpful response offering an alternative view. It's not like the thread has been hijacked by a load of aggressive Childminders!!

I'm not a childminder by the way. I had a similar problem when my eldest attended a nursery and was actually going to suggest having a look at childminders too.

I don't know how young you dd is, but relationships with caregivers is much more significant to them under age of three and therefore I think it would be worth moving to get that. If she is over three then she may be more interested in peers, but it sounds as if she is still in the attachment with significant caregivers phase.

I'd say that nursery that needs 5 seperate rooms is probably too big.

mnistooaddictive - maybe they reply because it is good marketing?

This isn't typical in my experience. Most nurseries only have three 'rooms' and dd3's nursery really only has two - babies and over 18 months. They just seperate out the children for different activities so the older ones do the more classroom based stuff some of the time but when it's free play they all have access to everything. This has really suited dd3. They've also had great staff continuity - I can only think of one person going on maternity leave (she's back now) and one moving to another nursery in the group the whole time we've been there.

It does seem a lot. DD started at 7m and had that key worked until she moved into Toddlers in Jan (she's 21m now) where she's had the same key worker since. There are five rooms at her nursery too but they move with age so she'll move into Little Leaners 1 in September when she's two, then probably move into LL 2 when she's close to 3 and then into Explorers, where they get them ready for school with lessons and homework, for at least her last six months at nursery. (LL2 and Explorers are in the same room but separate for certain activities). I love our nursery - it's absolutely wonderful and all the staff are lovely. They do have some turnover but it tends not to be amongst cover rather than core staff.

5 rooms seems a lot and for her to be in 4 rooms over 8 months seems ridiculous

dd's nursery has 4 rooms
babies (non walkers 3months to 12/14 months ish)
adjoinging room for older babies (walkers 12-14 months to around 2 years)
2-3's nursery room
and then 3-5's preschool room

also, they have always ensured that a familiar member of staff moved rooms with her little group of friends each time.

a stable environment is very important and I don't think you are being unreasonable to think they are not providing this for your child.

ooops over 18 months i mean!

Some staff change over is good, but this seems alot, The trouble is when you have young girls they don't have much loyality - well as much as you when you are in a stressful, underpaid job. We have used 3 different nuseries - non have this high level of staff turnover and I would look else where unless the activities they did with the children wre fab

I think that's the difference with our nursery - there's a real mix of ages amongst the staff and people tend to stay a long time.

Message withdrawn

We took our dd out of nursery after the 3rd change in a short space of time. I had had enough.

I work in a private day nursery the same one for over 15 years ( this is unusual i know) There is always a high turn over of staff in nurserys as the wages are very poor £6.20 an hour is the top wage. and the stress levels with all the paper work is bad, so staff move on. I have stayed because i didnt go into nursery nursing for the money but for the love of children.