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Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Childcare

DISGUSTINGLY FILTHY NURSERY...what do I do? (long story, sorry)

41 replies

eachpeachnallyplum · 06/05/2007 23:32

I started a cleaning job this morning, at a nursery and out of school club. I had been to visit it previously and at a quick glance it looked ok. It's a big place, but thought I would give it a go as its good money.The staff are very friendly and when I turned up this morning, I was given my own set of keys and security details. One of the women showed me the cleaning cupboard and made me a cuppa then left me to it. I soon discovered the horrors that lay within. There was a strong smell of urine in the building. There were no rubber gloves, only one duster and no cleaning cloths. The bleach, antibacterial spray and grease remover containers in the cupboard were empty. The mops and buckets were filthy with brown salty sludge. I had to clean them before I could even use them. There were 3 vacuum cleaners. One didn't work, one didn't have attachments, one had attachments but seemed to be spitting out dust all over the place. I soon figured out that the last one was clogged and unclogged it. After a while it started spitting dust out again.

My first job was in the baby room, where I had to pick ground in biscuit and sick out of the carpet, then vacuum it. By the time I had done that I had lost a lot of skin off of my knuckles and had bruises on my fingers. As I was pulling things away from the walls I found the skirting boards were covered in thick dust, so I cleaned them. Cushions and toys had stains and crusty stuff on them. The shelves were very dusty, the Bumbos and swing chair had food and dirt all over them. The window ledges were dirty, bin tops hadn't been wiped, a big brown greasy mess on one of the counter tops had been covered up by a tupperware container and some paperwork. Bits of rubbish had been left in corners and on shelves (wrappers, tissues, etc). There was a bag of compost in the sleeping room that had spilled onto the floor. It took me 2.5 hours to get the baby room to what I would consider to be clean enough for any of my children, or my mindees.

EVERYTHING FELT STICKY
I went into the next room and found a potty on top of a counter, which had obviously been emptied but not cleaned, as it had a salty residue and smelt strongly of urine (my eyes were watering); a nappy wrapper, complete with nappies and streaks of brown on the outside of it, also smelling strongly.The wooden bead toys were sticky and the beads were black with grime. More dirty window ledges, walls, some food behind a cupboard on the floor..

As I moved down the corridor the toys on each side were dirty. Little People toys with black sticky stuff on them look awful...and most of the other toys too.

The kitchens weren't too bad, although the lack of cleaning supplies was pissing me off a lot, as I had spent lots of time figuring out what I could use instead. Found industrial size kitchen cleaner bottle with pump (not with all of the cleaning stuff) and used that for pretty much everything.The children's toilets were gross. Someone had obviously put something in them to clean the bowls, but underneath and round the back were disgusting, there were dirty used toilet brushes on the floor next to them, the training seats and steps had sludge on them, another dirty potty was on the floor...

At this point, after being there just over 5.5 hours, I decided to call it a day, left a message telling them how much I had done and why I hadn't done more and went home. It was supposed to be a 5 hours job. I had not cleaned 2 main rooms at all, or the staff toilet. I had only vacuumed and mopped one other room. I had managed the office, foyer, baby room, kitchens, hallways, toddler room and kids toilets and that was it.

I would not send a child of mine there. I would not send a dog there (not that I have a dog). I was appalled by the level of dirt, and shocked that they would ask someone to do the job without providing the proper cleaning products and surprised that they would want anyone to see how bad it was.

So, my questions are: a) do I go back there next weekend? b) do i report them?
I almost feel like I should go back because I want the place to be clean. DH says that is not my responsibility and that I should tell them that I am not coming back. But the woman who showed me around and trusted me with keys was friendly to me and obviously knows that it needs sorting out..she mentioned about what if Ofsted were to turn up..

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misdee · 06/05/2007 23:35

is it only cleaned at weekends? or do other cleaners do after the nursery shuts each day?