Nurseries in East Greenwich

[Ashley5]

Hi, I'm currently looking at nurseries around East Greenwich and was wondering if any mums out there had any advice? We are on the waiting list for Teddies and Robert Owen and I hear both are good. There's a couple of new nurseries opened recently (Springwell and SmartKidz) - has any one had any experience of these and whether they can recommend?

Any advice greatly appreciated as it's really daunting leaving my baby with strangers at a nursery for the first time so I really want to choose the best.

Thanks!

Hi there
I can't help you very much on this as I opted to use a nanny due to the waiting lists. Smartkidz and Springwell hadn't opened by the time I was returning to work. Teddies and Robert Owen both seem to be v highly rated by Mums I have met in and around the Pleasaunce. My reason for posting is this. On a recent day off I took my daughter to Toddlers World at the Arches gym on Trafalgar Road. I witnessed a large number of childcare workers sitting about chatting and totally ignoring the kids they were responsible for. The older children were generally tearing around knocking over smaller children and the very small ones left to sit on the floor and amuse themselves.
One carer handed a box of kiddie biscuits to a child approx 14 months old and left her sitting with them and wandered off. The same child approached my daughter and I looking for water about 20 mins later. The carer had totally disappeared and my daughter had a a heavy cold so sharing wasn't really an option. She wandered off but I still feel guilty about not being able to give her anything. I had to stop the same child leaving the room after a random mother and child who were going.
In short - I think it is worth recce'ing how interactive the "care" is in some of these nurseries if you are still at home and have the opportunity to see them out and about. Perhaps I am being precious and I will admit that I am lucky that my nanny is extremely energetic and child focused but it looked like the centre was all but being used as a drop off point where local nursery workers could sit, have a coffee and while away an hour or two.
A couple of friends have their kids in nurseries in Canary Wharf. They take them in on their commute every day. Not much in the way of outdoor space but the children seem to be thriving and outdoor activities are done everyday. I'm seeing more and more parents on the train with their kids so perhaps if your employer can offer you flexible hours like 8-4 or 10-6 it's worth considering it. Another friend uses a nursery in Eltham, she drives out the A2 away from rush hour traffic, leaves her car there and takes the train into the City.
Hope this helps if you are still looking. Best of luck

If you can get into Teddies, it is worth the wait. Standards of care and education are excellent.

have you tried Blackheath Day Nursery?

Bumping as I am also interested in SmartKidz. My eldest DS went to Robert Owen and it was good (for 3yrs plus) but don't know about for younger ones. We need a nursery that works better with school run for DS2 (2 yrs) and DD (1 yr).

Both mine went to Teddies. Excellent nursery especially if you are putting in your child within the first year. They did wonders with my exclusively bf-ed non-sleeping babies.

You need to put your child's name down when you are pregnant (by dc2, his name was down when I was 3 months gone) and call from time to time to make it known you are still interested.

I visited smart kidz today. They did a great tour and they generally look pretty organised and have a good ethos with all the pets etc, but there were a couple of things that occurred in the short time I was there that put me off. One baby was climbing precariously out of a rocker chair she'd been out in and only the person showing me around noticed she was about to crack her head in the floor. The other assistant appeared to be on the phone with a child on her knee. In the older room one kid was outside in his slippers with his feet getting wet. They were only the things I saw so who knows what else might happen there-just made me feel nursery isn't for me/us!

Does anyone else have experience of Smartkidz? We are registered there and my first impression was very good. But on my second visit I noticed the staff seemed very young and was told that almost all were still training. Might be fine but would be interested in hearing from anyone who has a baby there, I know they haven't been open long.

Bump Anyone else know about SmartKidz?

You could try Zoom in Blackheath or Eltham. Owned by two belly naice middle-class girls Bella and Sophie.

Just checked their website and Eltham received an OFSTED Oustanding for 2012/13.

Hi - we have recent experience of both Teddies and SmartKidz, with our dd. She initially went to Teddies, but we found standards had dropped quite noticably from when our son went there a few years earlier. Carers seemed to spend more time bickering amongst themselves than anything, and on one occasion (which at least they were honest about..) our dd was forgotten inside a classroom while everyone else went out..
SmartKidz is run by a former Teddies carer, and was much better. The only gripe we had was over fees once she turned 3 - SmartKidz weren't passing on the govt grant correctly, and we eventually got a £1000 refund after it was investigated. To be fair, I understand they were transitioning their grants system, and this is now in line with Greenwich Council guidelines.
But our dd was far happier at SmartKidz, and developed well, and I'd choose them over Teddies any day of the week!

we visited smartkidz, springwell, and Teddies, our son goes to Teddies. Had you noticed that there is hardly any fresh air that comes into the nursery at both smartkidz or springwell. I think I recall one of the rooms at smartkiz, even though it looked great had no windows.

If you little one is cooped up in there all day, I don't think it is that good for them.

At Teddies they have the windows open all day and are outdoors too, on a Thursday they go to the Bridge in the Pleasaunce.

RO - most people say it is amazing and look at Ofsted.

Hard to get in but do try!

Good luck - I'm not sure Smartzkids has outdoor space?

We recently had our kids at Springwelll but took them out as we were not happy. We have since started at another nursery where our kids are sooo much happier and settled. We should have left sooner!

We love smartkidz!!! Our daughter went to a Bright horizon nursery before, and although these look very professional our daughter did not like it at all. THe staff at Smartkidz are extremely friendly, they are so good with children and they take them out whenever possible!
Would highly recommend it!

DS goes to teddies and I'm happy with it. Visited springwell and didn't like it - later heard from a babysitter that ex employees say it's not good. My friend's ds goes to smart kids and it seems it's Ok.

Yes we've just moved from Springwell to Teddies and are much happier - Teddies staff are much more friendly and wecoming and communicate so much more about how your child is doing. It's a bit of a small room for the kids but they make good use of the space they have.

Hello

I am the new active manager for Springwell, I am very sorry to hear that there was issues. However Springwell is now under new management and there have been many changes. Please feel free to visit us again.

We had experience with Springwell over 1.5 half ago. Our little one went there when he was 12 months old. Overall we didn't have good experience and changed the nursery after 6 months. The biggest problem was with staff. Most of them were very young and changing on weekly basis. It was impossible for us and our son to create relationship with anyone in there. On few occasions my son came back home very hungry. He was to young to feed himself and no one took time to spoon feed him ? . I had to raise it with manger and it was resolved quickly though. Also couple of times we had items of clothing missing eg: trousers, hats etc.

I've had also a bad experience with springwell. a lot of staff turnover so we were getting lost with our child key workers... coming home very hungry and thirsty too but I thought that was only because he's very hungry in general but reading the other review I understand that it's not only him. over the months there has been less and less children in there and I have bumped in former staff in the street 3 times they always told me that management was really bad and they left because the nursery was not doing much for the kids. pretty scary. it took us MONTHS to have another place in another nursery and now we have finally a place at teddies. thank god. our child is very happy there and he has changed a lot since a few months. he's my only child so I had no idea and I did trust them but I should not have. I also have to say he was coming back home very often with bumps, nails scratches and bruises and they had no idea why. I got scared for him but I had to go to work, I could not stop working unfiortunately.

I've had also a bad experience with springwell. a lot of staff turnover so we were getting lost with our child key workers... coming home very hungry and thirsty too but I thought that was only because he's very hungry in general but reading the other review I understand that it's not only him. over the months there has been less and less children in there and I have bumped in former staff in the street 3 times they always told me that management was really bad and they left because the nursery was not doing much for the kids. pretty scary. it took us MONTHS to have another place in another nursery and now we have finally a place at teddies. thank god. our child is very happy there and he has changed a lot since a few months. he's my only child so I had no idea and I did trust them but I should not have. I also have to say he was coming back home very often with bumps, nails scratches and bruises and they had no idea why. I got scared for him but I had to go to work, I could not stop working unfiortunately.

I've had also a bad experience with springwell. a lot of staff turnover so we were getting lost with our child key workers... coming home very hungry and thirsty too but I thought that was only because he's very hungry in general but reading the other review I understand that it's not only him. over the months there has been less and less children in there and I have bumped in former staff in the street 3 times they always told me that management was really bad and they left because the nursery was not doing much for the kids. pretty scary. it took us MONTHS to have another place in another nursery and now we have finally a place at teddies. thank god. our child is very happy there and he has changed a lot since a few months. he's my only child so I had no idea and I did trust them but I should not have. I also have to say he was coming back home very often with bumps, nails scratches and bruises and they had no idea why.

Hi, I can see the the original posts on here a few years back. Are there any recent reviews and recommendations for nurseries. I personally didn't like the feel of Teddies when I viewed it a few weeks back. I'm thinking to view springwell altho am a bit hesitant after the last post on here. I did prefer the feel of smart kidz. Are there any others in the area? Robert Owen don't take younger babies (1yo)

Smart Kidz Is not suitable for kids. Nobody is responsible for children. My son started to go where when he was 2.5 yrs.To be honest he was so scared to go to Smartkidz. He used fall sick very often. My wife was cried like anything. it was very sad story in our life. He has moved ro blue room when he was 2.10 months it is supposed to be 3yrs. Transition was horrible. Unfortunately my son not able to speak that time. No skills development in that Nursery. I have seen a carer was shouting@ children when I went to pickup. Blue room staff was horrible. Management is worst. No proper meal for my son. They don't bother to provide alternative. Worst part of our life. Gods grace we have decided to stop sending my son there. Now he is happy boy. He loves his current nursery. He has friends. Never cried. Even weekends also he wanna go to nursery. .. I BEG ALL PARENTS TO THINK MUCH BEFORE SENDING IT TO SMART KIDZ.
NURSERIES SHOULD HAVE CCTV PROVISION WHEN THEY ARE NOT WITH IN STANDARDS AND SOME AUTHORITY SHOULD MONITOR THOSE...
...BP

Hello,

Can anyone give me any advice/feedback from Smartkidz?

I've just moved to Greenwich (Maze hill) recently and this is the only nursery that has immediate availability for my 2 boys. One is 3 and the other will be 1 in Jan. My eldest doesn't seem to like it and has come home very unhappy after a few settling sessions.

Robert Owen seems great but, I need a nursery that accepts babies too.

Thank you