Our experience of St Michaels in Clapton / Blurton Rd has been really bad, and we are having to leave. Our experience had much in common with @chichiS from the start but we made the mistake of persevering. Firstly since I had to be away for work when my husband viewed the nursery, I was not allowed to view it (one viewing per family - this applies even after you’ve paid to secure a place). Then when we were offered a place (despite my own reservations my husband wanted to take it) the managers made a monumental mess of communications - failing to send me the bank details required to secure the place, and then giving that place to someone else... even though I'd given notice at our old nursery in Stokey by that time (we were moving house). They eventually denied that they'd offered us a place, or that I'd called half a dozen times, even though I had emails to prove it. Alarm bells....! This is just disorganised and unprofessional. When I politely tried to register by email that the process had been rather stressful ('but its water under the bridge etc, just wanted to let you know for next time etc") their response was to willfully refuse to acknowledge it, get really defensive and try to make me feel guilty for mentioning it. And then to suggest that we go elsewhere. I was pretty shaken by the tone and shocked by the dishonesty. Writing this, I am wondering why we carried on. But my husband still thought they were our best bet - and by that point we'd still got no other options (unsurprisingly other local nurseries have longer waiting lists than St Michaels). Our amazing Stokey nursery juggled to let us stay until the next place came available.
I now know that the above is the managers’ mode of operation and way of keeping parents at arms’ length and avoiding questions. Next up came payment... I asked if there was any written information they could send because my husband didn't receive anything on the viewing - policies, day to day activities, learning objectives, meal plans? Were there any terms and conditions? pick up timings, calendars, closures... you know, helpful stuff. The manager emailed back to tell me that my husband had been verbally told everything on the walk around and that they would not send any information and "don't feel under pressure to take the place". It was too late by then. We had no viable option but to take the place - we both work full time and we were juggling a lot, and there aren't many other options. I have since learned that the way the nursery deals with any kind of query is to deflect and defend, refuse to give information, and suggest that if you don't like it, you can leave. We didn't know if our daughter had a key worker or not, and when we mentioned this, instead of inviting us in to say hi and meet everyone, they tried to convince me that my husband had already met the key worker! The communications with parents are really bad. They breach government standards by failing to provide information to parents when asked, and like many parents there, we are at a loss to understand how they got such a positive Ofsted report. I suspect that their rigid approach serves them well in that kind of regulatory framework. Our previous nursery in Stoke Newington (Minihome) was so open, loving and communicative, with a really strong community, amazing facilities, and amazing staff - and we are heartbroken about having left it for St. Michaels.
There is more bad stuff… but I’ll save that for a separate post as it is a specific issue. Having experienced the joys of a great nursery, my strong recommendation for anyone considering this place, would be to hold out for one of the better nurseries in the area like Clapton Park, Round Chapel, Me Montessori, Stepping Stones and Little Buds.