AIBU - Expressed Concerns to Nursery and got a very defensive response back

[megsmoo179]

So my LO started nursery in Jan 2015 at 6 months old for two days a week, before anyone says I do understand the cost of Nursery and how much they are to run.
When LO started it was £46 a day and in less than two years it is now £50 a day. sometimes they tell us in advance sometimes it is glossed over. I have questioned it and got a defensive response back. I have done research in the local area and it was one of the most expensive.
I also asked about the moving of my LO's keyworker into another room, I thought they might have pulled the parents to one side to let them know. The response from the nursery manager was not what I had expected at all. I am so disheartened now. I have found another nursery but am afraid it will now be the same.

I think not letting you know your DC's key worker was moving on is poor practice. If they weren't really apologetic for not letting you know then that is also very disappointing. Continuity of care is important, and so is communication.

The price increases are about 4% a year - they should let you know every time. Fees do go up for pretty much everything though, so I'm not sure on the face of it that's particularly unreasonable, though it is galling I know.

Where are you? £50 isn't too bad near me. Not a massive increase either. They should have had a word about keyworker moving but was it as disruptive as starting a new nursery? Seem like an over reaction.

You've been there two years and key worker only changed once? That's good going.

How did they tell you? I don't think we were ever "taken aside", just periodic emails like "Julie has decided to take up a role as a nanny" "Petra is going to study art at college" "Lucy is now head of baby room" or whatever

Id expect annual fee increases on, say, 1st march each year, meaning you'd have had two so far.

I don't think the fee rise is one you can complain about, although agree it is galling and sounds like they could have communicated it better.

Not being told your child's key person was moving to another room is really shit though. I don't understand why s/he wouldn't have told you?! One week there was all the usual daily handover, and the next week they'd just disappeared to a different room without a goodbye?!

How did you find out about the key worker change?

I don't think £4 a day increase over 2 years is bad at all.

We don't I'll parents to one side to have a word
It's because children do different days and are collected by different people
I would need a spread sheet to keep track of who I had told and who I hadn't and quite frankly I ain't got no time for that !
It's much easier to send an email or a letter even though I know some parents don't read them
I'm not seeing your issues really

How do you communicate with parents about other things, insancerre? General stuff, like behaviour, eating, sleeping, development, when a child is back from sickness, just generally maintaining a working relationship with your key children's families?

Genuinely v curious - when DS was at nursery he was there five days a week from 8.30-5, so I saw and spoke with his key person every day either at drop-off or pick-up. It was a similar story for most of his peers. So I don't really have any idea for how a nursery navigates the sorts of obstacles to communication which you're raising, even though I appreciate they must be very common.

Remember that the National Minimum Wage has increased for over 25s, that has had a big impact on our nursery fees.

Neil
The key person is responsible for speaking to their key children's parents on drop off and pick up
It's a really important part of their role, actually
If the key person isn't there then it's down to the secondary key person. Each child has a secondary leybperson because it's important that children feel secure with their relationships
We take a lot of time to chat to our parents, it's one of our strengths
I'm in the office and I let the parents in so I normally have a chat each day as they leave
We also have children's diaries where we can write important messages as well as the things that children get up to during the day
As well as a monthly newsletter sent by email, I use a text service to send texts to remind parents about fees or events or anything
But because I do have so many interactions a day with parents, it's not easy to keep track of who I've spoken to and who I haven't
I've just changed some children's key person groups and I wrote letters and also asked the staff to make sure they told the parents the kwybpwrson was changing
However, we do always get that one person who says they didn't know
It can be a problem if different people collect as we are then relying on grandma to pass on letters etc
Which I why I do email and texts but I've had people just delete them without reading
Some people are hard to communicate with

I see - thanks for that, it's interesting. Also, I think I misunderstood your previous post - I thought you were saying it was possible/defensible that a key person (or secondary key person, someone else on their behalf, etc) might not be able to speak to a parent to advise that the key person was moving to a different room - but now I think you say they should be telling the parent, plus other forms of communications (letter, text etc).