Kidsunlimited - do you use them and what do you think?

[callmeovercautious]

About to book DD into one. It appears to be the best in our area but would appreciate any experiences from lovely MumsNetters!

Which area is it?

It's a Cambridge one. I think they are all run by the same Policies but it would be interesting to know of any variations.

DD and DS both went to one (the same one) from about 6 months till moving to school (for DD) and still there (DS). We're very happy with them, but I suspect that may have as much to do with the lovely manager and staff as anything else. Beware of Head Office - they're notoriously dreadful at getting bills right. Mainly well-meaning, but not very accurate. But as I say, we've been really happy with them.

Sorry can't help. My dh has an office opposite the one in Tytherington Business Park and has a view of 3 sides of the building. He's been in that office for years and laughingly said he could have given you a daily report - for example, whether they went out for their walks.....

Thanks Ladies. Funnily enough I have been warned to check the bills!

My DD is booked into a (Cambridge)Kidsunlimited, starting Sept.

Apart from the tour whilst I was still pregnant (which I assume you have also had) my only experience to date is that they managed to take a full month's charge from my account at the beginning of July despite having more than 2 months notice of the change to Sept and were less than polite when I called them to query this! So yes, bills = rubbish.

That said, a number of my colleagues use them and have said good things about the actual care.

Will be interested to see other replies.

My ds went to one on Milton Park in Abingdon for a month. I had to take him out because I changed jobs but wasn't 100% happy with it. Nothing terribly wrong, but the babies didn't seem to do anything other than play with the treasure baskets all day (was promised messy play, outside walks etc when given tour) and the staff were very young and seemed a bit disinterested. I'm sure they were taking good care of ds in terms of nappy changing, feeding etc and they were quite cuddly, just not very good at playing. Could really see the difference when ds started at his new nursery where the staff are all very enthusiastic and they do lots of exciting and varied things. But I would imagine a lot depends on the individual nursery and manager.

My DD has been to a KidsUnlimited in Cambrige for over two years. Can't fault it. Staff are very competent, friendly and seem genuinely interested in the individual children. DD seems very happy there and often asks at the weekend if she can go to nursery today!

However I agree with the criticisms of the billing department. They have several times taken the wrong amount by direct debit and it's always in their favour and takes many phone calls to sort out.

Long ago my DSs went to a KidsUnlimited after school club in Cheshire. They were useless about invoicing (to my advantage). Obviously nothing has changed.

Hi Mumsnetters, im new to this and dont yet know what dh etc means, but im sure i will learn.
My baby boy is 11 months and he goes to KidsUnlimited in North Cheam in Surrey. I have been pleased with it so far, had a couple of billing gripes with head office - i see that is normal though! But the care that he recieves i feel is of a good standard. Although he often comes home with bogies and food on his face.
I have found that they do some lovely activities with him for example jelly play and painting, and for fathers day they helped him make my husband a fathers day card.
I am overall pleased with it, my only real flaw is illnesses, since starting nursery at 4 months (1 day a week, but up to 2 days when he was 9 months) he has been constantly unwell, he seems to catch every cold or chest infection going, but that is i guess nurseries in general.

Welcome to MN, sugerandspice. There's a list of acronyms at the top of the page - definitely worth a look. And I think you're right - they catch everything going for about the first year of being at nursery (or so it seems at the time), but it does get better, honest.

My dd is at a KidsUnlimited in Cambridge - the one at the Sci Park, not in town. We have also had billing problems so this is interesting to read about. The things I mainly like are the regular, varied, scheduled activities at all ages (sounds like some places are not doing this properly though) and the food. I specifically didn't want a nursery where the kids just seemed to lolligag around all day.

Things I was not so happy about - looking back, dd started PT at 7.5 mo and although she was very mobile already I still think maybe a childminder with more attention in a cosier setting might better suit a younger infant. Dd was also very shy. But By around 15 mo she was much more settled and now in the toddler room at 2 she really likes it there. Also, the staff change a bit more often than is optimal but I think that's common in all service type industries.

They do seem young too - but I'm such an old bag anyone under 30 looks like they should be in school. Jill

Both my dds went to Kidsunlimited for two days a week. In fact dd2 left yesterday as she'll being going to pre-school in Sept, it felt like the end of an era.

On the whole I thought they were fine however at one point there was a manager who it turned out, was basically incompetent. All the 'club' type activities e.g. breakfast club, french club. yoga just didn't happen for about 9 months. There much moving of rooms, staff and dd2 was quite unsettled. Needless to say, he wasn't there much longer. I think things like the menus, facilities and outdoor space were great.

The one where dds went was a brand new purpose built building with fantastic facilities which was great, but I think more important than ant facilities are the staff and on the whole there were fine and there were a couple of fantastic people there but again there was inconsistency. I don't have any experience of other nurseries so I can't compare it.

DS1 went full-time to KU in Notting Hill from 8 months to 3.5 years. In general it was very good - varied activities, food seemed decent, staff good. Towards the end of his time there, there was a couple of changes of management and I really noticed the difference - staff were less motivated, turnover increased and not all the promised activities happened. It really showed to me how important a good manager was.

Thanks for all your replies!