Happy days too (Busby) East Renfrewshire or Redwood childcare South Lanarkshire?

[niunaona]

Hi, I’ve been researching nurseries in our area and narrowed it down to two nurseries close by: Happy days too in Busby or Redwood Childcare in East Kildbride (different council area but about the same distance).

Anyone has experience with any of these nurseries and can give their opinion (especially about starting in the pandemic with the settling period being different).

My daughter will be 2 years old in two months time and she has never been to nursery, she’s not very happy even when left with her Dad and grandparents so I’m very worried about how she will adapt. I will start working 4 days a week in less than a month so really need to make some changes.

Redwood offers a minimum of 4 half days and Happy Days offers a minimum of 3 half days. I wanted to start her off with less but this is what they offer.

What I like about Redwood is that they let you come in for the first settling session and meet the caretaker in a parents’ room. Then I think you wait there while the child is introduced to the nursery.
They also said they take it slow and do up to one month of settling. Happy days don’t let you in at all for the settling sessions, you’re supposed to drop off the child outside. On the other hand, they let parents see the nursery beforehand, while Redwood only sent out a video.

I was put out very much though by a story I found on the internet about a nursery caretaker convicted of abuse at Happy Days Too. Granted it was 6 years ago, but the fact that that person carried on working there for many months after incidents like pushing and tripping toddlers and force-feeding were observed makes me wonder how much of that culture survives.

Any recent experiences with any of these two nurseries would be very much appreciated.

Hi,
I was wondering if you decided on Redwood? I am also looking at this nursery but it's hard to find any info about it online.

I don';t know anything about Redwood. I would choose the nursery that is in the local authority area my child will go to school in, unless you are planning on moving your child to a nursery closer to where he/she will go to school.

your child will also get 30 hours free nursery provision when they turn 3 and although you can still get it if the nursery is not within your local authority area I think it just makes sense to stick to the local authority you live in to make the transition to 30 hours and school smoother.

I know a couple of people with kids at Happy Days and they are more than happy with it. It gets great reviews from people on my local facebook group. Though I am not local to Redwood so I wouldn't know about their reviews.

Your child may take a while to settle or may not and you being in the setting or not is not really going to make a difference to that. I am sure both settings will do everything possible to settle your wee one and if she is distressed will let you know and contact you to pick up if they feel they are too distressed. So I don't think you being in the buidling to meet the staff member is going to make any difference to your child settling in the nursery. It may though make you feel a bit happier about your wee one going to nursery if you have actually been welcomed into the setting first.

I am a childminder and more than happy to offer as many settling in sessions as the parent wants. I offer two free setting in sessions so if the child needs or the parent or I want the child to have more settling in sessions then I would charge for these. I am not sure if that is what you mean by only offering 3 or 4 half days a week. I am sure the nurseries will accept your wee one less half days than this if you wanted this but will charge for 3 or 4 like they state. Though if you want to settle the child quicker then the more sessions you do per week the more likely the child is to settle quicker. So if you were only doing 2 half days a week it will take the child much longer to settle than if the child was doing 4 half days a week.

Oh and the member of staff was found guilty 6 years ago but I think the fact this staff member was reported by other staff members if a high recommendation for the nursery. They obviously have a good whistleblowing policy/procedure in place.

Though after saying all this, have you considered chidminders?. They are fantastic too and can also offer the funded 30 hours once your child turns 3 and can help with the transition to school when the time comes.

Hi, we went with Redwood mainly because they allowed the parent in on the first settling session and they allowed up to one month of settling. Also, the details in the inspection reports seemed to me to recommend Redwood more highly, even though the scores were very good for both. The staff seem caring and my daughter is showing signs of being interested in going, so I’m hoping it was the right choice.