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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Feel let down by nursery

16 replies

weeonion · 25/01/2008 18:21

hi folks - this seems like the latest in a long running problem i have with finding childcare for dd from marchh onwards. i did find a nursery that we liked, it was small with only 30 kids in total (6 in baby room) with nice family kinda atmosphere. we are having problems finding someone to help us out with drop off / pick upsd but I was relieved to have least found somewhere we liked and was relatively close to home. anyhow - got home to find message that they are relocating to another branch of same chain, will be trebling the nursery numbers and it will be much further out of our way for drop off etc. i am so gutted. it feels like we cant get anything sorted for this poor bubba. just wanted to get it off my chest

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Original poster

weeonion · 25/01/2008 18:32

OP posts:

Desiderata · 25/01/2008 18:42

What happens in March? Are you returning to work then?

Original poster

weeonion · 25/01/2008 18:50

yep - i am on annual leave at the moment, due to be back 4 days / week from end of march.

OP posts:

Original poster

weeonion · 25/01/2008 19:42

what is other peoples experiences of nursery sizes? this will now mean there is over 100 kids in the nursery with 22 baby room places. i think that sounds an awful lot but maybe that is the norm??

OP posts:

Desiderata · 25/01/2008 19:55

It does sound like a lot, but they may not all be there at the same time. Many children don't do a full day, but do either mornings or afternoons.

The afternoons are usually a bit quieter.

oooggs · 25/01/2008 20:06

Hi WO - our nursery takes 12 in baby room, 12 in 2's room and 16 in preschool - totally 40. Haven't had and experience of larger nurseries - hope you get this sorted for C soon.

DontCallMeBaby · 25/01/2008 21:03

Over 100 at any one time, or over 100 on the role? The nursery DD goes to is licensed for 48 at any time, with 97 on the roll at the time they were last Ofsteded. So if you're talking about 100ish on the roll, that's not far off. I think they have max 12 babies at any given time. If this IS similar to the place you're now looking at, it CAN be manageable. The owner is very hands on, knows all the children personally. There are occasionally minor issues when, say, someone from the toddler room works in preschool for an afternoon and doesn't know the children and procedures quite so well as they might if it were a smaller place, but nothing terrible.

chankins · 25/01/2008 21:05

If you would like your baby to have more one to one attention have you considered a childminder ?

KatyMac · 25/01/2008 21:07

I think it is a max of 12 in a baby room
so 2 baby rooms

Original poster

weeonion · 25/01/2008 22:19

chankins - i wanted that from the outset but sadly there is none available in our area.

OP posts:

chankins · 25/01/2008 22:22

o thats such a shame. Where about are you ? We have the opposite situation in our area - too many cms and not enough work ! You could put name on a cm waiting list if you have one. It can be quite unreliable work at times, so a place could come up with a cm in case you need it. Best of luck though.

Bubble99 · 25/01/2008 22:23

chankins. Would a CM necessarily be able to give more one-to-one? Would need to be a CM with less than three mindees. And a CM with a baby and two toddlers would be able to give less one to one, I'd imagine.

Might work if the CM had a baby and older children?

nurseryvoice · 26/01/2008 16:29

Do parents like large nurseries?
I ask this because there is a new nursery being built near my nursery and its BIG.
a businessman is buying it for his daughter.
There is no need for any more provision in this area and we are all gutted.

KatyMac · 26/01/2008 17:15

I think there is a conflict between the optimum size for a nursery (min 50 - 100) judged on the basis of cost-effectiveness only - & what parents prefer (IMO only) which would be 20-50

Do you think?

mumof2fabkids · 27/01/2008 00:11

My experience of large nurseries is not good. Lots of untrained/working towards nursery nurses, high staff turnover etc. I'm not saying all nurseries are like that, but you tend to feel that yours get lost in the crowd IYKWIM. I once went to pick up my child and the girl said "who?" when I said my DD's name and she'd been there for a month! Felt like she was in a factory, so we didn't go there for long after, profit v's quality of care, it's a difficult one.

Twinklemegan · 27/01/2008 00:47

I went to see a nursery before settling on the one I chose. It was a large one, with three or four different rooms for different ages. I really didn't like the feel of it at all. DS ended up going to one licensed for up to 40 kids I think, up to 12 in the baby room. That was just a nice size I think and I was really happy with it. I wouldn't want him to go to a bigger one.

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