BABY ACORNS-ROATH-CARDIFF

[blondiemum]

Please help -my dd has been at this nursery for 5 months now and I am mostly happy with it...my dd seems very happy but there have been a couple of instances where I have not been entirely satisfied -firstly I leave a bottle of juice for her throughout the day (even though they do have drinks with their meals)-on a couple of ocassions her juice bottle has still been full at the end of the day and she has drank the entire bottle on the way home-when I ask they say they have offered it to her but she refused it. On another ocassion my dd had a temperature of 101/102 for most of an afternoon -when I came to collect her she had been stripped down to her nappy in an attempt to cool her down -but nobody had even phoned me to tell me!!-what distressed me even more was when they told me she had been crying most of the afternoon .
Am I being over zealous as she is my first child or should I be looking for another nursery??

not in the cardiff area, but I would be asking some questions...they should have a complaints procedure have you followed this? and bump!

I work at another nursery in cardiff and we have heard a few strange things about acorns and parents have taken them out of this nursery. I don't know anymore than this so can't commentany further. I would certainly be asking questions.

Hiya,
Just to let you no that when i worked, i took my ds to a nursery in caerphilly. whenever he had even the slightest temperature, they would ring me and ask us to pick him up. They often rang about the temperature or if he looked pale, but i prefered this then not to no until i picked him up.

Message withdrawn

OK I am off to look round Jigsaw nursery then-any comments on them??

I think they are the same Acorns, Mosschops30, just a different branch.They have a nursery in Whitchurch as well, just over the road from where they run the Holiday Clubs.

How were they awful??? Glad you've mentioned it, I had been thinking of putting my DS's in for the Summer Hols.

OMG you're right to be worried blondiemum. We might be moving to Cardiff and I'll certainly check with you lot before putting ds's in any holiday clubs there. We're considering Whitchurch you see!

it is good to note that often the qualified nursery nurses are aware that parents should be rung and that removing a nappy to cool a child down is not advisable when a temperature gets that high. however it is of the discresion of the management to contact parents!! however both management are to busy with admin and qualified staff cost companies much more than cheaper unqualified staff members who may not understand the seriousness a high temperature can bring.

We took ds out of Acorns House Acorns (same chain, Park Place, near uni & museam). That was last August, after a series of events.

What swayed it in the end was that staff-child ratios were NOT being kept, (1 staff member to 14 babies on the final, trigger, occasion) and he was allowed to play on age-inappropriate equipment without proper supervision. Also,I saw a member of staff shouting at a child not once but twice-raised it the first time but took him out after the second time.

Most seriously, my parents (not known to nursery staff) were able to go into the nursery and take my son without giving the password or really being asked who they were.

The management took our concerns very seriously, had a 1 hour conversation with them-unfortunatley we then went downstairs afterward to find 8 children with 1 staff member.

Jigsaws are pricey but good, I think they employ 100% qualified staff (heard somewhere 100% NNEBs?), which is why they are so pricey. On the Cardiff Mummy circuit, its one of the few that I have heard nothing bad about.

The following have bad reputations on the Cardiff Mummy circuit (possibly unfairly): Ninian Park (closed and reopened x 3), Toybox, Nazareth House, Tylsiau Bach/Little Gems, Heathfields.

Little People & Asquith Court (at David Lloyd) are both reccomended also.

I thoroughly reccomend Liliput, in Gabalfa, but they have very limited places unless you work for local government or civil service.

I do only know about Roath/Penylan/Splott type area though, so can't help too much.

& yes they are the same Acorns with the holdiay clubs-the nurserys have ads up for them.

Staff ratio has never been good in the company that you are mentioned. Their policies are all the same. They do offer drinks to the children at all meal times, but it is only water, if children refuse then they are not offered anything else. Unless you specifically ask for the child to have squash, but you must request it as something you wish. A good nursery that I know of and have worked in is Heathlands Day Nursery, by the Hospital in Cardiff, they do keep the ratios and if staff are off sick then they employ qualified members from an agency, the children tend to always have the same members of staff, which you don't always get in a big nursery. Hope this helps.

i used to work at another acorns nursery in cardiff but finished oct 2000 to have my baby and not worked since.

i just wondered after reading this thread whether there was not any kind of management staff there at that particular time - short staffed possibly. just idea to work out why they didnt phone but also they are using their initiativ to cool your child down and perhaps thought see how he/she was after half hour or so before phoning you. i know it is a high temp and we would have normally phone parents straightaway.

also over the last few years they have suffered with loss of staff and perhaps find it difficult to recruit new members?

also changes to their own rules within the company i.e. before i left we werent allowed to administer calpol if a child had a high temp, even though parents had signed consent to say it would be fine in such event. it changed to that when a child has a high temp phone parents first and ask permssion to administer calopol.

no offence or taking sides here , im just looking at possibilities from a member of staff point of view having been one.

i also know quite a few children who will not drink in such settings, particularly if not long started there, at least until they feel totally comfortable and happy there. therefore they'll drink loads as soon as they get home.

I know they do have problems keeping the same staff and do have to move staff around all their nurseries to cover the ratios. As you find in most nursery companies, staff are highly underpaid and therefore the experienced staff don't often stick around for too long.

My DS goes to Acorns at Whitchurch full time -it is an amazing nursery and I don't have any complaints at all. The staff are lovely and my DS loves going there. I also spoke to other parents and they had nothing to complaint about -the only thing is that it is not cheap. Every time when my DS had temperature they phoned me straight away. There was one occasion when both me and my husband were stuck in traffic and couldn't collect her until it was almost 7pm, but they were really understanding. I highly recommend them.