Bright Horizons nursery worker

[girlmuma]

TRIGGER WARNING: Link attached is a difficult read

Just received a message from DD nursery (Bright Horizons) informing parents of the recent media coverage. Nursery worker has pleaded guilty to unspeakable sexual assault towards children at the nursery. How did this go on for so long, only to be flagged by a whistleblower 19 months later?

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/nursery-vincent-chan-sexual-abuse-children-guilty-bright-horizons-b1260913.html

It's a truly a horrific read. Those poor children and families. I really do hope they get the support they need. Including compensation- which does not negate the facts but may help with costs with child care and any additional support needed.

My dc goes to a Bright Horizons. We haven't seen anything except for amazing care, support and a nurturing environment. Our dc loves going in every morning.

As parent with dc in nursery it does make you worried. This can happen in any setting.

Beyond making sure as parent that reviews are decent, asking about DBS and safety certs, checking out hygiene and cleanliness and that the children are happy there's not much more we can do. We do put our trust and children in their care. I really hope they can do something for these families.

Good lord . Seems like there is one of these every week! When will we be brave enough to say that male nursery nurses , providing intimate care is risky as most paedophiles are male and are massively over represented in jobs where they have access to vulnerable children! I refused any childcare setting with male workers for my child as paedophiles don't come with a flashing red sign on their heads! I also don't care if its discrimination against men. Life isnt fair and its mens problem to sort out, not mine. I would rather not be ' right on'and keep my child safe than the alternative.

This is terribly upsetting on so many levels. I hope the letter tells you about new measures to further protect children. Letting you know about the press coverage doesn't seem enough.

Bright Horizons took over the brilliant nursery my daughter attended 20 years ago. She formed particularly strong relationships with two male members of staff, something we saw only as positive. This story plays right into the hands of people who believe men have no place working in childcare or as primary teachers. Boys without male role models at home will lose out.

I believe he used the setting's tablets to take the images and somehow send them to himself undetected.

There’s no way I would allow a male nursery worker to provide intimate care to my child. You can call me sexist, I don’t care, safeguarding my child comes before other people’s opinions or feelings. Also, DBS check means nothing, it only means that they have never been caught abusing a child, not that they wouldn’t.

Agree with you @floppybit. I don’t think it’s as natural a calling as it is for women and I’d rather err on the more probably side of caution and have a woman be a caregiver than be flying the flag for “what about the mens? It’s fiiiine and equal!”

We’ve also had the same message though this afternoon, from my childs nursery which is a bright horizons in Manchester. I feel sick to my stomach to be honest & wish he didn’t need to go to nursery ever again. Despite never having any doubts whatsoever in their abilities and level of care, I now have doubts floating around. Those poor families to have to go through this. I’ve emailed our nursery manager to ask for a more information on what they are doing locally to prevent this from ever happening again.

Abuse at a north London nursery: The disturbing, perplexing case of Vincent Chan

Questions raised here about how long it took to arrest & charge this piece of shit.

@BlackSwanthat was a good article, thank you.

my daughter is at BH and I’ve had to raise the issue of tailgating to them time and time again. I know it happens, but there is no front of house, the offices are on the top floor so anyone can sneak in unnoticed providing they are quick and smart enough, and catch an off guard parent. A lot to think about. I wonder what exactly I should say..

The quality of a nursery is down to its management - that this wasn’t picked up on earlier is very concerning. Ditto the Twickenham nursery where a worker was physically injuring children seemingly daily without anyone noticing for months.

I don’t use a bright horizons nursery but was very underwhelmed by the quality of the people in our local one. No leadership, people in charge chaotic even on communication, and I get the impression they typically have a high staff turnover.

These chain day nurseries are charging really silly fees now (£2.5k+ for a baby here), that they then seem to be offering such a sketchy service is very alarming.

@MidnightPatrol I completely agree with you.

My child goes (or went I should say) to a BH nursery and the staff turnover was very high, and it was consequently really hard for him to create a bond with his key-worker since they were constantly changing, He started there in April this year at 11 months old and without fault until now he always cries at drop off and I find him crying at pickup. Luckily he was going only 2 days a week as we have a nanny for the other 3 days and I had already planned to take him out and have him with our nanny for the whole week from January as he always looked so unhappy there (and there is not cost difference overall, which is crazy if you think about it!!). Now, after finding out about this awful story, I decided not to send him anymore for the rest of December, I am losing the money as I had already paid but I cannot even think about how horrible it must be for those poor babies and their parents. I am in shatters honestly, how could they have let this happen for such a long time!

It's truly horrifying. I don't understand why this wasn't the first thing on the news this morning - not mentioned at all even on the London BBC news.

He worked there for 7 years.
700 families have been contacted by the police.

This should be treated as the major scandal it is.

This is not how news media work. The story was reported widely yesterday. It involved one person at one nursery. The reporting was based on the court case. By today, the news agenda had moved on.

One bad apple? No. Bright Horizons should be investigated.

My son also goes to a BH.

This event is horrific and obviously can’t help but worry any parent, particularly those in this chain. Having said that I’ve always been very happy with the care my son has received, and with the management at the nursery. Although there’s been some churn with staff over the past 18 months the senior members of staff have stayed very consistent.

There have been two male carers since we’ve been there, both lovely, and one was snapped up to be a private nanny for one of the parents.