dd has been at the same nursery since she was 1. When she started, I loved it, and I still think it has some great features ? the staff are generally wonderful with the children, it has a lovely garden and it?s got a good Ofsted report. But I?ve become increasingly unhappy with various aspects of it, some small, some not so small.
My main complaint is that they have kept her in the same classroom for the last 3 terms. She was moved through the ?baby? rooms really quickly, she never spent more than a term in any of them, and skipped some altogether (it?s an old house, with lots of rooms, so they have around 8-10 children per room and they move up as they get bigger). As a result, last year she was in a class with children older than her, but she made some good friends. Then, they all got moved to the next room at the start of Autumn 07 and she wasn?t moved. And then she wasn?t moved the following term, despite the fact she was miserable and missing her friends. And she wasn?t moved this term, even though they told me she would be as soon as a place became available. I raised my concerns with them several times ? she became very miserable about going to nursery, started saying she didn?t like it and wanted to be with her friends, and I think she was thoroughly bored of the same activities. I was told it was because of numbers, which is fair enough, but I know that they admitted new children of her age into the class above her because ? my suspicion is that is because they were there 5 days a week and she only goes 2 days a week.
Other concerns include the fact that I get little or no feedback from them apart from an end of term report ? no parents evening, no daily update. Then there was an incident a few months ago where I came in to find her and a friend smearing out of date suncream all over their faces while two members of staff chatted together. I did a double take and asked them what they were doing, and the member of staff responsible jumped up and started yelling at the girls for being naughty ? I was outraged as it was clear they hadn?t been supervised properly as apparently the box of suncream was kept on top of the piano, so they would have had to have climbed up to get it in the first place. I did complain at the time to the manager who apologised profusely, but it did make me wonder about supervision. And then last week they had sports day, they all came out into the blazing sun with no sunhats on and no suncream ? I pulled her aside and went in and got her hat and put cream on her but the fact that none of them had hats on made me wonder what was going on.
She?s now got a place at a pre-school attached to a local independent school so will be going there in September ? I?m much happier with the set up, and am just typing a letter giving notice to the current nursery. My question is whether I just say that she?s leaving and not go into detail, or whether I say that she?s going to another nursery and give details of why we?re moving her. I know I?ve raised some of my concerns with them before, and I?m not going to change my mind about moving her, but wondered if being clear on the reasons for leaving would be a good thing or not.
Well done if you've got this far. Would appreciate some advice.