Has anybody actualy worked in a GOOD QUALITY private day nursery? Do they exist?

[chloemegjess]

Hi, not wanting to scare parents here, but I have worked in probably 30 or more nurseries at some point (I did 2 years in one and then did temp work). I did not find one single one that I would want want to put my own children in or recomend to friends.

I saw how much they all put on such a front when parents were around, and one took about 6 months preparing for ofsted - telling everybody what to say, what not to say etc and even re-decorated for them! Nothing that ofsted saw was real at all, so the report meant nothing.

This isn't just one nursery, all the ones I have been to are like this. Yet the parents think it is a great nursery, as all they see is a "front" that the nursery put on for them.

Most are just about making money. The children were given tiny portions of food and told they could not have any more if they were still hungry, as it needed to fit in with the budget, yet parents were told they could have as much as they like. Nappies were not changed when they said they did, ratios were never stuck to, staff were mostly young trainees etc etc the list could go on forever.

Anyway, what I want to know, is are there actually any good nurseries out there? I am more asking staff rather than parents, as they are the ones who see the real side of things.

Sorry, just needed a rant about the nurseries as I get stressed out everytime I hear somebody recommend one!

Ok well that did when I worked in nurseries so must have changed. I know it changed while I was still working there from knowing an exact date, to telling you which 2 weeks they will come in at some point, and they were talking about only giving a few days notice. I think that on the spot inspections with no notice should be done. Even then, staff are obviously going to put in extra effort and be on best behaviour.

I know one nursery doubled their shopping order for the week when ofsted were coming, so the could offer the correct portions for once!

Can I as?

What did you do when you worked at a nursery that had problems? Did you complain to the manager? IF that didn't resolve it, did you complain to OFSTED? - on each and evry occasions?

Because if there are bad nurseries out there they do need to have something done about it. And it needs to come from the staff - they see the nursery in most detail. If staff don't report - then they are failing the children they are supposed to be caring for.

FWIW my DD went to two different nurseries (had to mve her due to my job change). Both were lovely, little nurseries. Both has open door policies. DD clearly enjoyed her time there, and was stimualted and cared for in all aspects. I called in at odd hours at times, due to work, and I never saw anything at all that I would have been concerned about.

Oh, as for scruffy - to be honest I would be more concerned if a nursery was pritine looking, rather than a bit of scruffiness from wear and tear.

For the last few years (at least three) there has been no notice at all. OFSTED inspectors ring the bell and walk in.

I am sure that in DD's last nursery at least (she left about 2 years ago now) there was no notice.

I've also never heard of a nursery without an open door policy.

Parents can collect their child at any time of the day, so the door is always 'open.' They will usually stay and talk for a while - so I'm sure parents would notice the nursery feeding the children gruel etc.

What do you mean by open door policy? I can go and pick up my son at any time but can't just walk in! I have to ID myself first on camera. Which I think is a good thing. Do you mean people can just walk in and out as they please? I hope not!

We had a key code to enter at both the outside door and the upstairs door - different codes for both. Could enter at any time during nursery opening hours.

At the moment i am TTC DC#1 but can see how this thread could upset people as i know as much as i would love to be a stay at home mum that wont be an option financially (although will return part time)so will have to trust day care providers with our LO. So thought i would post about a nursery i know that if it wasnt 5 miles away (we live in london and would take about an hour to get there in the morning) we would happily use

My step mother owns and runs a Private Sesional Day Nursery and i've popped down there loads of times over the last five years and i have always been blown away with what a lovely environment it is. Its in an old church hall so not the most amazing looking environment and the staff have to set up the nursery every morning but my step mum purchases new toys and books every year and there are usually about 6 members of staff not including my step mum to about 30 kids (not sure what the official ratio should be but that seems to work for them). Also 3 members of her staff have been with her for over 5 years with her deputy manager being there even longer. she never takes more than one student a year and rarely does that unless she finds a student she really takes too. My step mum can tell you the names of every child and their likes and dislikes, so Yes it is a business for her but really is one that her heart is in. I cant believe she's the only one out there???

Oh and can i just add i'm a Social Worker that has worked in Child Protection for the last 7 years and have seen my fair share of shit childcare placements

My dcs' nursery is fab & I wouldn't choose anywhere else to send them.

It's open door so parents can visit & stay at any time & parents are in and out throughout the day so not much chance for putting on an act.

Dcs have a 2nd breakfast, there's a chef who makes lunch & tea, and there is mid-morning and after tea snack as well. Resources are fantastic both inside and outside with a big playground, indoor play barn, farm animals, ride on tractors as well as little outdoor areas for each age group. DS has been to pantomines & other visits, they put on shows and hane kindermusik there too. But most of all, the staff are warm & welcoming - lots of cuddles.

They are also open about mistakes/accidents (not that there have been many) which is the sign of a well managed nursery imo.

I'm sure along the way there have been niggles but have always been very receptive to any concerns we've had.

Friends who live in Canary Wharf spend x3 a nursery for nothing near as professional or resourced.

Oh some of these posts make me so sad - and lucky that dd is in the most fab nursery. I have 100% confidence in each and every staff member to look after her, and the fact they got graded 'outstanding' in very section of an unannounced OFSTED visit just confirms this.

I will be taking dd out 1 day a week when I go on maternity leave (for financial reasons only) and I already feel sad to be cutting down her time there from 2 days to 1

(God knows how I'll feel when she goes to school )

As to the open door thing. Obviously parents can colect the chilren when they want, but they would be asked to wait in the doorway and the child would be brought out. This is what I have seen happen in most places and thought it was normal. I didnt realise parents were aloud to stay in some!

the child is brought out, hmmm - now you see that would ring alarm bells with me

how would you ever be able to talk to the staff?

all parents or people picking up at DS's nursery are checked and then allowed in to wherever their DCs are ... and stay if they want

They talk to the staff when they bring the child out. Their excuse for this is that it upsets the other children to have parents in and out. I do think it does a tiny bit, but I think the main reason is that they dont want to have to pretend to be a good nursery while the parents are in the room - its easier to keep them out and then they can do what they like.

Am genuinely surprised CMJ. At dc's place there's a security number to get into the fenced yard and then someone always lets us in the main door after we've pressed the bell, but then we wander to their rooms unannouced to pick them up and have a chat with their key worker. DH sat with dd today as she was still eating her bagel when he arrived.

My ds's go to a fab nursery that I have every confidence in. They love going there. Its a reasonably priced nursery in a small northern town, all the mums know each other locally and most also know the staff as well.
However DP's sister used to work in a much more expensive nursery in a posh part of South Mancheter. The staff had to change into clean clothes before the parents started arriving, and the smaller babies were put in clean clothes and already sat waiting in their car seats in the hallway for the parents to pick up!!
She claimed it was cos the high powered mums didn't have time to come in and chat to staff
But then when sil had her own babies recently she did a lot of things that would make most of mumsnet go and whenever dp questioned any of it she would get all uppity saying that she is the childcare expert with lots of experience...

My DD has been at nursery since she was 6 months old. 2 different nurseries because we moved when she was just over a year. I thought both were great. For me, the thing that makes them good is the staff. DD has been in three rooms at her current nursery, the toddler room, the 2 - 3 room and now the 3 - 5 room. Her key worker in each room stayed the same and she had a great bond with them. This consistency has been really important to her and to me. We are planning her 4th birthday party and the first person she says she wants to invite is her key worker

She has stayed full time while I've been on maternity leave but her hours have been very erratic. I drop and collect at any point of the day and have never seen anything at all to make me unhappy. The office opens the main door on a security camera and then I have a password so no one in her class knows I am coming. I can't believe some nurseries won't let the parents into the rooms - I would be v unhappy about that.

There are some bad nurseries, but I don't think its fair to say that they are all the same.

DD3 is at a fantastic nursery. The staff are wonderful and really care for the children. Staff turnover is very low, training standards are high and the whole place is fab. The children (0-3) get 3 meals a day plus snacks, unlimited drinks, plenty of stimulating and fun activities and also opportunities for quiet and sleep. The garden is lovely and they use the outdoor space as much as possible.

How do I know this? Because I have picked DD3 up at varying times and never once had cause for concern - there is total transparency of care and parents are always made to feel welcome. For example as I picked her up today they were just finishing tea, and as it's her birthday they were putting a candle in a cupcake for her to blow out whilst her keyworker cuddled her, as they all sang Happy Birthday to her and took pictures

don't think parents know the half of it at some places tbh because if they did, surely they wouldn't send their kids there

I work within nurseries, the ones I work with are all lovely and I see loads of good stuff going on. I'd happily put my kids in them. but I've done trials at other places that I wouldn't have been happy working at. no terrible neglect going on, but poorly trained and unmotivated staff and the kids looked depressed tbh

Can I reterate my point made before - no one answered:

Question for all those who have worked in nurseries and witnessed poor practise -

What did you do when you worked at a nursery that had problems? Did you complain to the manager? IF that didn't resolve it, did you complain to OFSTED? - on each and evry occasions?

Because if there are bad nurseries out there they do need to have something done about it. And it needs to come from the staff - they see the nursery in most detail. If staff don't report - then they are failing the children they are supposed to be caring for.

hulababy - most crap nurseries, imo are mianly because the manager is crap. The perminant nursery I was at for 2 years or so, the manager was sooooo good at lying to parents and ofsted, and would litterally shout at the staff until they were in tears if they did something she didnt like (not talking about stuff bad to the chilren, I mean as in a staff let something slip to a parent or something. Its not always that easy to report them as you think.

Also, I have spoken to Ofsted serval times, but nothing came of it. This manager in particular, actually HIT one of the children, was reported to the police and ofsted, but as she is sooo good at lying, managed to concince ofsted, police and even the parent of the child that she had "accidentally knocked" the child as she went to pick something up. All the staff knew she did it, but were told if they said anything, they would loose their jobs. I wasn't there at the time, but one staff did tell the police that everybody knew she had done it, but as she didnt see it herself, they didnt do it. The child was about 18months - 2 years at the time and as the parent believed the manager and thought it was "a great nursery" she carried on leaving her child there till he went to school. He was a handful, but she still shouldn't be able to get away with hitting a child. The manager carried on working as usual too.

I don't want to contradict what the OP said, since she's wholly entitled to right what she has, but....

You know, the type of nursery who employs agency staff in itself, may be the clue to your problem.

A good nursery should not need to employ agency staff - they should be recruiting themselves. In other words, the nursery should be employing salaried staff on non-fix term contract, allowing the member of staff to progress with their career within the nursery itself. I have never known of a company paying for the expensive training costs of agency staff. Neither have I ever heard of an agency paying the £1000s of training costs.

Try being employed as a salaried staff and not on a fix term contract. Other clues to a good nursery is sound management and a willingness to pay for all your training needs (1st aid course, NVQ qualifications etc). These nurseries are rare but they do exist. As you would expect, vacancies do not arise regularly and because the pay and conditions are better than most, there are many candidates applying for the position.

Good Luck

Question for all those who have worked in nurseries and witnessed poor practise -

What did you do when you worked at a nursery that had problems? Did you complain to the manager? IF that didn't resolve it, did you complain to OFSTED? - on each and evry occasions?

OK, answering this question is tricky. First of all, no-one wants to identify themselves, because they risk their careers. Known reporters are labelled "trouble makers" and they tend to be sacked or "pushed" out and then unable to find a placement elsewhere. People talk, rumours go round the grapevine like wildfire and no manager will be willing to employ someone who has a history of whistle blowing. That's a fact - from experience.

In many instances, the manager or leader IS the problem. In others, the "management" (not all nurseries are run by one person, most are run by a management group or board or committee) is either toothless or incompetent or simply don't care or all the previous three. Often, the member of staff are clueless as to who is the management. Names and addresses and contact details of the management committee/group/board are rarely advertised, so more often than not, the member of staff doesn't have a clue to whom to turn to. Those with the wherewithall know it's useless asking the room manager or leader for obvious reasons. This leads to the next problem. OFSTED.

Some of the instances are specific - in other words, the "bad stuff" happens at set times/dates/occasions when there are only a certain set of people present. When a member of staff makes a report to OFSTED, it will often be obvious as to who reported the incidences to OFSTED. If the incident occured in the presence of a group, and for example, 1 person reported it, those involved then instigate a "witch hunt" which is thoroughly unpleasant for all involved - the accused and falsely accused. Many members of staff are keen to find out who made the report, otherwise the suspicion of "trouble maker" rests on all of them - also they want to know who "grassed", the logic that they called be "grassed" on. This occured at one nursery and the room manager/leader was hell bent to find out who made the report. I'm not sure how she found out who reported to OFSTED, but she did eventually find out, and I suspect it was someone at OFSTED that let slip something perhaps without realising. The end result was not encouraging. The "good" members of staff simply departed and the "bad" members of staff stayed on - and putting up an impressive front for the parents, making a 'spin' of it. Demand for places actually increased!

For many members of staff, the hassle of reporting someone and the consequential fall-out is simply not worth the £5.52/hour. It's a lot easier to keep your mouth shut, your head down, and start looking elsewhere and leave the place graciously with a glowing reference.

My nursery is one of the more expensive in the area and it is bloody fantastic.
It has an open door policy for picks & drop offs.

I still have to pass a security check before I enter the building - this involves me entering a PIN AND scanning my thumbprint in order to enter, so no-one can walk in just off the street! Once I am inside, I can walk straight in to the baby room (after taking shoes off - they have a strict no outdoor shoes policy in the baby rooms) to get my ds.

The rooms are all bright with plentiful activities, large windows and the building itself is brand new and custom built (i.e no door handles, electrical sockets within kids reach, heating is in the ceiling and with individual room thermostats).

Staff are friendly & affectionate towards their charges, know their likes and dislikes, and either hold or are working towards Childcare qualifications. They recently had an OFSTED inspection, copy of which was available in the parents' room and they were rated good in all areas, other nurseries run by the same group are all Outstanding. There was only 2 requests for improvemnts in the report which to me seemed quite minor and easily resolvable which means to me they are not far off getting an Outstanding.

My DS is loving it at nursery, he has lots of fun and I take home his daily diary which is quite detailed for Dh and I to read through.

Believe me if I felt that there was anything wrong I would complain. But DS is always happy and content there, smiling at the staff and happy to be held and comforted by them - and I would know if he was not happy.

I'm sorry CMJ but I honestly do not understand what you hope to achieve with this thread, except making parents like myself who NEED to put their child in nursery feel like shit, by implying that we are being deceived by our nursery into thinking that our children are getting adeqate care when you are saying they probably aren't.