New here - looking for nursery advice - Little Unicorns - Canary Wharf

[Sa11ee]

Hello, wonder if anyone can help. Currently looking at Little Unicorns in Canary Wharf - I wondered if anyone has LOs there at the moment and could tell me what you think? When we went to visit I thought the staff looked a bit bored and obviously a key consideration is how engaged they are with the children. DD will be just over a year when going, but have am an amateur nursery picker and thought you ladies might have some advice! Thanks in advance.

Hmmm... That's not a good sign... Looking bored I mean! My DS just went into a nursery and I picked this nursery as it was the only one out of 4 that I saw where the staff said hi to him while we were looking around and I had a really good feeling about the place and I am so glad I chose it now. The staff should NEVER look bored... I mean, it's 3-4 babies per staff member and when you think of how much one baby demands your time i.e. I can barely sit down and have a meal / cup of tea in peace, it's a wonder they can cope with 3/4! Can you look around any others? You need to have a look at more in the area so you can get a feel of what other nurseries are like. Once you have seen 3-4, I think you get much better at getting a good feel of what's important for you and your child. Good luck!

Isn't Little Unicorns quite amazingly expensive? For that I would want Mary Poppins with supernany and Jamie Oliver backing her up!

Best advice for nursery looking is to go with your gut - imo smart paint etc is not important nor is all organic grown in imported air vegetables - you want happy, absorbed looking children and staff who look switched on. Everything else is a bonus

yes DS goes there 5 days a week since he was 1 and Ive never had a problem with it. I did start him off in the smaller nursery then moved him to the bigger one when he turned 2 as I felt he was ready and Im glad I did. Little Unicorn is an indoor nursery without any garden etc. They do however take all the kids out for daily walks which in my opinion is fine as I barely make it outside most days for lunch myself. My DS is very happy and thats what matters to me. I suppose everyone other mum on here will advise - go with your gut instinct :-)

My own experience with LU was definitely Mary Poppins backed up by Jamie Oliver and we were very happy there for four and a half years - have been to all of them with my dt's, forvarious reasons, mostly to do with new ones opening... Maybe it was a bad day for the staff at the time you went? Ask the management if you can speak to another parent (I know they do this because I have been asked in the past).

Also it's a family run business and I know some of them have been on maternity leave (although the fact they will put their own dc's in the nursery has to be a good sign?)

Hope helpful

I went to view the Columbus Courtyard one last week and ruled it out.

The kids could not have looked less happy with vacant bored looks. The staff had forgotten I had booked to view it so I waited and observed enough to out me off. Maybe it was a bad day as well nut they weren't engaged with the children.

It was overly hot and stuffy in there. All the kids asleep had been put to sleep on their fronts despite the big sign stating it was safer on their backs.