Four Seasons Nursery Glasgow

[mcflumpy]

The SCC reports are great but does anyone have first hand experience? We're looking at city centre so either Cadogan or Waterloo St. Have been for a look. Cadogan St seemed really dark inside and Waterloo St seemed really nice but outside space is nit great.

Any other recommendations for city centre?

TIA

Hi,
I'm also thinking of using Waterloo Street. Colleagues of my brother's partner use both Waterloo Street and Cadogan Street and have said they are great and they would recommend them both. I still have to visit myself. There don't seem to be that many nurseries in the city centre - the only other one I know of is at Adelaides on Bath Street.

Hi there, yeah the inspection report seems really excellent, however when you look at it the actual length of time the inspection was, (from 8.40am- 2.30pm) and during that time 22 people were spoken to, 4 of the rooms observed and only 1 parent was consulted ? seems a bit odd to me. I took my baby out a few mohths ago, we had our child in the waterloo street nursery, and we are now in the middle of a dispute with them and have made a formal complaint to the care commission. I also have friends and work colleagues who had various problems with waterloo street. Cant comment on the other ones but the experience my family had has resulted in me being off work with stress and depression.

Just be careful and look into everything FULLY before deciding, and if you do choose to put your child there then make sure any concerns you have are addressed right away.

Hope you get on ok. xxx

I used the Waterloo St nursery for DS for about 6 months and had no problems with it. Plenty of my colleagues had their kids there and were quite happy with it. That was about 2 years ago now though.

Yeah same here Trixymalixy, it was friends and colleagues of mine that had recommended it to me, but it turns out that when their children attended it was under different management , by the time my baby started it had all changed so this is when the probs started.

I would never recommend it to anyone now after what we have gone through, but everyone is different and hopefully now that i have made my complaint to the care commission they will get their finger out and do their jobs properly xx

My DD is due to start in the baby room in Waterloo St December.

@ mummysewee angel - what exactly was the problem, are you able to share?? I'm a bit worried now about your experience with them.... as DD will only be 10 months, and she is my first, i am a bit neurotic about level of care she will get at nursery!

Jilljill, an update - after much researching and looking again at many other nurseries, we decided to go with 4 seasons at Waterloo st. I'm glad we did. We started in May & have had a really positive experience so far. Staff were excellent when settling in, after about a month our LO was happy to go to staff without tears or grumbling. LO appears to have a yeehah time there, there are certain toys that she loves and always runs straight to in the morning. Since being there staff have taken her out when they can, they go to the train station to wave at trains or down to the river to have snack, or George Sq, or Hamleys. She bakes prob @ once a week/ fortnight, frequently comes home with glitter in her hair from doing craft things. Staff have helped teaching DD to use cutlery, they don't mind uptight parent like myself calling to see how DD is at any point in the day.

I would say they aren't perfect, a couple of members of staff have changed in the room (baby) since we started and I don't know how common this is, or if it will continue. That said, thus far we are happy with the standard of care provided & hope it continues this way.

Good luck in December, it's not easy initially, but hopefully your DD will settle ok.

I think mummysweeangel posted her experience on another thread, but I couldn't find it.

Hi mcflumpy. Thanks for the update. That is great as I was struggling to find anywhere i liked as much and is as convenient for work/home etc.

I was in there yesterday for a meeting with the owner/manager and she put my mind at rest as to the complaint raised and some other queries i had.

So, anyway they know I know about the issues raised by mummysweeangel, and of course I will be keeping an eye out for problems (i would be anyway!) I actually left with just as good an impression, if not better, than last time.

Perhaps your wee one and mine will be playmates come December time! (if she is still in the baby room). Cheers again.

Yes you never know, although DD will prob be moving into next room around that time (eek!). The staff are mostly quite young but I think that's common in most nurserys, they're always professional & take time to explain what DD has been up to that day, ask how she is in the am at drop off. The outside space isn't great but our experience so far is that if they can & weather permits they do take the children out.

I hope our experience continues to be a good one and hope yours is too! Best of luck.

I was looking into this nursery too I read on one website it opened at 7am but I'm sure it said it opens from 8am on their actual site, could someone let me know which time is correct??

Also does anyone know of any nurseries that open from 7am in Glasgow?

Kimberley, it opens just before 8 but they prefer you to wait til 8 to handover as staff are usually setting up for breakfast before 8.

Earliest opening time I found for a nursery was 7.45 but that's on the south side.

It is possible that one of their other branches opens earlier? Give them a call.

HI jilljill32, my DH and i had a really bad experience with this nursery, we are currently going through the courts to try and get our fees back but we had to wait for the investigation to be completed by the Scottish Care Commission, which was done at the end of April. I am really glad i made an official complaint and more information was found out during that investigation that i wasnt aware of which was good. My DS has since started another nursery and i cannot believe the difference. It actually shows me just how bad the four seasons actually were now that he has started in this new one and its just like chalk and cheese. The staff are more mature and experienced and you can tell they just have a natural way with kids and the head of the service is always around and knows all the kids names and the parents and really gets involved. A breath of fresh air finally. Hope everything goes ok for your little one, i am sure now that the care commission investigated my complaint things will be done alot differently. We are waiting for the actual complaint to be uploaded onto the care commission website, there was so many different issues on it that they were having trouble trying to upload it. Best of luck.

• to Jilljill32- my DS was only 9 months when he started in the four seaons. Some of the issues we had were that he wasnt getting his milk feeds when he was supposed to- we have evidence of this. Staff would just write down that he "slept through" the feeding time or that he didnt want the feed which wasnt like my DS at all. He also had an accident (last day he was in the nursery) and the area that the accident happened had previously been identified as a "hazard" but staff had done nothing about it. We only found this out after the care commission had investigated this. We also found out that during a 6 month period, our DS had 4 keyworker changes and there was a total of 10 different members of staff looking after him - we were told that our DS would have the one designated keyworker who would liase with us etc etc but everything we went in there was a different member of staff. We only found out about the actual keyworker changes through the care commission as nobody from the nursery gave us any formal notification which would have been helpul. Also during the 6 months my son was in the nursery he got taken out on 2 occassions. He started in the May 2009 and it was one of the warmest summers we had for a few years yet they only had him out twiced. Yet during our very first visit we were assured (and given WRITTEN CONFIRMATION) that our son would get out for fresh air/walk every single day). Basically we were paying for a service that we didnt get. Theres loads more but hopefully the full report from the care commission will be available to view soon on their website. I still have it here if you need a copy. Word of advice- always go with your gut instinct. Your the mum and know best and you will always know whats best for you and your child. I feel sick to my stomach knowing i put my DS in there as we had problems from the start but i kept thinking i was a paranoid over protective mother etc. Just trust your own judgement and your own instinct. Hopefully now they will have given themselves a shake.

Hi there,

My daughter has been going to Four Seasons in Waterloo Street since she was 5 months old - she is now almost 3, and we are really happy with the service. The staff are always really friendly and are on hand to give out advice when I need it, weaning, toilet training etc. The staff did change quiet a bit to begin with but all seemed to be leaving for good reasons, my daughter did not find this too distressing as the new staff were great with her and quickly introduced themselves to me and my husband.

Kimberly83 I think that the Four Seasons at Skypark is open from 7am if that is any use to you.

I am really happy with this nursery and would urge you to go and have a look at it for yourself - with my child being in the nursery for over 2 years I have not heard a bad word about it from other parents, although I see that mummysweeangel has not had as good an experience. I would defiantly recommend it to my friends and colleagues who were looking for a city centre nursery.

Hi there,

My daughter has been going to Four Seasons in Waterloo Street since she was 5 months old - she is now almost 3, and we are really happy with the service. The staff are always really friendly and are on hand to give out advice when I need it, weaning, toilet training etc. The staff did change quiet a bit to begin with but all seemed to be leaving for good reasons, my daughter did not find this too distressing as the new staff were great with her and quickly introduced themselves to me and my husband.

Kimberly83 I think that the Four Seasons at Skypark is open from 7am if that is any use to you.

I am really happy with this nursery and would urge you to go and have a look at it for yourself - with my child being in the nursery for over 2 years I have not heard a bad word about it from other parents, although I see that mummysweeangel has not had as good an experience. I would defiantly recommend it to my friends and colleagues who were looking for a city centre nursery.

Hi there

I agree with purplekaribear- you should go and have a very good look at the nursery for yourself, look at the other children and see if they look happy and contented, speak to a few parents if you can and view at least another 2 or 3 different ones, i made the mistake of not doing this so didnt really know what to expect as this was my first child etc. However, now that DS is in his new nursery i can see just how much of a bad an experience we had before and would never like any other family to go through what we did and i have to say that hand on heart I just could not recommend this nursery to anyone.

Hey Mummysweeangel- i also removed my child from this nursery and had a lot of very similar problems to yours. I really really wish i would have came forward and made an official complaint but to be honest i was just so busy getting another nursery organised and my mother took ill at the same time so i had alot going on but looking back i really ought to came forward and brought this to the care commissions attention. Have you thought about going to a national newspaper so that other parents are made aware and maybe encourage other people to come forward ? I have since found out that a couple of people from my fiances workplace also had disputes with this nursery and took their children out, but i think one may have been four seaosons cadogan street, not totally sure on that though.

Hi lanabanana

when was your child at four seasons and what age was he/she when you took him out of there ? My son was 9 months when he started and we took him out when he was 15 months so it was only ever the baby room he was in so i cant comment on any of the other rooms etc

Yeah we have thought about going public to the newspapers but are still waiting for the courts to decide whats happening with our claim as we have taken our case to the small claims court to ask for all our fees back. Its been a long gruelling process between this and the complaint that we raised with the care commission. It took five months for them to get the investigation completed as there was so much involved but they always kept me up to date throughout the five months via email and telephone, came out to our house to meet with us and go over everything face to face which i felt was really good as it let them see we were genuine and a normal family etc.

Its not too late to put your complaint through though !

Hi,
After reading a few other posts in the nursery section I am shocked at how many awful comments have been made and not many positive experiences of mums going back to work and nurseries! so I thought I'd share mine. My son has been attending this nursery since he was 9mths old he is now a thriving 3 year old. I am more than happy with the level of care he has received in the past and continues to receive every day. He talks very fondly of all staff including the owner and her husband! He experiences fab activities that I could never do at home! and also has a home cooked lunch everyday which he has two portions of!! I am now expecting another and have already signed he or she up! I would recommend this nursery to anyone who works in the city centre.
I understand a nursery is a personal choice, one that can only be made by viewing and asking questions not by reading other people's horror stories.

Hi CMD83, I agree the nursery should be made by PERSONAL choice. At the end of the day its great you have had a great experience and have a thriving 3 year old and have signed your new child up etc - but not all of us have had this fortunate experience with this nursery and it is important to let other parents know this. I would have loved nothing more than for my child to have gotten the "oustanding level of care" we were promised at our first visit and i would also love nothing more than to be back in the job i had for 11 years which i loved but had no option to leave after being left with anxiety attacks, stress, no childcare after a very bad first experience of childcare. As a result of my complaint the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care partially upheld the overall complaint, however 6 seperate aspects of the complaint were fully upheld (there was 13 aspects in total- most was there word against mine) and the service was given 2 requirements (both in order to comply with the SS1 2002/114 Regulation 4 (1)(a)- Welfare of Users-) one to be actioned within 24 hours of reciept of the report and one to be actioned within 1 month of reciept of the report. Added to that the service was also given SIX recommendations regarding various different process and procedures. We are still waiting for the actual complaint to be uploaded onto the website - i am waiting for confirmation of this.

I have just recently joined this site and am quite shocked at the negative comments made about Four Seasons. Thankfully there have been way more positive comments made showing that parents wsith issues are in the minority. My dd goes 4 days a week to the Cadogan branch and has been for over a year. She is my third but the only one I have put into nursery. My other two were looked after by family. My experience of this nursery and the care my dd has received has been so fantastic that I feel guilty for not giving my other two the same opportunities and great start to life. The staff are all dedicated and show a real interest in the care of my dd. I read obout the issues on going outside and have to say that I am more than happy with the amount of times she has been out. When i was shown round it was made clear to me that the rooms will try and get out as much as possible. I believe this has been the case. I wouldn't want my dd out every single day as she wouldn't get all the excellent and often messy activites that i wouldnt dream of doing at home. After all she is out and about the 3 days at home. I think they always have the children's best interest at heart. I know from speaking to other parents in the nursery that they too are very happy with the service they get and wouldn't change their choice of nursery for the world.

weefifi- i didnt want my child out every single day either, but on the handout i was given at the first visit it did state had in black and white very clearly tthe children would get "fresh air" 20 mins per day and although i know it cannot be possible every single day to get them out (weather permitting/staffing levels etc) but my son was out only TWICED during 6 months - i rest my case.

I am sorry that you are shocked at the negative comments and the fact i had this really bad experience with them which put me under alot of strain but it happened, i reported it the way i should have and the care commission investigated it all and i am so happy i came forward and thankgod your little one has had a good experience as i would never want anyone to go through what we as a family did.

My son was in the baby room at the same time as your child and was out almost everyday so maybe you have selective memory. Four seasons nursery care has been outstanding and the changes of staff you talk about were not experienced by myself and my son has been there full time since feb 2009

To mummysweeangel... It seems lots more people have had a positive experience of four seasons nurseries so it would seem you have been looking for a problem, any care commission report will report what it does however I have never seen or experienced any of what you post about and parents will only have to visit to see it us nothing like you describe....

Again mummysweeangel.... If it was so bad why did you knave your child in their care for 6 months? It's interesting you are trying to get fees back

Hi Henrik888, it appears to me that you have taken my post very very personal and this seems very strange to me. Yes some people have said they have had a positive experience with the nursery but it doesnt take away the fact that i didnt have a good experience. Can i just state that i have it in BLACK AND WHITE on the care commission report that my child was NOT given the level of care that he should have been. It was PROVEN. It was the care commission that actually found out that my son wasnt being treaed the way he should have been. If it was as good a nursery as you say it was then the care commission wouldnt have had to investigate them for 5 months.

Its not "interesting" that i am trying to get the fees back. Its like buying an item from a shop and bringing it home to discover that it doesnt do what it says it should- you take it back and ask for a refund.

The court will decide what will happen with the fees. But at the end of the day the report from the care commission says it all.