Lanterns Day Nursery E14

[onemoremummy]

Hi,

Does anyone have any recent experience of this nursery? I went on a visit yesterday and really loved it, only to come to Mumsnet to find lots of quite negative (albeit old) reviews.

Would be really interested in more recent experiences... Thanks!

Hi there,

I visited the nursery last year, I did find it very dirty and I got a very bad vibe, like noone cared and I walked out eventually. Then I came on mumsnet and saw some feedback that was negative. I think its down to the parent and the child to be honest.

my sons friends used to go there 10 years ago ant it was good over all for half a day for the activities. they moved them to river house as soon as they could enter.

In one year a lot could have changed as you say you really loved it, i could not even imagine going near it after our visit. We ended up choosing my nursery (brighthorizons now) for our little one. And we cannot complain. My son used to go to green gables in wapping then riverhouse until he moved at age 7.

Hope this helps a little at least. I would say go with your gut and you won't regret it. if you like it you are more likely to find your child will too!

M

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

I found it extremely clean, but I wonder whether they do a big tidy up before the visits?

I think I will stop by next week, unannounced, and see what it's like.

There is a waitlist for my nursery, otherwise I'd definitely enrol him there, i've only heard good things about it. I'm visiting little unicorns next week so that's an option too.

Good luck it's very hard choice to make. Best us speak to parents at drop off etc... Local mums many going thru same, I heard some horror stories but then sometimes some parents are more dramatic or more protective even.

Go with your gut you won't go wrong

X

We toured Lantern's today and must say we were amazed with the facilities and from what we have seen it is clean and well cared for.

onemoremummy how did your impromptu visit go and what have you decided to do?

We have viewed some poor nurseries so far and feel today's visit was a breath of fresh air.

Some more recent feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Hi
I am thinking about Lanterns too. Does anyone have any recent feedback?

Thank You

Hi,

I've registered with Lanterns already but my daughter doesn't start till September. I agree with Kanishab on my perception of the nursery. But it does seem concerning the amount of bad feedback the nursery has had in the past. I have talked myself into being open minded about it and I'm aware I'll have a harder time than my daughter adjusting to this new phase. I will try it at least for four months (so I don't lose the deposit) I also generally see that with reviews and feedback is those people who have issues that will always be more vocal about it, and we don't tend to comment when things are just ok or normal. But it will be good to have more up to date feedback.

Thanks

Maria

I would also definitely avoid Lanterns which is located close to Crossharbour DLR. Ill keep it short but there are workers or rehearsers in and out of the venue throughout the day as a theatre company is also run in the building. This also leads to constant works with builders and randoms going in and out for new ventures that have absolutely nothing to do with childcare. Lanterns make profit from stealing deposits and there is a long history of complaints. The approach is to call the parents over-bearing when dealing with poor care complaints. The nursery has nothing to do with canary wharf at all or its estate despite the claims that it is part of canary wharf. Canary wharf only has one group of nurseries- the little unicorn group. Lanterns does not have a michelin starred chef as claimed! (if you call throwing a baked potato with some beans across the table Michelin standard - you have severe problems) - the activities - they rarely go out into the small area that is called "outside" if you are there, you will see a 5% energy increase, pop in unannounced and many of the claimed activities are not happening for one reason or another and the carers sit in the room but we did not see them positively engaged when we turned up unanouced - if they are, its with paper work. Having something to show the parents is emphasised. Id far rather my child came home with a picture than read through staff made up notes that are clearly not accurate. If your child is able to talk, you can very quickly see the discrepancies. If you catch less staff there than claimed... "she went to the toilet" is a typical excuse for 'a' or 'some' of the members of staff not being in the room for long periods. Complaints are not handled well if there is any threat that a child will be removed. They are rude, dismissive and quite frankly the number of complaints about that place should lead to a review of the practices there. I would stay far away from it. I wish we had. All for show and no substance. Even the show is poor.

Just adding to this, yes the facilities are big. Thats what tied us in. But the management is scandalous and its all for show. I hope you have all found what you are happy with whether its Lanterns or another setting. Perhaps you would have a good experience with them. Every experience is different. The reason why i have written about Lanterns is because we had such a bad experience that quite frankly, i think prospective parents should be made aware of. I would also advise all parents to drop in unannounced to ensure that your child is getting the kind of care you think they are if you do go with them. I would absolutely NOT recommend this nursery ever to anyone. There is a reason why Lanterns has left a history of disgruntled parents. Parents prepared to share their experiences online. They really should behave more in line with a nursery that can be commented positively about. We are disgusted. They have a large number of parents who share the same view. The facilities should be acquired by another nursery that can transform the setting into great one.

Sorry, my message has been broken up slightly, here is the final part, Lanterns parent nursery tours are operated at the same time each week. The tours are conducted whilst the children are sleeping or about to wake up. (argh! - so orderly!) so few of the children are awake and in the way. There is a clean up operation before hand and the staff are firmly drilled in how to approach prospective parents. There were some posts online from a past employee that make some interesting reading. Best of luck -

I had made a comment in another thread about this nursery so I will copy paste it here as well as this is very recent experience.
About Lanterns..... I agree with above 'cash cow' comments and somewhat arrogant, not caring and definitely money hungry manager. Greed really shines through everything they do. The politeness is quite artificial and I honestly feel they care only about money. Teachers are quite good though but even they look unhappy and tired as if there is something not right behind the scenes perhaps?..
As someone mentioned it above, manager mostly cares about her saturday school. The arts were important aspect why we chose this place, but there is misleading marketing for sure. This is a quote from their website : "Professional teachers of the performing arts join the school staff on a daily basis offering workshops in music, movement and drama."
I need to tell you people, this does not happen there! It is a downright lie. There are no performing arts teachers coming in to work with children within the nursery's daily schedule at all! (The regular nursery teachers are the ones singing and 'dancing' with them just at the level as it would be expected at whatever regular nursery in general.) Not to mention 'on a daily basis'. It does not exist. It is a regular nursery with nice teachers and quite spacious inside place, (tiny outside garden), but only connection to arts is that children paint a lot. There is a dance studio inside the nursery, but it is used as 'run around and play' place rather than any organized dance activity. Even Ofsted pointed it out in their last rapport so obviously they still do not care to make an effort. The studio really is for the saturday 'dance school' which has nothing to do with the activities the children get on a daily basis monday to friday at the nursery.
My child was old enough to tell me all this at home so no, we did not appreciated to be lied to like this and that is why we left. Of course, I talked to the staff as well, to make sure it is really true.
The fact that you only get your deposit back after 5 months is quite telling as well, as I have not encountered it anywhere else when looking for a nursery place.
I can not recommend this place due to it's dishonesty as we felt tricked believing it was really an arts nursery as they have marketed it. And if you lie about one thing..... you probably lie about many others.

mariaj211 - Did you DD start at Lanterns in September? How did you find it so far?

I'm exactly the same as onemoremummy, I visited the nursery recently and like it. But before I went on to pay the deposit I checked for online reviews, and here I am. I don't think I'll be going with Lanterns now unfortunately.

Here are the things I did like during the visit though. Maybe people with more experience with Lanterns can confirm/disprove these:

• The child chooses their own keyworker,
• you can stay with your child during the entire settling week (not just the first day as is the case in the other nurseries I have visited),
• you can visit whenever you want during the day,
• you can bring your own bedsheets, blankets, etc, so they smell of home, you can even bring your own travel cot if you wish
• all in all, it seemed so child-focused and flexible.
• The children eat their meals in a separate dining room,
• they have a soft play room and a music room.

The only things that I didn't like were the tiny outdoor area and the fact that the tour takes place when the children are asleep. They deserve an opportunity to rest undisturbed, and not a group of strangers passing by talking in loud voices.

The ofsted reports are also good since 2011.

hi latenight I have heard same things and agree there are lot of bad reviews online. which one did you finally go for in the end?

also has anyone anything further or latest to say on Lanterns?

Anyone having issue with Lanterns? Refunds?
Does anyone take their child out of the nursery and did not get back the deposit?

Hi

We are looking at Lanterns, does anyone have any recent experiences they could share? Good or bad?

Lanterns nursery-stay away when possible

My son attended the nursery up to year 2. The whole place is a trap. Manager to the receptionist. Manager is very abrupt, rude and only cares for money .

It is not a safe place for a young child . Staff are so sacred of management and everything is staged just before showing to parents . This is always done when kids sleeping and they force kids to sleep even if they don’t want .

They don’t give the deposit back plus if you query anything they remove you from nursery. No professional feedback on anything and write down things in a paper very random stuff to be honest .My son had few accidents staff don’t care they are very aggressive and care very little about kids

Kids are treated badly , shouted at and there is no proper curriculum in place .

Overall bad experience we took our son very quickly when these things came to light and put him in another nursery which we are very happy about .

Everything you hear online is true and the real situation is most probably lot worse.if you are a mother who cares for your child stay away.

Please look for another place . This is a very rude organisation and money is the key driver .

I want to share my recent experiences at Lanterns nursery E14 on the Isle of Dogs, because I don’t want other parents to feel like I’ve felt.

The director told me that my son 2-year-old was a bully and that she knew how to handle it because her brother used to beat his wife up (genuinely).
It is unacceptable to me that the director believes that her experiences with other adults make her the authority on childcare practices. I tried to find out what childcare qualifications are held by her and the staff and they told me this information is confidential. I think, as they’re not willing to share this information, it shows that there is likely very little expertise or training available to support the staff. I think this is why they so often resort to shouting and mishandling the children. It seems to me that the director is extremely misinformed and is not seeking to educate herself. For example, she told me that she used to teach a dance student who bit her, until she bit her back, which ‘worked’ to stop her biting! This made me realise how deep the culture of mishandling is in this nursery.

Some of the staff are great but I think it’s only possible to be so good within a culture of fear and intimidation which stems from the director. I’ve often thought that the staff seem scared of the director.

Some of the staff are not at all curious about how to support children. I frequently had to prompt them to greet my child in the morning. When my son got a deep bruise from a nappy change the director told me that this long-term member of staff was ‘a bit old-school’ and didn’t think she needed to note down every bump. The bruise took two weeks to heal and he told me he was sad during nappy changes.

For any other parent whose child has been branded bad or naughty by this nursery, please know your child is not bad. It is just that the management at this nursery have very little if any knowledge or understanding of child development and so can not respond confidently to normal toddler behaviour. The director actually said to me that one of her long-term staff is a bit aggressive but she trusts her completely because she’s very committed to the job. So, it appears that she finds it ok for her staff to be aggressive, but if a child displays behaviour she doesn’t like then she brands them as a bully.

A couple of other problems -
At one point there was a radiator leak and the nursery did not close. The smell of old wet carpets was very strong. They did not replace the carpets but instead waited for them to dry. I had to take time off work as I couldn’t leave my son next to those wet carpets. They scheduled the ‘clean-up’ for a week afterwards. I still can’t understand why they didn’t use their insurance money to replace the wet smelly carpets.

Finally, their fee structure and contract are written in a vety confusing way to support the interests of the director making money out of parents, and many previous customers have never got their deposit back.