Nursery upheavel - 2 days notice!

louisehj

Hi everyone,

My son, Daniel 22 months, has been attending a nursery for 2 days a week since he was 9 months old. The nursery he attends is a lovely new build, all open plane and huge back garden. He loves it. Over the road (although a carpark but is actually named as a street) is another nursery (call it the white building lol), like a big house with tiny garden on the front next to a road where HGV's go down numerous times daily.

Thursday, we get a letter from nursery in the post saying the owners of the white nursery have bought Daniels nursery and as of Monday 0-2 kids are in Daniels nursery and 2-5 children are in the white building! I was gobsmacked. When I took him in nursery on friday it was obvious the staff were not happy. They said he could stay in 0-2's until he turned 2. I asked about the garden, they said the owners planned a zebra crossing and to walk the kids accross!! We got a letter saying they were having an open day on saturday.

Well, we went along and it was bedlam. Parents were screaming the woman owner was not very forthcoming with answers. Parents main gripes were crossing road (insurance? she couldnt answer), moving kids from one surrounding to another so quickly, and that Dan's current nursery is very different and what right do the owners have to force parents to move their kids so quickly. In the end, it was decided that the 2 nurseries would stay seperate for now but that was after a lot of arguing and parents saying they would remove their children.

I am just gobsmacked that anyone in their right mind (esp as they said they had run nurseries for 15 years) would issue such a letter on thursday telling parents their kids were being uprooted on the monday! The owner insisted she was within her rights to do this. Anyone know if she was?

Any feedback would be much appreciated as although she had agreed to leave things as they are for now, I dont know how long that will go on for. It is just madness to put babies into an open plan, spacious nursery with huge back garden and then put toddlers and older kids into a building with no open space, all rooms and cross them accross a carpark/road maybe 3 times a day? Am I over reacting?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!
Louise

Garlee

What's the reason the staff will be walking the kids back and forwards across the road between the 2 nurseies?

If it's an actual road, is it upto the nursery to decide to have a zebra crossing? I'd have thought that was down to the local council, who may or may not decide that they will be one.

louisehj

The garden on the white nursery is very very small. Its is flagged no safety flooring. Dan's nursery garden is huge with practically all of it that safe black tyre like flooring. As all of 2 - 5's would be over the white building, they says its impractical to use the little garden (also fence is upto your waist and some parents feel their kids could climb it) so they plan to walk our kids over to use the bigger garden. Apparently, they already do it sometimes as they already owned a 40% share which was something I didnt know.

Counting_Pennies_2

I had a huge issue with a nursery my son went to, and I took the decision that because of the lack of understanding of the owner I went to another nursery, and this is something I personally would suggest you consider.

From memory, there was a mass exodus from my son's nursery and other places got booked up incredibly quickly, so if that is something you are looking to consider, I would start looking into it tomorrow before the other parents get in before you.

As you say, they will be moving him to the next group in two months time anyway, so he will be experiencing change anyway, so better the change is something you are happier with than the proposed situation

Good luck

squashy

I would think that yes they are probably within their rights to a degree as they are a private business, although it is very bad practise. However it would be interesting to see what Ofsted had to say about the new arrangements!

The long and short of it is, they will lose all their customers if they make silly and hasty decisions like this. Show them how you feel with your feet!

Katgoddess

Does OFSTED know about the new arrangements? The certificates for each building will be for X number of children, with no more than Y being under 2. If they are moving all the under 2's to one building they won't be able to have more than Y until they've changed the certificate. (I think?)

If your son's building is bigger, it probably explains why they are moving the babies there. Under 2's need more sq ft, so they can fit more babies in.

The National Standards for Childcare are available to download here if you want to complain.

louisehj

Thanks for all your replies. Dan isnt in nursery until wednesday so will see what happens tomorrow. I am lucky because he doesnt turn 2 until august so he can stay in his own building until then no matter what happens. But I will remove him if by then she still wants to put him into the white building and cross him overt he road.

Thanks again everyone. Louise

crispeater

omg how awful!

if i remember correctly you can actually report this to ofsted via their website. maybe a suprise visit from them will give them a kick up the jacksy at their stupidity.
i also agree with what squashy said, show them how you feel with your feet!