Feedback: The Villa nursery & Monkey puzzle nursery

[rayhope]

Hi ED forum and fellow parents

My 2 year old has been offered a place at The Villa nursery, Peckham, when he turns 3 and at Monkey Puzzle nursery, New Cross.

The Villa turns into a pre-school/school up till 7years old but we're more interested in the nursery offering currently.

I was wondering if you could share any views on both places.

We're leaning towards the Villa but would be so grateful of any feedback

Thanks

Ray

[Digbina]

You will find a lot of people rave about the Villa. Personally, I was somewhat underwhelmed, and that was before the incident that led to me taking my youngest out. It is very popular, although I have to say that I think this is a factor of it not being a term-time only nursery.

It certainly has an impressive list of offerings and activities. It is very well organised. The other parents are very nice and we made some good friends through the Villa. The parents' organisation put on a lot of social activities.

For me, the most important thing is a warm atmosphere and caring staff, and this is where I think the Villa is lacking.

Things I wasn't happy with included:

There are a lot of children there. I felt my son was rather lost in the 40 or so kids in Butterflies. He had only one friend there and the staff didn't make any efforts to widen his friendship group. The difference at his new nursery was quite marked.

I wasn't impressed with the staff. Because of the no of children, I would find my son with a dirty nappy or sodding wet sleeves at pick up (from Caterpillars) and this wouldn't have been dealt with simply because they hadn't noticed.

I did make a complaint about this and things improved. I didn't find the staff that friendly eg they would not reply to a greeting but just stare at you in silence. This worried me because I wondered what the atmosphere was like when I was not there, if that was what was going on when I was there. I complained about that too! I would often see them sitting around the playground or staring out the window rather than engaging with the children. Tatiana and Amy seem quite status conscious and I never saw them mucking in, changing a nappy or helping serve lunch, for example. When my son was there were no male staff which isn't a deal-breaker but I think is an important consideration.

I didn't like the use of commercial music eg playing the Peppa Pig theme tune during afternoon tea and I definitely did not like the reliance on recorded books - a teacher would sit in front of 20 or so children and turn the pages in time to a recording of the story. I felt this stopped children from being able to engage with the story by asking questions, or being asked questions. This was the usual 'wind-down' activity at the end of the day. I've never seen it anywhere else.

It is also seriously lacking in diversity and definitely doesn't reflect the local community. There is a bit of a Little Englande vibe there - viz the maypole, Bake-off winners at the fair etc.

My son was there until I took him out after he was able to get out of the main building (the door lock was broken and had been for some time). He'd made his way from the garden, through the cloakroom, through another two rooms and had opened the front door when in an amazing stroke of luck, my nanny found him just as she was arriving to pick him. When she took him back to the garden, the staff had no idea he'd been gone or for how long. His keyworker then tried to blame him for "not telling them where he was". He was 3.5 at the time.

We weren't contacted by the management and they didn't report themselves to Ofsted, as is required. In fact, we didn't hear from the Villa management until a couple of days later - coincidentally, the afternoon of the morning after I reported them to Ofsted. They very much tried to minimise the seriousness of it so I took things up with the council who said that they saw it as a breach of the EYFS welfare standards (children to be within sight and/or hearing at all times)and conducted a non-routine safeguarding audit.

If you do decide to send your child there, do so with your eyes open. I would ask them about child safety and see whether they tell you about this incident. To my knowledge, they never informed the other parents, which I am pretty sure they are supposed to do. I'd also ask about their recent no-notice Ofsted inspection.

Villa staff monitor this forum and have been known to contact the forum admin to get critical posts removed on the grounds of 'legal implications'. This should give you some insight into their attitude to parental feedback.

[TRed]

Our son goes to Villa nursery. it is great ... and generally experience of the children and parents is very good. I think the experience of Digbina is an isolated issue.

PM me if you want more info.

[rayhope]

Thank you Digbina for the thorough feedback. Interesting and very much taken on board.

TRed, good to hear some positive thoughts. Thanks

Does anyone else have anything to share - positive or negative?

It's such a big decision so looking to evaluate all opinions.

Thanks

[rheller]

Hi - we sent both our children there and they were both in other settings prior to joining The Villa. We had a very positive experience. There is a good balance between structured and unstructured play and the staff all seemed friendly and genuinely liked looking after children. My children were both happy there and thrived. My daughter only started school in September so this is a relatively recent review! Happy for you to PM me with any questions.

[Administrator]

I've had to remove a post as that user has repeatedly posted negative feedback about the nursery over the last 2 years, involved a previous headteacher and it involves legal action. The nursery has a right to contact us if something is defamatory and the comment that they are "known to contact the forum admin to get critical posts removed on the grounds of 'legal implications'." should warn you more about the message poster than the nursery.

[Digbina]

Nothing I posted was defamatory. The definition of defamation does not include facts or opinion based on actual experience. There is no ?legal action? underway or even initiated in the past.

It is a fact that Southwark Council conducted a non routine safeguarding audit of this nursery and it is a fact that they were also subject to an emergency Ofsted inspection last year. You can read the latter on their website.