Bright Horizon nursery any good?

[ukdealguide]

I had a look at the bright horizon nursery by sainsburys and it looks good, clean and secure.

Anybody have any experience with them?

[Busymum2]

Hello - my daughter has been going there in the last year and I woudn't recommend it! There were a few nice teachers there when she joined but they have all left and now I feel the whole place is quite messy and the staff morale is very low! The Nursery Manager is leaving as well i think, which is not necessary a bad thing! Everytime I?ve gone to them with a suggestion or a comment, I just get a lot of reassurances but nothing ever happens to improve things. I always feel that they are very good with saying the right things but not with delivering. I am not sure what it the kids are up to during the day and they are not great with any of the literacy and numeracy teaching they should be doing as part of EYFS. Also, my daughter has gotten hurt a few times in the last few months and in the majority of times, they haven?t even noticed/notified me! I should have moved her to another nursery but she made a few good friends there and I didn?t want to have to move her twice as she will be 5 this Sept and going to school.

[Bellenden_Mum]

I have sent you a PM.

[carebear]

My child has been in BH baby room for a while and I've had mixed experiences.

I would definitely agree that they could certainly be more organised, in particular I've had several instances where there have been communication issues regarding a range of things. There has also been quite high staff turnover in recent months which they claim to be working hard to avoid any more of but only time will tell. And yes, we had a letter to say the manager is leaving - from reading threads about other nurseries it seems this can have a lot of influence on the nursery so the future is a bit unknown in that sense.

In contrast to the PP, they have always been very vigilant with any accidents. I certainly have no concerns about safety or security. We took the place because when we moved to the area it was the only decent nursery I could find with a short/no waiting list. My little one has come on leaps and bounds in terms of development and vocabulary on the last few months for which I credit the nursery, but I have no experience of any others with which to compare.

We were recently offered a place at our preferred nursery (preferred partly for location and partly because the preschool section seems to offer much more choice) and it was not a straightforward decision but we have accepted it, so I suppose that reflects the fact that we have not been entirely happy with it.

All that said, on balance I think BH compares favourably to the nurseries of some of my friends' children and I think they probably all have their pros and cons.

I'm aware I've been rather vague in this post so do please PM me if you'd like to discuss further.

[CulturalED]

We had to take our child out of there after a number of 'incidents'.

Our child has developed a lot faster and is a lot happier since we left there and started going to a childminders instead. (And hasn't had a single accident)....They seem to go through a disproportionate amount of staff which is disruptive for children of that age.

You have to remember that they are owned by a larger american firm, which means that if something serious does happen with your child then it becomes very cold and corporate very quickly. This upset us greatly when instead of caring how our child was (which was all we wanted) - we instead received letters and phone calls covering themselves and checking whether we were considering suing.

From our personal experience - I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

[ukdealguide]

Thanks everybody this is really helpful.

[Ladysaw]

Gosh I dodged a bullet. I really wanted my daughter to get in there last September but she got a fulltime space at a child minder. I remember feeling disappointed at the time but reading these comments I am happy BH was too full to capacity.

If anyone is looking for a child minder who in my opinion is absolutely amazing please PM me as she will be available for a full time or part time child soon

[yummy mummy]

Well I'm wondering if we are talking about the same nursery.. my child has been attending BH East Dulwich for some time now and I have been more than happy, more so over the past year or so when the new management team came in, my child's development in all areas have come on leaps and bounds over the past 6-9 mths, I feel my child is safe and well looked after, my child has never experienced any accidents explained or unexplained, yes there have been a lot of staff changes but this is just one of these things and it certainly hasn't affected my child I think parents have more of a problem with it that the children.... I must say if I wasn't happy with where I was leaving my child everyday I would take my child out, ask yourself why are these parents "that are so unhappy" still sending there dear children there??

[newmummy]

I agree with yummy mummy. you just cant please everyone these days can you. my child has been at the nursery for some time and has seen numerous managers come and go. I think some parents forget the changes the new management team have made to the nursery over the past 18months and where the nursery was before that time. they have introduced more structured learning for the children in the big room and the baby room had all new resources last year and looks loads better. yes there have been a lot of staff turn over but the manager has been more then transparent about this I think and some things you just cant control-staff have left due to the long opening hours which cannot be changed as that is the thing that is most helpful to us parents. nurserys always have high staff turn over anyway so it is to be expected. I think the staff team there now seem to be doing a great job. I know that there is a refurb booked in and even though it has been a long time coming this is not the managers fault and she has pushed and pushed for this and has kept us updated along the way. but anyway I think you should make the choice based on your gut feeling rather than other peoples views as I said you cannot please everyone all of the time. nursery is something you will get a feel for-you will walk in some and hate it immediately and others you will just feel that it is right. accidents will happen where ever you go-they are children, lots of them and lots more furniture and toys then we have at home too. we don't go moaning to the council if your child falls over in the park or go over to the other parents if they have a little squabble with another child in the park either. they are children at the end of the day and they will be bumped and bruised whether this be at home or outside.

[david_carnell]

THE ABOVE POSTER IS THE NURSERY MANAGER OF BRIGHT HORIZONS.

LYING ABOUT YOUR IDENTITY AND FALSE ADVERTISING.

INTERESTING APPROACH TO GAINING PARENTS TRUST.

[Administrator]

netmummy, I think it would be proper for you to state that you are are the manager of Bright Horizons in your posts defending them.

[sweetgirl]

OMG!

[Bellenden_Mum]

I am glad this thread is re-open as putting aside the post from NewMummy (very weird??) I wanted to respond to YummyMummy by saying that we were parents who were unhappy and DID remove our child from the nursery. I don't particularly want to give the full story (which is why I pm'd the initial poster) but it is was not an easy decision to make as we were worried about the implications for resettling, etc. I can only speak from our experiences and yes, in the future I would move my child more swiftly when I was unhappy, but I dispute that it is a straightforward decision.

Who knows, maybe we were just unlucky, but conversely perhaps you have just been lucky? It is much easier to pass judgement if you have not had to deal with the situation we did.

[carebear]

I would like to echo Bellenden_mum's sentiments that it is not an easy decision to change your child's nursery. But reading through this thread again, it seems to me that all of us who posted any criticism at all have either addressed why we have not removed our child from the nursery or mentioned that we have done so, so I'm not really sure who yummy mummy's comments were aimed at.

I have no idea whether it has been established whether new mummy is really the manager but I must say, if she is, as a current parent who had both expressed concerns and also defended the nursery to an extent on this thread, I would have expected a private message inviting me to discuss the issues further at the very least if it was her. This further underlines the slightly odd approach to communication with parents that I already had concerns about.

I would also like into reiterate that I have NEVER had concerns about my child's safety at this nursery.

[yummy mummy]

I am aiming my comments to anyone who has put a comment indicating that they have had issues with the nursery in some way, I understand it's not an easy decision to change nurseries but surely if you were THAT unhappy with it you would move I would.

[ukdealguide]

I'm in shock that the manager of bright horizon would lie about her identity.

[redmonkey]

david_carnell; how do you know her secret identity?

[david_carnell]

I'm a forum moderator.

Her posting history (two posts - both praising BH) set my spidey sense tingling. I can see registered names and when I googled hers it was that of the BH manager as listed on their own website.

I don't know what's more depressing, that she did it in the first place or that someone that dumb is in charge of looking after children for a living.

[redmonkey]

Wow, I thought maybe you were some sort of freelance vigilante. That is very bad.

[minder]

It's good people like David are on the forum. He can say what some of us are thinking!

Reading the last few sentences of newmummys post got me thinking as soon as I read it. "We don't go moaning to the council if YOUR child falls over in the park" etc.

[Fra81]

My son goes to that nursery and he's really happy. The staff is very caring and I think the nursery is well managed. I would definitely recommend it.

[esme]

My son went there when the new manager took over (who is leaving I might add). I'd say she tried her best and was a lovely person but not the best manager generally and very young to have that kind of responsibility - agree with most of the disparaging comments unfortunately (poor cleanliness, disorganised, poor addressing of bad behaviour and so on).

My son was bullied there and I didn't like the way it was handled (or not as the case seemed to be) so that in addition to them not reading to the children or having any real structure led to us moving him from there to alternative childcare. Unsettling but necessary in his case.

In contrast, I have 2 good friends who have had more positive experiences so would always say judge for yourself, as with anything in life!

[Lue Lue]

My child is at that nursery and sadly I agree with many of the above comments. I have quite a few negative things to say (pm me if interested) and I'm happy my child will be leaving in September because of school. It didn't used to be this bad, sure the nursery have always been in a need of an interior update but the majority of the staff used to be enthusiastic, friendly and happy to see the parents and the children. This is not the case anymore (with a very few exceptions). I have never felt that mini is unsafe there though.

The reason mini is still there is because its only once a week, mini is soon starting school, has made close friends there and also I honestly can't be bothered going through the same hassle I experience when looking around for nurseries in the past (I don't know how many viewing I've been to), waiting lists for the good ones etc etc etc...

[Amanda1979]

We looked round this nursery and personally I would not send my child there... I was really disappointed especially given the fees they charge!

[sweetgirl]

it might be an idea for bright horizons to start a thread of their own taking an interest in what the parents views are......