Le Nid - nursery on East Dulwich Grove

[SophieXxx]

To be honest with you, I highly recommend an alternative nursery to send your children to the management is absolutely terrible! What a company without great management?! staff do not get up and leave without reason like one stated above it's not fair on our children it's confusing them.

[Diana12]

Think you should be ashamed of yourself saying that no one should take their child to and the nursery you don't know the ins and outs of what's going on at nursery you just seen a snapshot of what's happened and as a "parent" listening to untrue gossips!!!!!! I think that you have the right to make a judgement on that basis I have been working at the nursery for a while and I think that the management especially are very very very very very good and they haven't asked me to write this comment but I have and having read your comments, it and actually it's quite disappointing that you can sit there and make that disgraceful quotes. You should be ashamed of yourself if you call yourself a respectable parent of the community!!!!!!

[Diana12]

As a member of Le Nid I am glad that all this shit staff members have left the nursery because they do not/ didn't know what it means to work in childcare, you think of the high turnover I think it's a blessing for the nursery because they were not good at their job to be honest and frank the MANAGEMENT did try to hold onto them and I for one I'm very very glad that they have left the nursery because you do not want your child to be around staff members who do not care and as soon as the last one leaves, your children will be in great hands and in the best care.

If you want to take your children out do it but it will be your children who loses out because you enjoy to listen to untrue Gossips!!!!!!!!

I love the nursery and I'm sooo glad to be working in such a great environment.

THE MANAGER Melinda is a amazing and we couldn't have asked for a better MANAGER.

[carebear]

Posting as Admin: Reminding everyone to share their experiences and opinions respectfully, or risk having their posts removed. Thanks, Admin

[SophieXxx]

Everything I say and have said is nothing but the truth with the management Lenid have Lenid as a whole is a FAILURE! how can a manager tell you that they would rather pay an agency rather than the actual Lenid staff member themselves. This is what you call BULLING and it's not fair we as a whole need to come together and sort this out it's not fair on our children staff don't actually want to leave they just want to be heard! but after having tried so many times there left with no choice but to give up its sad and it can physically/emotionally as well as mentally destroy an individual we need to put a stop to this immediately once and for all.

[carebear]

To be clear, the messages I'm referring to have been removed. Thanks, admin.

[Saffron]

Please do not post hearsay. Specific concerns should be taken up with the individual(s) to whom they apply.

Thank you.

--

FAMILY ROOM MODERATOR

[Wimpole]

Just to provide some balance to the above, our twins have been at Le Nid for 6 months or so now, albeit on a part time basis and they come back happy each day. They do Spanish & mandarin lessons, tennis which they seem to really enjoy. We're in a lot and it is clean and the facilities are good. Despite the odd minor niggle such as a baffling invoice to decipher , the staff have always been friendly and helpful as well as openly acknowledging any issues. We too have noticed the recent rapid turnover of some staff. No doubt this is not ideal for the kids who get used to their carers, especially the younger ones. But I believe that the management team - of what is still a newish business - are learning and are actively looking to address this. This forum is probably not the best place to air specific grievances.

[SophieXxx]

The nursery was graded inadequate by ofsted.

[SophieXxx]

The ofsted grade is now inadequate.

[SophieXxx]

NURSERY WAS RATED INADEQUATE - GOOGLE IT

[oreo01]

Hi all, after reading this I have very mixed views now. I actually know a parent who recommended them highly, but said his emails weren't being answered (poor admin)and sometimes they were difficult to get through too via phone. He also said he didn't want to put me off but their recent inspection was poor.

[oreo01]

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/CARE/EY489739

[puzzle007]

My daughter and I would love to own this nursery we would be able to turn it around in weeks. We are actually childminders. Its sad to see that many of the points stated in the report are general childcare procedures that should be understood and put in place before caring for children.

[PippaD]

Does anyone know if they met the requirements for last Fridays deadline?

If you need childcare locally, please try nanny Penny (& Toyan) on the forum who have spaces in their home from home setting.

[The Dellows]

That ofsted report is shocking! I feel for the children and parents, it must be such a disappointment. Le Nid has a lot of work to do.

[sanda]

The updated OFSTED report from the second inspection has been published online:

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/CARE/EY489739

The nursery has moved from Inadequate to "Requires Improvement" across the four categories.

On the ground, there have been a lot of changes. The manager and assistant manager both left in the aftermath of the first report. One or other was clearly part of the problem (as many parents suspected) and several staff who had left in the past year have now returned and the atmosphere has certainly improved, although there is a long way still to go. There is a new manager who is bringing improvements and tightening up on the sloppiness we saw in the past. There are more new staff, and overall numbers of staff appear to have increased. Admin is improving, but billing is still chaotic and we know of many parents who have had to calculate their own bills to keep tabs on it.

Parents have an active parents group on Facebook, so any parents not on it should join as it is the best way to keep up with news.

Like many parents, our little one is leaving Le Nid this summer. Many parents have already pulled children out, others are simply waiting for other places to come up in other nurseries or school or pre-prep this September. For parents that are there, I know of none who are sending their 2nd child to Le Nid.

Given the improvements, why the departures? The most disappointing aspect for many of us has been the attitude from the owners of the nursery in response to the inspections. After each inspection, parents would receive an email trying to excuse the poor result by criticising the complainant for being anonymous, dismissing the grounds for the complaint, and explaining how the nursery were caught out at short notice.

The fact is, that the ratings speak for themselves. We didn't make any formal complaints to OfSted, although we would have had several reasons to do so over the past year, but it is disappointing that the owners of the Nursery still do not seem to be ready to admit that they got it wrong, and that they need to improve. We get the impression that action is now only happening out of a need to ensure the rating improves due to the withdrawal of Southwark Council funding and concerns about bad publicity. I wish all the staff at Le Nid well, but the owners (and the investors behind them) need a change of approach to ensure that they fully empower the staff of Le Nid to make the necessary improvements.

[sweetgirl]

After having a bad experience with my son in nursery I will never trust ofsted or any childcare provider!

Unfortunately ofsted were prepared to reopen a suspended nursery when they shouldn't have. I was the person that drew ofsteds attention to staff not being crb checked.

I always like to have a nosy in how a place is being run & I like to talk to staff to see if they are unhappy in their environment.

Unfortunately most employers are not interested in keeping staff happy but more interested in the profit margins!

In a profession such as childcare staff need to be pampered to some degree & made to feel worthy.... That's the only way our children will have a good standard of care

[EllaD]

My son is at Le Nid and he is staying there and my youngest will start next year.

I have visited several nurseries in the last month (near some of the schools where my eldest might get a place). Some of them marked "outstanding" by OFSTED and even if the tick all the boxes I personally wasn't overwhelmed by any of them.

Talking to other mums during the visits I feel that Le Nid has gained a bad reputation following the OFSTED report and comments on various forums. I think this is a bit unfair on them. Yes,the nursery was very badly run and lucky OFSTED picked up on it and gave them a chance to turn things around.

The new manager Paulina is doing a wonderful job, she is training and motivating the staff and she is very good at listening to parents suggestions.

Sadly many children are leaving. This is going to be a challenge for Le Nid but gives many parents on long waiting lists in other nurseries a the chance to get a place from September!

Please go and visit the Le Nid, have a chat with Paulina, have a feel of what the place looks like and how it is run. Hopefully you won't be disappointed. Thank you for reading.

[alex_newcastle]

I am the old receptionist who used to work at Le Nid, and I can say - hand on heart - that every single member of staff I worked with at Le Nid was passionate about childcare, and were committed to the welfare of the children with all their might. I had the privilege of seeing children flourish and blossom, and be treated as individuals - whilst being in a fairly normal, and safe environment. There were no airs and graces; this is a homely, loving nursery.

I will not hide behind a fake name as a disgruntled ex-member of staff - because I think that scaring existing parents, is cruel. There will always be staff issues in every business, as we all know - but when there are children involved, I think we all need to remember that a mother/father reading back-biting at a school, is potentially distressing, and the last thing they need on top of everything else going on in their life.

There was no homogeny in the way they approached lessons - there was a genuine interest in finding ways to make the children learn and respond. Sometimes the way the practitioners could interpret very slight changes in the children astounded me. They really knew the children inside out, and really cared about them and their families.

The teachers and assistants would look at ways to freshen up topics they thought could do with jazzing up. I saw them working into the night to make the classrooms bright and cheerful. Even just as the receptionist, I was taught about safe guarding as soon as I joined - and learned so much being there in my short time.

I got to see children taking their first steps with utter joy, laughing and connecting with their teachers; I saw them speaking their first words; I saw the children making connections about concepts and family...

The thing I probably miss the most is the amazing parents that bring their children to Le Nid. Every day I'd see parents rushing from their lives - their jobs, or family, recuperating from being poorly - or a million other things, and I got to spend my mornings and evenings with them. It was an intimate gift, and I enjoyed making that part of their day nice. It was an honor to work with the kind of people I have such respect for, and have them trust us with their most prized and loved people in the world.

I had no previous childcare experience, and I was just utterly amazed at the level of emotional intelligence the practitioner?s exhibit, and great moral values.

Whilst by no means perfect (nowhere is) - I would honestly put my child in Le Nid if I had any, or any one my nieces or nephews. I am one of 9 children. I have 5 sisters, 3 brothers, 14 nieces and nephews and 3 great nephews.

I would put them in there tomorrow if I could because I know that being at Le Nid would help them develop before they go to primary school, and acclimatize to a school environment - because that is my personal experience of being there and seeing the children in that time.

The Ofsted may feel unfair to me - but it was necessary to highlight areas that need some work - and it can only make Le Nid better. There may have been issues before, with some admin problems, but as a new business, it was bound to need tweaking. The main thing for me is if the children are happy and safe. Le Nid was very clean, the food was lovely and delicious and healthy - and the practitioners were qualified and the room?s ratios were carefully monitored.

There was not one single member of staff I felt is a poor childminder, and I am grateful I got to work with them all, and am very sorry I didn't get to say goodbye properly.

[sarahb22]

What a lovely post Alex. As a parent who really valued your contribution (you always brightened up my day) I was really sorry to find out you weren't coming back - wish I had had chance to say bye. I hope all is well with you.