Grove Hall nursery - Ofsted 4 Inadequate Post Reply

[Sleep deprived]

Hi again,

Just to say I've decided to remove my daughter with immediate effect. You are not obligated to give notice or pay for unpaid monies as the nursery itself is in breach of contract by not meeting legal ratio requirements. They should also have kept parents informed about the Ofsted report at every step of the way and didn't.

Agree staff very sweet but management is crucial.

I wanted to change nurseries a while back but was put off by the long notice period at Grove. Just wanted to point out that any parents wanting to move on needn't wait to have he parents evening-except of course the problem of finding alternative childcare quickly.

I have heard brilliant things about Elm Park nursery-a montersori place with a huge garden and a pet rabbit.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[Katrina13]

The manager of Grove Hall should resign..!!!
This bad Ofsted report was due to her total lack of inconsideration towards the welfare of the children at Grove Hall.
The staff are great though!!!

[annamike]

At this point I think it is appropriate to share with all the Grovehall nursery parents what happened to us back in 2010.need to be aware of what manager and owner are capable to do.
Just after 5 months my son was at nursery it happened that nursery closed for a couple of days because of the heavy snow. I heard about the closure from another parent I by chance met in the park.. no communication from the manager. Next day I called nursery complaining about the lack of information and pointing out that other nurseries in the area were open despite the snow. I suggested that they could hire temp staff from agencies if their staff was not in the condition to be at work safely. Manager told me that I was not the one who was supposed to give her advice on how to run her business and told me the owner would have come back to me on my complaint. He actually called me after a few days inviting me to withdraw my child from the nursery as they didn't like to have parents who gave them trouble...
I will let you judge on how professional these people are! I didn't withdraw my child as he was happy with the nice staff and for his sake I always tried to avoid the manager and owner.. But trust me it was not easy!
Luckily at that time Grovehall kept kids only up to the age of 3 and I moved my son to Abacus.. where -despite the rough look of the venue - people are amazing. Manager completely disorganized but an amazining woman... she fed personally my son until his last day there as he was lazy eating by himself... staff truly love the kids and most of them have been there for 10 years or so.. that's because they love their job... I could not be luckier to have found such a gem after the bad experience at Grovehall!

[Balham31]

My daughter is now in the toddler room and the staff have been really lovely. There's no excuse for flouting the ratio requirements, but I blame the management. The girls in the room are great with the kids and I just hope that they don't end up taking the flack for it. They must have been run ragged trying to work in that environment. With a strong manager, it would be brilliant.

[audrey]

I don't have children at Grove Hall so I can't really comment on this particular nursery. But at the nursery where my daughter used to be (Lochinvar Preschool - rated Outstanding in its latest Ofsted inspection report), the nursery manager is also one of the 4 key worker staff, so she is very involved in day-to-day activities, the nursery is very well run and communication with parents is excellent. Highly recommended!

[Familycompleted]

Hi Sleep deprived,

Sorry to hear you are leaving but all the best. Intersting that you are moving to Elm park which is where we actually withdrew our son from after I overheard his key worker complaining to her colleague that my son "ugh, just did another poo when I just changed him - really, what's with this child?" When I was actually standing right behind her.... And the food wasn't great. I have also heard a couple of injuries of children falling off the tree in the lovely garden which is probably one of the main things I miss about the place actually.

Overall I am sure you have made the right decision but just wanted to let you know that it's not 100% there either. And the admin there with fees was awful and always overcharged us so watch out for that!

Thanks for the advice re not needing the notice period - very useful info indeed! Finding another place that offers the same sort of hours though isn't that easy however! Well done on securing one!

[evainlondon]

I've been looking for a bilingual French-English nursery and ruled out Grove Hall for the reasons listed above - the manager was also reluctant to let us visit the nursery (?!) and was unbelievably rude to us. I've now found Les Petits Heaven which offers 7am-7pm care and which I've had good feedback on - lovely welcome on my visit too.
Best of luck to parents thinking about next steps!

[Sleep deprived]

Thanks k11'

Noted re admin issues an safety. Am going to see how it goes but useful to know what to look out for. The nappy thing sounds horrible tho I have to say.

Good luck to all with the parents meeting. I hope they replace the manageress and support the lovely staff they have.

[Sleep deprived]

Just to say-received first invoice from Elm Park-£380 overcharged already! Called to sort out and all fine now but wanted to say thanks to k11' for making me think to double check it.

[Ippyevie]

Hi there,

First time posting here. This is a bit late but I am also registered to get my child in there for feb 14. My husband is French and we would like to send him to a French school after so despite damning report, I am still considering it (although backup choices are secured).

I would like to hear from anyone who went to the parents meeting. What did the manager say and what are the steps they will take in order to reverse such a dreadful report? I agree the manager always acted like she couldn't be asked but I put it down to cultural differences since she was nice to my husband. But now I suspect that it might not be.

Any comments would be so helpful! Thank you!!!

[Balhammum2020]

Hi Ippyevie,

I have just emailed you (I think!) my thoughts as I was at the parents meeting. I don't regularly use nappyvalley so let me know if you don't receive anything.

[Ippyevie]

Thanks First time mum for a very detailed information! I'm a little less worry now. But I will heed your advice and keep my eyes closely on the nursery for the time being since we still have time but it doesn't sound as bad as it was!

Thanks again, really appreciate it!

[Balhammum2020]

No problem - happy to help.

[nikkibob]

Not going to say much except my eldest was very happy here and my 1yr old absolutely loves it - in fact today when I dropped him off, he gave the nursery nurse a kiss on the cheek It's little things like this that actually tell the real story...

[Balham31]

They seem to have really upped their game, new French teacher, music class and visit from the dentist. Let's hope they keep this up!