Babyroom on Webbs Road? Locked

[alisonscott]

Does anyone have any views on the Babyroom on Webbs Road? Almost seems only full time nursery available nearby for my 3 and half year old....help!! plea se.

[nay&lessi]

I visited the Baby Room on Webb's Road (among others) about 6 months ago for my 1 year old. In fact I visited twice as I really wanted to like it as it was the most convenient! However both times (and I brought a friend the second time who agreed) it just didn't feel right, and I felt the staff were a bit disinterested, and saw a few tears on both visits and those poor babies were just left on their own mostly, and if attended to, was by a non-smiling staff member. However, I have heard through friends of friends that they are happy with it - so maybe it's just me! My favourite nursery was Northcote Gardens and we were lucky enough to get a space. You might have more choice than me however as I was looking for a one year old which many places don't take. Good luck!!

[edam]

Hi there
I wondered if anyone had any more recent experiences of BabyRoom on Webbs Road? I'm trying to make the (painful) decision of what to do with my 9mo. old and feeling very confused
I visited the nursery back in October 2011 and met the new manager, she had just taken over the week before and seemed lovely. Overall I thought the nursery environment would be great, however did find the staff quite disinterested, especially in the Blue room where my lo would be.
I went to see the Lavender Hill branch this week and thought the staff were lovely, but felt my very active crawler could do with a bit more space - if only I could combine the best of the two!
The reviews on NappyValleyNet seem to be from earlier last year, before new management - any more recent thoughts?
Thanks so much in advance!

[Karin1979]

Hi,

I have no personal experience but was appalled last week. I was getting my sons haircut when all of the kids apparently had a test fire drill! The majority of the kids were walking on the pavement of Webbs road with no shoes, some had socks some were bear feet. It is so cold now!! I was so horified I took photos and have been meaning to email them to the owers. I understand it was a fire drill, but a planned one! Surely they need to consider that children should have shoes on, I am sure that thy would be non the wiser if they had their shoes on in advance! The staff were just shouting at the kids!! I would never consider them based on what I saw ... Hope it helps! ..

[edam]

Thank you very much for the reply - that is very alarming and this is getting more and more confusing..
I'd love to hear from anyone that sends their baby there and has thoughts to share.
Thanks again.

[homegirl]

My son was there for a year and a half and I went initially on a recommendation from a friend. In the time we were there however, the staff changed many many times, most of them thoroughly annoyed at how often they were moved around nurseries (on the pretext of improving their careers but none of them felt this was the case). Children would develop relationships only for them to be changed. I felt very uncomfortable latterly and have removed my son. I believe a number of children have left recently.

[abc123]

Again,
No personal experience but everytime I have walked past, I hear adults shouting and children crying, not a good impression

[gwin]

Hi, I wasn't sure. I put my daughter in there but took her out after 4 weeks as it just didn't feel right. There didn't seem as though there were that many activites organised to keep the little ones occupied, an awful lot of sitting around. There were always tears coming from quite a few kids which was very unsettling. Could just have been me though x

[MrsWB]

Well my experience has been very different. My daughter (aged 2) has been attending since September this year and is very happy. I feel she is well cared for and has plenty to do, and I really like the atmosphere there. She was at the Lavender Hill branch for a year before that, with her older brother and I was very happy with that as well We only moved her to Webbs road because her brother started reception at Belleville and it made life much easier with drop off/pick up. She did have a couple of mornings of tears after we moved her over, but settled very quickly after that.

I hope that helps. I do remember that it is hard choosing a nursery, and with my son I worried so much about whether to go for nursery or nanny or childminder but in the end I was very happy with the choice we made. Also I found that nursery really came into its own the older the children got, as they got so much more out of all the activities and appreciated having other children to play with.

If you are still undecided why not ask if you can speak to some other parents with children in the same nursery?

Good luck with whatever you decide to do in the end.

[edam]

Thanks for the replies, am still feeling quite confused. Going to have another look around the nursery next week and will also ask to speak to other parents - that's a great idea, thanks!

[louisewright]

My youngest child is at the baby room on webbs road and i am more than pleased with it. The staff are very friendly, approachable and caring and have built up a strong bond with my child.

They have been fantastic at settling in and i can tell they thoroughly enjoy and benefits from their time there.

[sarahroberts]

Hi, my name is Sarah Roberts, I am the Operations Manager for Baby Room Nurseries Ltd.
In regards to the feedback on the fire drill it was a real fire evacuation due to the alarm being triggered by the toaster in the kitchen that was left un-attended. Therefore it was not pre-planned, the priority was the children's safety and getting them out of the building.
I hold a BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Studies and along with my Deputy, Leanne, who has a Foundation Degree in Early Childhood studies, we are always developing the practices in our nurseries.
Baby Room care for over 200 children a week between our 4 nurseries: Webbs Road, Lavender Hill, Clapham Old Town and Balham. We employ all of our staff on a full time basis in order for the children to form bonds with the staff, we never use part time or agency staff. Staff do move around the nurseries in order to assist with their personal and professional development.
If you would like more information on Baby Room please visit our website www.babyroom.co.uk or contact me directly sarah@babyroom.co.uk.

[claire_s]

This is the most shocking nursery I have ever seen.

I live across the road from them and all day all you can hear is crying. The other day I was walking to the shop and witnessed the staff dragging out the children onto the streets with no shoes or socks on.

Babies with just nappies on in the cold weather toddlers with no shoes on walking in this freeeeezzziing weather.
The way they were carrying the children like bags of potatoes. The staff always looks messy and I always see them smoking outside.
I have seen this many of times but I feel embarrassed to say something to them. The owners are never there and the staff are all in there teens.
To be honest I would never leave my children there. Next time I witness this I hope that I have my phone on me to take photos. I could not believe my eyes and this makes me not want to go back to work if this is how people look after my child while I’m at work and paying them over £70.00 a day to look after my child.

My advise is look for another nursery.

[claire_s]

in reply to the manager of baby room...

In the 4 years that i have lived across the road from you i have seen this happen to many times. It is freezing outside and to be honest the children should have socks and slippers on inside let alone outside. I can not belive that you would leave the children like that. All the staff had shoes on???

Children get colds in seconds.. why would you allow this to happen?

[Alison Murray]

My name is Alison Murray and I started Baby Room in 2005 when I couldn't find appropriate childcare for my first child. I live BTC and work full time for Baby Room from our Head Offices in Balham.

Since 2005 we have had a lot of fantastic feedback from parents who have sent their children to us. Many many siblings come to us after a first child has been with us (some 3rd children also!). The majority are with us from when they are 6 months until they go onto school with great friends made at nursery. It is amazing how many of our past children I say hi to every Saturday on Northcote Road and at school drop off. From time to time there have been some issues where our standards have fallen short and in these circumstances we always conduct a formal investigation and have, almost always, managed to maintain good relations with the parents during this process and reach a satisfactory conclusion.

As you can see from our website, www.babyroom.co.uk, each of our nurseries operates following the same policies and procedures. At Webbs Road we have 14 staff based there full time and currently the age of staff is as follows : 5 staff >40 years; 1 aged 30 - 40, 3 aged 20 - 30 and 5 aged 18 - 20. Each of our nurseries has a staff member that is qualified to degree level. We are the only nursery in the area that applies a 1:2 ratio with babies. In this and other criteria we operate above Ofsted minimums.

Some of our staff do smoke and we ask them to walk away from the building when doing so and designate different routes for them to take so they are not always stood in front of one neighbour's house.

Baby Room has a higher percentage of children under 2 than most operators and we do appreciate that it can get noisy. Especially at certain times of the day such as before lunch we notice the volume rising. Shouting by staff directed at children, however, is just not allowed. Every one of the 65 staff that work for me know that it is an instant dismissal issue. The Webbs Road site is quite spread out and I do realise that staff may use raised voices to shout up the stairs or get noisy during play activities but really it would not happen. We run a "truth, trust and teamwork" culture and staff are vocational about their work and love children. They would not stand for anyone shouting at them.

We would love to have larger nursery space if anyone knows of appropriate premises however our current floor space is above the specified Ofsted minimums.

We move staff around for their development and also to ensure a good spread of talent across our nurseries. Any such moves however will naturally reduce as our staff become more qualified.

As a new parent we meet with you 6 weeks after you start to review how things are coming along. If at any time something is unsatisfactory we take positive steps to rectify it. The managers door is always open or you can come and see me any time with any concern or issue.

Claire, I am sorry that the impression gained by you has not been a positive one, perhaps you would like to book in with Anna in our Head Office for a show around - the staff will not know who you are and maybe we can improve your view of us ? Alternatively I could meet you there to show you around ?

To any new parents seeking feedback in the future, no matter how long after this post, please do consider dropping me a line I will always be happy to take time to help.

Alison