elm park nursery Post Reply

[colette]

Hi does anyone send their baby to elm park nursery in abbeville and if so what is it like? my daughter is 10 months old

thanks

[Annabel (admin)]

Hi Colette
Thanks for the question!

I have not heard much about that nursery before so i'll post it in the weekly mail next week, that always seems to bring some answers back!

Thanks for using NappyValleyNet.com

Annabel

[jo.s]

Hi Colette, Both my children went to Elm Park Nursery and so did at least 5 of my friends kids. I can highly recommend it, from the baby room with Miss Winifred to Upper School with Ms Jean and Mr Michael. Both my girls are at Parkgate House School now and are thriving, I believe it was down to the great start at Elm Park. I pregnant with number 3 and will definately be using Elm Park again ! Hope this helps. Jo

[steveo]

Hi there, my twins attended EPN for the past two years, the nursery its self is great as are the staff, very friendly and caring. There is one ongoing issue however. The accounts which are under the control of the Bursar are a complete disaster, My wife and I had stand up arguments with the bursar this was brought on because of massive overcharging, this was NOT an isolated incident, many parents had been treated as we were. I eventually contacted the owner of the nursery Mr Taylor who made the bursar sort it out, we would have been over charged some £3000 over the two years (yes three thousand)

I never met anyone at the nursery that complained of being under charged but MANY who complained of being overcharged, in the end I stated giving out Mr Taylors email address for unhappy parents.

One last point which galled me the most, when we were trying to sort out why they wanted so much money from us when it was clearly wrong, I received an email telling me that if I brought my children to nursery the following day they would not be allowed in to the nursery and Lambeth council would be contact to collect the children as I would have effectively abandoned them, and they would be taken into care.
I can't tell you how upset we were on hearing this.

Two days later they admitted their errors

In summary, over all the nursery itself and staff were great and I would recommend, however be warned about the accounting I asked the question "why do you employ this person as bursar when they clearly don’t know what they are doing” I did not receive a satisfactory answer to this, maybe if you considering sending your nippers to EPN who would be well served to let them know you have read this and would like to know how this has been addressed.

I look forward to hearing similar stories for other aggrieved parents



contact

[colette]

wow thank you guys for feedback very useful and i definitely will mention the overpaying issue as this is not acceptable when u already pay the earth

cheers

[Annabel (admin)]

Hi Everyone
I just want to say that this thread is a wonderful example of why we launched nappyvalleynet.com.

When we all share experiences, especially over something as important as nurseries, it can help us all to achieve the best care for our children.

The downside is that sometimes we have to carry comments that aren't always favourable. What I've done, and this is what we will always do on NappyValleyNet, is to contact the nursery and explain that they have a "right of reply" and they should feel free to post their comments in defence or explanation.

Thanks everyone.


Annabel

[dizzymum]

My 2 daughters have both attended Elm Park nursery part time since they were 15 months old. My youngest still attends whilst my eldest left in the summer to start school and I have to admit we both sobbed on her last day as she had just the most wonderful time there. The staff are so caring and the environment is totally child centred as opposed to a commercial machine. Unfortunately this does have implications for their admin and I have to admit that we have had billing issues, although nothing compared to those of the previous posting and ours have been resolved after (admittedly several) emails. I recommend the nursery to everyone I meet and my mother has told me she wishes she had been able to send my brothers and me to such a wonderful place. I am a primary teacher and believe the experiences they provide for the children are innovative, creative and stimulating and the extra events such as international day, sports day, easter parade and christmas performances are wonderful and well organised. The garden is just amazing and I loved the fact that my children were outside climbing and playing all year round. I have also appreciated their flexibility, you can pick and choose as many sessions as you want and they will always do their best to accommodate you if you need some emergency extra sessions. Although loving big school, my daughter still has a little cry every now then and tells me she wishes she could have stayed at Elm Park forever. I cannot defend the bursar, but have found the rest of the set up more than makes up for it. Just check your bills carefully!

[Annabel (admin)]

Thank you ever so much for this feedback - it is wonderful to hear of such a caring environment - maybe Steve was particualry unlucky!

A

[colette]

As a parent of a child at elm park nursery I have been very happy until recently and just wondered if anyone else thought standards were slipping especially now when the cost is going up. I feel staff are unhappy, always sandwiches for tea and the place is not as clean

[londonmum]

I visited a few months ago when checking allthe nurseries in the area, and must admit that the staff did not seem happy. I had an appointment for which they made me wait 45 minutes without explanation. Eventually somebody else showed me around.

The nursery seemed nice enough, the garden wonderful, but it felt rather 'corporate' to me (and the prices are very high). I overheard some mums talking in various rooms whilst I was there, and they seemed to be very happy there. So perhaps my feeling was just wrong and it is a good nursery, but their management clearly needs some work!

[AudreyManon]

My son has been at Elm Park for four months, in the baby bonzai room. I think he has a good time with his teacher, Miss Naomy Which is a relief, but sadly Miss Naomy is leaving, and yes, I would agree, the staff looks tired, and unhappy. Maybe they work too hard, or don't have enough breaks, or are demotivated.My son has had diarhea since joining Elm Park, I don't know if it's stress related, or hygiene, but i am considering a new nursery.

[AudreyManon]

apparently Nursery teachers are on minimum wage. I pay more than 60 pounds/day, and the class is overcrowded with children. I can understand the teachers frustration, they do a very stressful job and the money they deserve is going elsewhere.

[amybelle79]

Hi all,

My little girl (22 months) has recently started going to elm park for one day a week to give me a bit of a break.

I have to say, so far she absolutely loves it - running up to the door every time and is so pleased to see the teachers.

I think they have a good balance of structured and free play time and the girls in our classroom (acorn) all seem quite enthusiastic. The garden is also a huge plus point for me as its nice to know the kids get plenty of time to run about.

I agree that the business side of things is quite poor. They seem to be very disorganised and communicate pretty poorly. The monthly bills lack any sort of detail and are quite confusing. Having read Steve's post I am now a bit concerned about being over charged. When I spoke to the bursar she was rather abrupt and unhelpful.

All in all though, the ofsted report is good and I think my daughter gets a lot out of her time there. I feel comfortable about her being there and that she is being well looked after and having fun.

Hope this helps - will be interesting if EPN respond with a reply to the admin issues!!