The Oxford Nursery - Chalgrove

My son attended the Oxford Nursery. It was his first time in a nursery setting, both myself and my son were quite anxious. All staff made us feel so welcome and I felt the nursery was a home from home setting making it an easier transition. The staff went out of there way to ressure me throughout the day during his settling in stage. Everyday I collected my son he had lots to tell me about his day and all the fun things he had done. The menu was healthy but also very child focused. I found the online leaning journals fantastic as I could go on throughout the day and see what my son had been doing.

We took our son to this nursery but quickly changed when it was clear this place was poorly managed. The carers themselves were lovely people but they were the cooks and cleaners as well which constantly compromised the ratios of care. We always saw 6-7 to 1 children ratio, with lots of babies, they counted the office staff in the numbers who weren't with the children. On two occasions we went to pick our son up and they didn't know where he was. On the last ever day, he was around the corner out of sight in the garden on his own, 13 months old. Regularly we would collect our son in a disgusting state, covered in dirt and food. We accept that they get dirty but this is why we pack changes of clothes for them. This doesn't happen in our new nursery, again this is down to the compromised staff levels. Alongside these failings, during our initial visit we were given a list of costs which jumped £6 per day within a few weeks and then increased another £4 a month later, I am now led to believe they have been increased again by another £5, which is more than we pay in a premium central Oxford nursery. The person who does the administration centrally treats the parents negatively, not as customers. Any queries were treated as a personal attack. Invoices were sent every month with capitalised bold red writing informing about non payments, etc. which was very unprofessional. A news letter was sent out with a note saying that if the nurseries numbers were compromised then parents would be expected to stay with their child until arrangements can be made, not great if you are on your way to work. The attitude of the manager was there was an excuse for everything, that nothing was their fault, very defensive. Fundamentally when our son was going to the nursery we didn't want to complain as we were concerned it would be received negatively and affect the minimal level of care which he already received.