Dicky Birds Day Nursery and Preschool Surbiton, Brighton Road

We have had a really positive experience with Dicky Birds. My son always comes back happy after a fun-filled day. He has learnt a lot since starting at the nursery and I’m hoping that this will continue.

My son has loved joining the duckling’s room from his induction in November 2020 and he has continued to thrive. All the staff, especially his two key workers, are compassionate and thoughtful. He’s out for an adventure every day to the park which I think is really important.

A great nursery, both my kids have been happy attending Dicky Birds and it’s great to see all the different activities they do. The staff are caring and keep parents informed. We would recommend Dicky Birds.

I just love this nursery. The staff are everything you could want in people looking after your child. I have found them brilliant from the first phone call; understanding, accommodating and reasonable. It struck me that they would see my son as an individual and do right by him, which has continued. The team are brilliant, and the whole settling in process worked so well with excellent communication throughout. They know what they are doing and my husband and I trust them to make an environment where our son is happy and will flourish. Couldn’t recommend it highly enough! The outside space in the first room isn’t great but the children are taken out at least once a day to make up for it.

The staff at Dicky Birds have always been outstanding. Both of our children are very happy there and get up to all sorts of activities, which really does seem to nurture their development and creativity.
That said, some of the changes implemented since the nursery was sold have been negative. This includes:
1. Moving “Robins” to an underground room full time. When we joined the nursery we were assured this room was only to be used as an extra room.
2. Losing the on-site chefs and then experimenting with a system that left children hungry.
3. Stopping jolly phonics.
4. Communicating important changes like the above only after the event, and even then using management speak and technical terminology e.g. arguing in favour of “phonological awareness and oral blending”, without clearly explaining what actually happens in the classrooms now.
5. Moving billing from a system that made sense to one that is completely impossible to follow.

We had our son in Dicky Birds for a few years, but since new management started not only he has always been unhappy going in, but since they don’t have enough staff on many occasions, they refused to let us in (which is challenging if you have a demanding job to suddenly take a leave) or had to queue outside the nursery for over 2 hours (an issue when your son does not want to go in, in the first place and you need to get to work).
When we pick him up, it seems he was just rolling in the dirt the whole day, without anyone paying much attention.
They are expensive, understaffed, and poorly managed I would not recommend this nursery at all with the current system they have in place.

This nursery has many issues. Staff turnover is extremely high, to the point they turn you away pretty much every morning. They don’t have the decency to even call you to apologise. They make you come in and then tell you at the door they have no staff. They also use an agency which most respected nurseries don’t do. So you have no clue who’s with your child, how they are with your child, you get no updates, they currently have an issue with the garden where the manager is trying to “win back” in her exact words. They try to run a nursery on a housing development and the neighbours constantly complain about the nursery noise.
You don’t get told what they have eaten, you don’t even get photos, and you hardly get communication.
The staff at the nursery have begged me to report the manager of Brighton Road, as I have been told by staff she is mean to them and yells at them constantly. Probably why there’s no staff.
No parking outside, and everything is squashed. Avoid at all costs.

My daughter has been at this nursery since she was 10 months old and is so well cared for. The staff are all absolutely lovely and go above and beyond to take care of her, with fun activities and making sure she’s engaged and having such a good time. There is a chef on-site meaning that they eat better than at home and the staff make an effort to take the children out a few times a day. The nursery has honestly meant that I can work without stressing if she’s ok. There were some issues with staffing in 2022, however, these have since been resolved meaning I have no complaints.

The ladies running the duckling’s room are fantastic, our daughter seems to really enjoy being there and is doing interesting activities during the day. We sometimes get updates on the Tapestry app too which are great. Also in warmer weather, they try to get the children outside a lot. These are the main things and why we continue with the nursery.
Negatives are the management, you can be waiting outside for some time in the morning as the staff shifts seem to begin at different times. Obviously, this is very disruptive to working parents’ days, you certainly aren’t getting any money back and the day rate is already very expensive.

The nursery is overall good. My son is happy which is the most important. I also find the meals to be very good. A couple of issues I experience as a parent is that my son has wee accidents quite often there, whereas at home he has none. So I think there’s room for improvement in that area. Also there have been a few cases of understaffing resulting in not accepting all the kids at the site or waiting till another member of staff comes from another nursery so all the children can be accepted.