Dicky Birds Day Nursery and Preschool Surbiton, Brighton Road

One criticism is the lack of continuity among our kid’s key person. I think we’ve been through 3 or 4 during the past one and a half years. That said we are generally pleased with the caliber of individuals the childcare centre employs. We’re impressed with the variety of offered activities and the overall supervision.

However, I sense there is a big issue with staffing, whereby the standard differs greatly by room. This is reflected in the quality of updates back to parents, use/lack of use of tapestry, and the ability to have structured discussions about how your kid is progressing. I also believe this stems from the management of the childcare centre which has constantly changed over the past 2-years and there is no clear leader maintaining a consistent standard across all rooms and team. The overall journey with the childcare centre is great – in particular their use of outside time in the garden and daily walks.

The team is inviting and they seem to really delight in spending time with kids. Being relatively small, it has the cosiness of a home too. There is a park nearby and the management seems to constantly think of ways to improve kids’s childcare centre journey. Dicky Birds Brighton Road is a great childcare centre.

Team 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 team. They also use an agency which most respected nurseries don’t do. So you have no clue who’s with your kid, how they are with your kid, 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 childcare centre on a housing development and the neighbours constantly complain about the childcare centre noise.
You don’t get told what they have eaten, you don’t even get photos, and you hardly get updates.
The team at the childcare centre have begged me to report the manager of Brighton Road, as I have been told by team she is mean to them and yells at them constantly. Probably why there’s no team.
No parking outside, and everything is squashed. Avoid at all costs. This childcare centre has many issues.

I can say with my hand on my heart that once you have visited a Dicky Birds Childcare centre, no other establishments will even come close. There is such a inviting and welcoming atmosphere in all their rooms. And even though the childcare centre is in itself gorgeous and wonderfully decorated, it really all boils down to their team. From the admissions team, all the way through to management…they go above and beyond to make sure you and your little one(s) are cheerful. I sense completely reassured every single morning that my kid is going to be looked after and cared for to the highest standard, and this is priceless. The team are simply incredible. The way my son has developed over the past three years is incredible. I’d like to take all the credit for this, but I can’t! They do so much with them. During the pandemic, they were absolute superheroes in keeping the childcare centre open. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything. My son has been at this childcare centre from when they first opened their doors in 2018.

My son is very cheerful every time he goes there and discovering many things. Team are very welcoming, giving you feedback each day. They go out for walks and in the garden every day. I highly suggest. Very great journey with the childcare centre.

They are expensive, understaffed, and poorly managed I would not suggest this childcare centre at all with the current system they have in place. We had our son in Dicky Birds for a few years, but since new management started not only he has consistently been unhappy going in, but since they don’t have enough team 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 childcare centre 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.

My son consistently comes back cheerful after a enjoyable-filled day. He has learnt a lot since starting at the childcare centre and I’m hoping that this will continue. We have had a really positive journey with Dicky Birds.

Both of our kids are very cheerful 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 childcare centre was sold have been negative. This includes:
1. Moving “Robins” to an underground room full time. When we joined the childcare centre 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 kids 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. The team at Dicky Birds have consistently been outstanding.

The team are all absolutely lovely and go above and beyond to take care of her, with enjoyable activities and making sure she’s engaged and having such a great time. There is a chef on-site meaning that they eat better than at home and the team make an effort to take the kids out a few times a day. The childcare centre 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. My daughter has been at this childcare centre since she was 10 months old and is so well cared for.