Kiddi Caru Day Nursery Burgess Hill

I would love to be able to write a glowing recommendation, for Kiddi Caru, but I can’t. They have a great facility, most, if not all staff are good, and my dealings with the on-site management are usually good. But it is a big chain and is there to make money, so everything is cut back to bare bones. They struggle to retain staff, due to the terms and conditions the staff are given, which means high turnover, which means disruption to our children. They have the bare minimum of staff to cover each room, which means if someone goes sick, which they do regularly, especially in the current climate, our children are moved from room to room causing much disruption to their routine. The “can you keep your child off” emails are becoming way too regular. They have also changed the way the school is catered, a cost-saving exercise, and my son has regularly said he didn’t eat lunch, not sure if that is the standard of the food or just my son.

My daughter is always happy to go to nursery and always returns home happy. This really is the most important thing for me. The nursery communicates well and has accommodated me when I have needed it. The staff are friendly and engage well with the children.

Our daughter loves attending and comes home with great stories of the fun she has had with the other children and people who work there! She has learnt a lot and has grown in confidence as a result of attending.

My daughter has been going to Nursery here since March. I was very worried she wouldn’t take to it as she really didn’t like new faces, but she has taken to it so well and now she’s so much less concerned with new people day to day. She has come on leaps and bounds here and it is all down to the staff and the fantastic ladies in Swan. I am so comfortable leaving her in their care and I appreciate everything they do. Even down to the small things like calling to mention she had been bitten by a bug and they were monitoring it.

My daughter attended the nursery since January 2021 after turning 3 years old. The preschool team have been great and my daughter really enjoyed her time here. I know my daughter loves to write/draw and I have seen a huge improvement in her skills since joining pre-school.

Although I couldn’t fault the staff at Kiddi Karu, they are clearly understaffed and overworked. For what is already a very expensive service for parents to pay in general, I feel that there isn’t enough front-of-house/management for the nursery, and the childminders take the brunt of disappointed parents.
The day-to-day activities and food sound amazing, and I can’t write a bad thing about the boys’ experience with the staff in Flamingo, as they’re always eager to go and the staff are so friendly and helpful!
My main concern is the fact that I’ve been asked several times this year to pick up my kids early, when my work and hours do not allow for it. Luckily, once asked, I’m not asked again for some time.
It’s not a staff issue but more a higher-management issue, and I actually feel sorry for the day-to-day staff of Kiddi-Karu.

My son has been at Kiddi Caru Burgess Hill since he was 9 months old and he is now 3. He has had a few challenges with his speech and the staff have been instrumental in helping him develop this and get up to speed with his peers. He always has a great time at nursery. My highest compliment though must go to the manager she has always been incredibly responsive and accommodating, especially with my husband and I working jobs where we are regularly on call. She has always managed to find a space in nursery if we need to send our son for an extra day and is always so pleasant to speak to and willing to help wherever she can.

The nursery is good and the staff I interact with are all friendly and competent but it seems like for months and months and months now they’ve struggled with staffing levels and continual staff attrition. There must be an issue at the core of the nursery for this many staff to be leaving (salary, working conditions, staff morale, who knows?). It is hard for young children to deal with constant change, they need stability at his age more than any. The pressure on the remaining staff makes it feel like they don’t have time to do their job properly. The updates on the tapestry are now few and far between, and contributions to events such as world book day seem minimal. The pressure as a parent to be contacted every week begging to not send their child in due to staff shortages is waring. Once a permanent staffing resolution is found I’m sure the nursery will be good again.

My son has been attending Kiddi Caru Burgess Hill for the last four months and we both love it, he’s never had a bad day and is so excited to get there in the morning. He’s in the baby room and the staff are so great at accommodating any needs we have whether it’s extra days or a change in diet. My son literally came back from nursery the other day with a new skill he didn’t have the day before. Staff seem to be really committed to the wellbeing and happiness of the children in their care and the spaces both inside and out are lovely. I genuinely couldn’t ask for a better nursery. I would say it’s a shame they seem to have some staffing issues, they have been asking for volunteers to keep children off nursery, but you get refunded any days you volunteer to do this. This seems to be done to keep safe ratios so I have no issues with it.

I have rated my experience with the nursery as ‘good’ because I feel there are areas of improvement, like care and staff management, which seems to be a big issue since my daughter started nursery last year. I am sure this is not a day-to-day care staff issue but more likely a managerial one, which hopefully will be sorted out soon. Despite these, my daughter settled well once started nursery, with great support and affection from the care staff, easing the whole process. My daughter is always happy and keen to join her friends and teachers at nursery, and we can see constant changes in her learning and social abilities since joining the team.