Nido Early School Wilson

Not a good experience unfortunately. It was my sons first time away from me and he would experiencing separation anxiety during drop off... Not a good experience unfortunately. It was my sons first time away from me and he would experiencing separation anxiety during drop off time. It was quite difficult to drop him off because he would cry and cling to me. Just for reference, my two older children who attended a different daycare centre also had the same separation anxiety and the staff would respond by coming to hold/distract/comfort them in some way so I could leave confidently knowing they were being cared for. They ended up adjusting well and had good experiences. I expected the same from Nido for my third child, but was surprised to find that when he would get upset during drop off the staff just seemed to ignore the situation and offer no assistance..it would take me 30+ minutes to be able to comfort him myself and leave. Anyway things got better as he got used to the centre and started to make friends, so I didn't think too much of it. That was until one day when I went to pick him up and found him sitting by himself clearly upset and distressed. I have no idea how long or why he has been sitting there on his own crying for and the staff could offer no explanation either. No problems again, I justified as maybe him being tired or as a one off. The next few times I went to drop him off his separation anxiety had increased a thousand fold. He would get extremely upset and beg me not to go and wrap himself around my leg etc. I would hang around for a long time trying to comfort him or leave but found it impossible to do with no intervention from staff who completely turned a blind eye. This resulted in me eventually giving up and just bringing him home with me again, as even if I got to the point of being able to physically leave without him, I was not at all confident that anyone would actually step in and care for him emotionally. This continued on for the next several weeks leaving both my son and myself emotionally exhausted, all the while continuing to be charged for the service. There were times I would ask the staff to help in my desperation, and the various responses were "does he have a comforter you could bring next time?" "mm I'm not too sure what to do", "how long has he been coming he for?"or they would occasionally briefly try to distract him with something then give up when it didn't work in the first few minutes. Out of frustration I spoke to the manager at the front desk and explained the issue. She was lovely and apologetic and explained that maybe the staff were just not trained or not competent in dealing with children who experience separation anxiety... Surely this would be a basic prerequisite for staff in a child care centre.. particularly a centre charging $130+ a day?? Having said all this most of the staff were nice and friendly (minus one carer who would yell brazenly at the kids across the room in Chinese - drop off was significantly more anxiety inducing on the day she was in). I would say the staff were not negligent so much as they were incompetent in dealing with anything outside status quo. Please note I am also referring specifically to the kindy room and cannot speak for the staff in the other rooms. If your child has no issues being left and is fairly low maintenance then go for it, you will likely have no issues, but otherwise I would suggest look elsewhere. Read more

J Birch

Dec, 2023