Help! Advice needed on nurseries in Herne Hill - Ruskin House?

[JoanneT80]

Help! I'm moving to Herne Hill at the end of June and need a nursery place for DD in July. I've left it late but we didn't know we'd get the house! I went to see Ruskin House today but I'm really not sure. I keep crying over the thought of leaving my baby (she'll be 1) and I want somewhere perfect. I've seen some negative comments on Ruskin House but these are old so does anyone have any recent feedback or know anywhere good in the area?

[CathyOrla]

Hi there I am also considering Ruskin House for my 2 year old in September - does anyone have any recent experience of this nursery??

[CathyOrla]

Hi I am also thinking of sending my son to Ruskin House - does anyone have any recent experience of it?

[JoanneT80]

We didn't move to the area in the end. Have you looked around Ruskin House? My views are old as I visited in the summer but I really wasn't impressed with the staff. Dd loves the nursery she's at now and they love her...so now I know what I wanted.

[LoveMyK]

Don't send your children to Ruskin House School if you can help it. I sent my 1 year old there in oct 2014 only to be told 9 weeks later a member of staff had mishandled her and two other children, one child was lifted by his wrist, and my daughter was lifted by the back of her clothes, brought half way across the room and put face down in a cushion, the police are currently involved, what was alarming more so is that it took a bank staff member to report it before it came out, the existing members of staff saw nothing wrong with the treatment and so didn't say anything about it till asked. I did notice my daughter took very long to settle in beforehand, I thought something was wrong but put it down to the new experience for her (as she was only 9 weeks in at the time), never again will I give any nurseries the benefit of the doubt. To give a balanced view my daughter did learn while she was there so it couldn't have been all bad, I wouldn't recommend a nursery without CCTV though, as then no one is able to see what happened exactly and the staff member in question is claiming stress as they all do in those circumstances. I had paid for the next month in adv (as you do) we decided to remove our daughter as observing her we could see she had been too traumatised, the nursery refused saying it should be 2 months notice but for good will they would waiver 1 month. So you pay pretty much a mortgage per month for your child to be looked after, your staff possibly traumatise your child for life, do not tell you till 4 days later that it even happened and then we now have to go to small claims to get our money back. On the last day we didn't even get a 'bye' from management. I don't recommend this nursery at all.

[Bellatrix28]

I'm not aware of the above incident but my daughter has been at Ruskin for two and a half years now and we're largely very pleased with it. The staff have really nurtured her confidence, she has learnt loads and I've found the place generally well run with management always happy to listen to feedback and new ideas from parents - there is a parent forum for exactly this purpose. I was pleased to be struck at the forum at how much the other parents liked the nursery too. It's not perfect and there's of course areas that could be better but they do seem to work very hard to keep improving.

[Nasmin123]

I just wanted to check what the latest was in this situation. January 2015 is a year ago and the nursery appears to have got 'outstanding' from Ofstead.

[hedgehopper]

My children have been at Ruskin House since they were a year old. It was a lovely place and they were very happy. Since it was taken over by a private company last year, we have seen it go downhill dramatically. My older child frequently doesn't want to go to nursery (which never happened before). I am pulling my children out, as are several other friends. They are haemorrhaging staff and we have concerns about under-staffing.

[ghislaine]

I am really surprised to read the above comment. We moved our younger son to Ruskin House earlier this year, and the contrast between his previous nursery and Ruskin House is remarkable. I find the staff very warm and kind to the children - they seem to genuinely enjoy being there with them. My son has grown in confidence and has made lots of friends. I have seen children who've left come back to RH instead of holiday clubs during the school holidays. The outside space is good and they have a variety of activities on offer. The manager is very approachable and I particularly appreciate the kindness that she has shown towards my older son, who has special needs.

I don't know about under-staffing but presumably this is a matter of compliance with the law and should be reported to Ofsted?

[MamaMonCel]

Quite surprised with the allegation /incident above as the nursery was rated OUTSTANDING in the summer of August. Has any one got any recent reviews on Ruskin House Nursery? Looking to sending my littling this year

[MilkBiscuit]

@MamaMonCel

Quite surprised with the allegation /incident above as the nursery was rated OUTSTANDING in the summer of August. Has any one got any recent reviews on Ruskin House Nursery? Looking to sending my littling this year

Late reply but if anyone else is reading I viewed Ruskin House in 2019 and decided against it based on seeing a staff member move a baby while I was there. The baby was happily sitting on the floor and she randomly swept it up and dumped it a few meters away. The poor thing started crying and she did nothing but continued to sweep up another baby and do the same thing. She was very robotic.
When I left the place I cried on the street. Yes, pregnancy emotions at play but the other nurseries I visited did not treat babies this way. We chose a different one in the end.
Hope this helps anyone in the same position.