Busy Bees Nurseries Bewertungen 

My daughter goes to Busy Bees Bamber Bridge and we could not have wished for a better experience. The staff are friendly, helpful and attentive. The manager has been excellent with help through our journey. Overall an excellent experience from start to finish.

Pros:
- the parent app is great
- Parking right in front of nursery
- In house outside space for different age children

decided after 2 weeks this nursery isn’t for us due to :
- rude/confrontational staff. Now I’m not saying it was everyone most of the ladies seemed lovely, however it was spoiled by the few
- Constant new people in the rooms, no continuity of staff through out the day - seemed like they had new people every week
- New staff not being briefed properly on who comes to pick up children nor their preferences eg nappies that were needed to be used
- No apology for wrong doing instead met with “we were going to do it” or no acknowledgment at all - especially when mentioned child was eating their snot while sucking dummy or dressed in damp clothing and evidently cold
- Child being inadequately dressed for outside time despite requesting staff to do so eg hat and coat
- Being sent home with a temperature which was collected using a thermometer with a glove in it. Once we arrived home child didn’t have a temperature. Child was dressed in multiple layers whole day without staff realising, which probably caused child to overheat. Child dressed in multiple layers due to being collected on 2 occasions damp, with damp socks and very cold so thought best to overdress than under as constantly ill.
- Weetabix for breakfast 3 days in a row. We didn’t really let the menu sink in when viewing the centre but when you see what your kid eats for £12.70 a day it hits then.

It’s a shame their 1 month notice period works in a way which traps you into their services for so long, especially after deciding only 2 weeks in their services are not for us. There is only so much you get to see in those 20 minutes you go view the centre and Ofcourse everyone puts on their best smile. However we appreciated the show put on for us with the nose cleaning and extra politeness put on by staff after submitting our notice, would’ve loved to see that energy the first few weeks when it matters the most.

My little girl loves to go to nursery, she really likes spending time with her key worker and pers in group. Staff is lovely and always happy to help and answer any questions. I couldn’t find better nursery for my kid☺️

Our nursery was taken over by busybees in the last few months (east village / Stratford in east London) and whilst the day to day didn’t change much immediately, some of the organisational things did - like instantly getting rid of the salary sacrifice method to pay for nursery, which seems punitive and ultimately makes it far more expensive for parents. It is worth parents knowing this upfront: many nurseries do accept SS so it’s incredibly non competitive. We would never have actively chosen a Busy Bees nursery for this reason.

Where it got bad, was when there was a mice infestation in the nursery. For clarity, I’m certainly not saying it was their fault for the mice infestation, but the way it’s been handled at a corporate level has been dreadful. They have offered to find alternative nurseries within their group, which is helpful, but still very disruptive both for the kids settling in and parents having to drop off/pick up, adding both cost and time versus what everyone signed up for.

Again, these things happen, but it’s been going on for 5 weeks now, with no end in sight and the communication has been fluffy at best. Given the amount of upheaval, one would expect a discount to be offered as goodwill. Initially, nothing was offered and some emails back to various parents were not in the tone one would expect, given it’s their service that is faltering. In the end, after multiple emails to senior management, they came back with a paltry 10%, which seems cheap given the tears at drop off in the beginning of the disruption, forced adjusted work schedule due to the longer commute and increased cost of getting to/from nursery, and all from a company that made over £50m in profit last year.

Very importantly, this 2* is aimed at the company busy bees, not the amazing staff in the nurseries. They are all in the same boat as the kids and parents, and have all been so welcoming to the kids, in my experience, to the temporary additions to the other busybees.

For those considering busybees, before this incident I would’ve given 4* and of course not every nursery will have a rodent problem, but you get to know the fabric of the machine behind the wonderful nursery staff when the going gets tough, and it’s been a total let down. Maybe those in middle management and the board room should step out from behind the keyboards and listen to what the parents are telling the front line workers, and perhaps the ill will could’ve been avoided.

The staff were not helpful at all. They don’t help your child with the transition period. Whilst I was there with my child for a settling in period, I saw a little girl crying for 40 minutes straight without a staff member approaching her or consoling her. After seeing that, I knew I couldn’t leave my child there. Once I cancelled, they didn’t even give my deposit back. Awful.

Wonderful staff who will do anything for your child

Lovely family vibe

Very recommended! My son loves this nursery! Staff and management are excellent!

I registered with busy bees but later made the decision to withdraw and arrange different childcare. For about 4 months, I was repeatedly sent invoices and payment reminders, and settling session info, despite emailing the centre manager, the finance team and the people sending the invoices. I think their administrative function is not well joined up.
I can't make any comment on the childcare though!

Since joining nursery, we have noticed such a lovely change in our daughter. She has become much more confident in socialising and playing with other children, and it has been wonderful to see her develop her little personality and independence.

She has also started using words like “please,” “thank you,” and “sorry” so naturally, which makes us very proud. The daily routine and the caring environment in her room have really supported her well-being and helped her feel happy, settled and secure.

We especially love hearing about all the creative activities she takes part in and seeing how much she enjoys exploring and learning new things. The free-play opportunities have also been fantastic, allowing her to use her imagination and learn at her own pace.

We are really happy with her progress since joining nursery and are so grateful to all the staff for the care, patience and encouragement they give her every day. ❤️

Busy bees was hands down the worst childcare decision I made.

I put my 10 month old son into the Busy Bees - Smalley Drive Oakwood branch and I regretted the 8 weeks he spent there. On his first full day, I got a call to say he experienced severe nappy rash (something he NEVER had before) and he was in such pain - he was screaming when he had to sit down and his intimate areas were bleeding. I have never been so mortified in my whole entire life and so distraught. On that day, we rang round all of the local nurseries to get a place at a different nursery ASAP. Luckily we managed to secure one really quickly and pulled him out 6 weeks later after the place became available.

On the settling in sessions, I was personally left alone with 4 babies whilst the staff filled out paperwork - something I was shocked with. It should have been a red flag for me then realistically.

After the nappy rash incident it didn’t stop there. Multiple times I picked my son up completely dirty (expected a little from being at nursery all day), nose full of snot & bogies and on a few occasions… covered in his own poo. One time his poo had gone all down his leg and trousers and was cold and hard - indicating that this had been missed HOURS earlier.

The staff were rude at times and unhelpful. Even after filing a complaint, the manager was useless. The staff there did not care about my son, his welfare or his development. I am shocked there hasn’t been a serious incident… one time I picked my son up and the ONE staff member that was in the room left approximately 20 sleeping babies and toddlers unattended to speak to parents. This happened for 20 minutes or so in and out.

The poo, nappy rash & general neglect was horrific and I would never ever recommend Busy Bees to anyone. Please, do not trust your children with this company.

Since moving nurseries my little one has NEVER had any of these issues - I have picked him up clean, well looked after and fed (occasionally picked my son up from Busy Bees and he was crying because he was hungry!).

I cannot say how dreadful our experience was.

My little boy is having the best time at Busy Bees in St Andrews. He has been there for 6 months now. I was so worried about him starting nursery but he settled in so quickly and absolutely adores his key worker Lauren, which makes us feel less of the parent guilt of sending him to nursery. Really glad we picked this nursery, staff are all lovely, children always seem happy and the nursery is always clean and a good temperature. They’ve catered really well to my boy’s CMPA, and he has done so well with eating, which we can attribute to the variety of dishes he has at nursery! We’ve always managed to get him in if needed on an extra day if something at work pops up. He has come on so well with his walking and talking and development in general. Thank you for making it so much easier to return back to work and for looking after our boy so well!

Awful company, dishonest and
incompetent do not trust them with your children. I have been with Busy Bees since 2021 and thought we would be with them until my youngest child started school. Unfortunately in June this year we were told that after an Ofsted inspection the nursery was closing with immediate effect as a welfare requirement notice was issued. During this time the level of communication was appalling there was a complete disregard for the impact it had on families. Then eventually the centre partially re opened and then on 31st July immediately closed again as Ofsted suspended the licence. We were told after 5pm on a Friday via the app so we couldn’t even sort childcare out. Again the communication was appalling and I still don’t know what happened and if my child was at risk. Not had any sort of apology from Busy Bees and the whole situation has caused so much distress for my family and the upheaval for my little boy has been awful and completely avoidable. The staff themselves are great and have been let down by busy bees. Thankyou for ruining my summer busy bees

Sadly, our experience has changed dramatically

We chose this nursery because it had previously had an excellent reputation, and for a long time we were very happy with the care and environment provided. Our child was thriving there, and we had a great deal of trust and confidence in the staff.

Unfortunately, our experience since earlier this year has been very different. There has been significant staff turnover, with many of the familiar staff members who previously cared for our child no longer working there. We have also seen a much greater use of agency staff, which has made the environment feel far less settled than it once was.

The facilities also appear very different from how they are presented in some of the older photographs online, in our experience.

We have noticed a significant change in our child's behaviour since these changes took place. Behaviour that we had not previously experienced has included spitting, hitting and punching. We appreciate that children's behaviour can change for many reasons, but we are concerned about the impact that the constant changes in staff and environment may be having. Other parents have also expressed similar concerns to us.

The staff members who have remained have been working extremely hard, and we do feel for them. They appear to be dealing with considerable changes while trying to maintain the care of the children.

We have raised concerns directly with the nursery and have had meetings to discuss some of the issues. Unfortunately, from our experience, we have not seen the improvements we had hoped for afterwards. We have also experienced difficulties receiving responses to complaints and concerns raised by email.

On several occasions, we have arrived at the nursery and been unable to leave our child because we were told there were insufficient staff available to accommodate them. Having this happen without prior warning has been extremely difficult, particularly when arranging childcare around work and other commitments.

What makes this particularly disappointing is that this is not how we remember the nursery. We previously had complete confidence in the care our child received and were proud to say they attended. Sadly, that confidence has now been lost.

This review is based entirely on our own experiences as parents. We sincerely hope that things improve for the children, families and staff currently at the nursery, because it is very sad to see such a significant change from the positive experience we previously had.

At this stage, based on our experience, we would not choose Busy Bees childwall again for our child.

AVOID!!!!

Former employee here, from what I have witnessed and dealt with this is by far the worse run nursery I have ever seen!! The higher up senior managers give zero support to the CD. Staff are well, just treated as numbers nothing more. Seems to be more agency than actual staff majority of the time. Certain incidents that happen in rooms with the children aren’t recorded properly, and parents even notified on what actually happened. People suspended over incidents then staff mysteriously retracting multiple statements so that person gets to continue working. Probably because they our low on level 3 child practitioners. So it’s almost like we’ll bend the rules to suit our agenda. Most days what parents see is 99% an act and the place isn’t sunshine and rainbows. I’ve seen countless staff crying their eyes out or having mental breakdowns due to the stress and having to work long shifts and overtime without a heads up. Most days there just told to get back in there room and deal with it. I’ve walked into rooms to find one member of staff and 20 children in there!! I know this as Ive stood and counted them myself. You’ll be promised pay rise to make you stay and 6months down the line it never comes. More bullsh*t basically to keep you where you are. Rooms are constantly split up daily due to lack of staff and can’t cover the ratio’s. This also includes children with dietary and allergies that shouldn’t be moved what so ever!! There currently closed because staff got that fed up they took it among themselves to phone ofsted. Regardless of what busy bees tells you it wasnt there decision, just another lie they chose to tell parents. Since then that management they’ve sent to “sort it” I wouldn’t trust to run me a bath never mind a nursery. They also try to punish staff that leave by saying you owe them money in pay or taking your holiday pay from you. This is by far the most corrupt company I’ve ever come across. I am not surprised that when searched they are near enough 1 billion in debt! No wonder they have to rob there hard working staff, meanwhile senior managers drive around in range rovers collecting 80k a year for doing sweet FA!! Place is to put as clear as I can a bad joke!! That said the staff in the rooms are lovely. It’s just a shame management can’t seem to pull there heads from there behinds and get on board! Oh and for the parents who received letters about Ofsted there was no “vigorous” training. The training was e-learning online videos which took a day then staff were sent to other sites to cover so they could save on agency costs. So staff were inadequate of doing there jobs apparently and needed “vigorous training”, yet were fit enough to then be shipped out to look after other people’s children. Then left miles away from there homes and forced to find there own way back to Leeds some how. Again absolutely disgusting!!! And from what I’ve seen and heard from other sites Colton isn’t even the worse one. Typical money hungry company that care more about lining there pockets than they do there staff and the children’s welfare. Oh after the little Ofsted visit the first time they said they wouldn’t be splitting rooms anymore, guess what it lasted all of two hours the first day we reopened! And they were going to do it again until someone notified a manager ofsted had just walked through the door, then guess what they didn’t! Hmm I wonder why?! Corruption of the highest form! Good riddance!!

We decided to withdraw our kids and send them to other settings sadly. The staff are wonderful and the kids have great relationships with them and are happy! However, there is high staff turn over and staff openly talk about interviewing in other places where pay is better and hours are less. Our invoices were always wrong and I spent 6 weeks with finance sorting out mistakes after they incorrectly stated we owed £1500. Nursery shut for 1 month due to a mouse infestation. The temporary option then shut down in the heat wave due the fact the company hasn’t invested in aircon. They also have the nerve to charge you for the incidents when they shut! Lastly the set up didn’t support potty training, my child frequently had accidents at lunch or in the garden when there were no staff to take him to the loo. Despite asking repeatedly a potty was never put in the garden to help this problem.

Wouldn’t send my child here.
Staff don’t actually care and can’t wait for home time.
Staff told me “she don’t like us can’t you tell”
My daughter came out looking a mess with food all over her every day.
She’s now thriving at a new nursery!

Lovely facilities and staff

Very clean, great staff, amazing environment, my daughter was always so excited to go! Asked me everyday if she could go to nursery especially to the garden trip haha! She learned a lot while she was there. Wish she was able to attend for a longer period! Thank you so much for her amazing experience!

Everyone in busy bees are so wonderful. Always very happy, cheerful and will always take a moment to have a chat if at any point you need it, for advise, reassurance or general questions you may have. My daughter has now had two key workers from moving up a class. She loved her old key worker and still makes an effort to come and say hello to her when she can but you can see within just 2 weeks she also loves her new one as I do. I have full trust in her. My daughter is learning something new every week, a dance move, and word a hop a jump to washing hands and growing her confidence.
The app is fantastic it keeps us parents up to date on there day and what they are learning that week, that way you can follow it through at home, reading the same book, learning the same word and dancing and singing to the song of the week!

They always listen about any concerns I have and are quick to take things on board. My childs confidence has sky rocketed sinxe being at busy bees and I am so happy