Our experience with the nursery at St Clements Close in Gravesend has been extremely disappointing, and I feel other parents should be aware before making a decision.

We joined in November, and although I provided the 30‑hours government funding code within a couple of weeks, the nursery later claimed the funding “was not in place,” and I had to pay out of pocket to cover the shortfall.

My son turned 2 in December, and when he returned in January—after the nursery had already collected the term’s funding—staff suddenly began raising concerns about his behaviour. They described him as “very active” and even suggested he might have ADHD, despite the fact that he has no such diagnosis. From my perspective, his only “issue” was having the kind of high energy levels many toddlers have. It increasingly felt as though the nursery expected every child to behave perfectly at all times, and could not cope when they didn’t.

When I raised a health and safety concern at one point, the response from the owner was not to address the issue, but to suggest I consider a different setting if I wasn’t comfortable. That reaction alone was troubling.

There were also practical issues around care. For example, when I dropped my child off at 8:13 a.m. and asked that he be given breakfast, the staff responded that they would “see what they can do.” My son had also begun losing weight, and the only things he consistently seemed to be given were tomato rings and cheese strings.

One incident was especially upsetting: I witnessed a staff member pushing my son multiple times as he tried to re‑enter a room they were cleaning before closing. When I brought this to the owner’s attention, she denied that anything had happened—even though she was not present at the time. Shortly afterward, I received a message saying that my son was being expelled from the nursery. They offered to refund my deposit, despite having already collected government funding for the full term.

I am writing this review because the nursery has denied any wrongdoing, and based on my experience, I am not convinced that they are equipped to support children who have higher energy levels or any kind of additional needs.
If your toddler is not the “perfectly behaved” child they seem to expect, I would not recommend this nursery.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication