Busy Bees Nurseries Reviews 

Very good premises and fantastic staff:)

All the staff are really lovely and my daughter really does enjoy being at the nursery and with the staff and her friends

As an ex nursery teacher I was very apprehensive about sending my daughter to another nursery. We visited 5 and chose Busy bees.
All staff have been amazing with my daughter (she’s currently in the toddler room) and have supported her and us as parents with her speech and now potty training. I have no anxieties about leaving my daughter at the setting. Communication is effective and we are very happy with how she has progressed! Thank you to all !

Professional and friendly staff, always helping develop skills and knowledge of our little one, his confidence and language has developed so much since starting at the beginning of the year! Couldn’t fault anything, all staff are great, food options my child is offered is healthy and varied nursery always looks spotless!

I probably should have written this review months ago! Busy bees in Solihull is exemplary. I viewed 8 nurseries before sending my child here. It’s like a second home to my toddler. He talks about it all the time and the staff genuinely have so much love for the kids. Steven and Kiran are such wonderful people and treat my toddler as if he was family to them! Couldn’t recommend this nursery enough!

My little boy started at the Warton branch earlier this year and he has settled into nursery life so easy, can’t wait to go in and loves being there so much he takes forever to come out. He’s always so happy and loves all his teachers and friends.
He loves the food that they give to them and he sometimes asks for seconds. They’ve also helped massively in his potty training journey.
His confidence has grown massively and he now chats away which is lovely to hear!

Excellent staff, my daughter loved it there, they were so welcoming. Very sad that we had to leave.

What a fantastic place. They have help to give my 2 the best start! And always supported us when we’ve needed it

I'd highly recommend this nursery to any parent looking for a warm, nurturing and genuinely caring environment for their child.
Since Eve became Centre Director, the nursery has gone from strength to strength. Her passion, leadership and commitment shine through in everything she does. She has created such a positive atmosphere, not just for the children but for the staff and families too. You can see how much she genuinely cares, and it's reflected in the happy, settled environment she has built.
The staff are kind, approachable and always make my son feel safe, valued and excited to attend. They take the time to get to know each child as an individual, and the communication with parents is excellent.
As a parent, there is nothing more reassuring than dropping your child off knowing they are loved, encouraged and thriving.
If you're considering working here, it's clear that Eve has created a supportive, positive team culture where staff are valued and encouraged to be their best. It really is a wonderful place, and I can't thank the whole team enough for everything they do.

There is a reason why it’s easy to get your child a space at a Busy Bees but not other nurseries.

They function as a business first and foremost, with the quality of childcare coming second to profit.

The staff are generally lovely and the team and quality has definitely improved over the years so this is not personal, but the business model is greedy and offers low value for money compared to other nurseries.

The fees are astronomical and they offer no flexibility in terms of sessions, time off etc. You pay for more hours than you ever need to use regardless. If you want to collect your child earlier than the full session, they threaten to report you to the council for claiming a funded space and not using the full hours. The work around for this? They tell you to purchase additional private hours and they won’t report you. Literally ask you to pay more to collect your child early! They close on bank holidays, Christmas, Easter etc but charge you triple the cost on those days and cleverly word it into the terms and conditions so that you won’t notice until you receive a huge bill.
They guilt trip you at Christmas to not send your children in so that their staff can have a break, but aren’t willing to reduce the fees if you do so. So they want their customers to pay for their staff’s annual leave and make you feel bad for it instead of putting their hands in their own pockets.

Since the new government funding scheme has impacted their ability to rip people off, they have upped their fees enormously and added a daily consumables charge to recuperate profit. If your children don’t use nappies or wipes etc you still pay for them even if you provide your own or their toilet trained. The children receive a tiny portion of hideous looking food, always come home hungry, and they charge you more than you would spend on your own lunch for this small bowl of inadequate slop.

If you receive 30 hours of government funding, you can’t actually send them for 30 hours because they force you to stretch the hours over the school holidays too even if you don’t need or want childcare then. With this in mind, plus the hidden costs of Christmas and Easter etc you will still sometimes receive bills worth several hundreds of pounds a month for just a day or two a week with funding.

The younger rooms aren’t too bad but by the time they get to preschool there are so many children squashed into the classrooms it is like a literal zoo. Any time you get an accident report, no member of staff EVER has witnessed what’s happened because there’s just way too many kids for them to actually pay attention to them.

I once dropped my child off when they were new to the nursery and they were hysterical that I was leaving them in the chaos of screaming children everywhere. None of the staff attempted to comfort or console them as were too busy with other children. I walked away for 5 minutes and then peered back through the window to hopefully get some reassurance that they had settled and were fine but they remained crying their eyes out in the corner of the room on their own with no member of staff even noticing. I will add that the staffing thankfully seems to have improved since this incident.

We’ve just received notification that the nursery will be closed in the hot weather with absolutely no notice or reduction in our fees because they can’t keep the children cool. Surely making as much money as they do, they could invest in a shade canopy for the garden and some air conditioning units because I dread to think how often this will happen over the summer. I’ve now lost a day of income taking the day off work and still have to pay for the childcare that they’re not able to provide. Schools don’t do this so why does busy bees? Why am I paying so much money for your inadequate facilities in the summer?

We used a smaller independent nursery before we moved to the area and could only get a place at busy bees and the contrast between them is huge. They had plenty of shade and paddling pools in the summer. Amazing food for a couple of pounds. No hidden costs. You could not send them in the holidays and wouldn’t be charged. Book holidays and they’d reduce your fees. They really went above and beyond to provide childcare that actually worked for working parents. I think a lot of people don’t have any other experience to compare it to but this is definitely a business only interested in profit so I would avoid if you have another option.

Terrible nursery with safeguarding issues. Closed down by ofsted. I took my very upset child out but wish I would have done it sooner. Do not send your child here

When did companies become so devoid of empathy and common sense?

Introduced a surcharge for not paying invoices through the app. I was confused about the new process for paying via Tax Free Childcare in the app so raised a ticket and spoke to the Customer Service team before the new charges were rolled out, and still wasn't given the right advice to pay in the way they wanted.

They are apparently sticking by the two £4 surcharges despite failing to give me adequate advice. It's tiny money but the principle is enough to make you resentful.

Collections person failed to take responsibility, referring to 'they' (it's the same company) and hid behind in a computer says no mindset.

We've had our children at a Busy Bees nursery for 5 years (read: tens of thousands of pounds of fees).

All the staff are amazing very friendly and chatty when dropped and picking up my son. He always comes home with a smile on his face . Theres a wide variety of food that he has to eat there.

I couldn't thank Busy Bee enough for everything they have done for our family. Shannon, Cherry, Yanique, and every single teacher there have made such a positive impact on my little one's life.

When my son first started, I was incredibly nervous. He was very shy, had a speech delay, wasn't potty trained despite multiple failed attempts, and had never been away from us on his own. If he was upset he would be hard to calm down if we weren't there to cuddle him. We did everything together and always had a wonderful time, so leaving him at nursery was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I worried about whether he could communicate his needs to the staff, if they would be as patient and loving with his tantrums and whether he would be able to tell me how he felt about nursery when he came home.

To say that he has been looked after, nurtured, loved, and patiently taught new skills would be an understatement. Shannon and Cherry are his main teachers, and he comes home talking about how much they encourage him and the other children, how they're always smiling, and how they play fun games together.

The transformation has been incredible. He now eats everything—fruit, vegetables, even Weetabix! (His diet used to be extremely limited.) He is fully potty trained, talks all day long, makes new friends, and literally runs into nursery every single morning with excitement and has outgrown any tantrums fully (in fact he's only ever had one since he started). He is the calmest happiest child.

As a mum who cares deeply for her children and prays every day for them to be safe, happy, and loved, I truly couldn't be more grateful for this nursery. I would wholeheartedly recommend them to any parent facing the daunting decision of sending their little one to nursery. They have made all the difference for us, and I will always be thankful. The only sad part is that he is leaving for school in August! But now he will go more than prepared and that makes me so happy.
Thanks again. Sara Abodunrin

Team always friendly and supporting

Amazing all staff go the extra mile to help and support not only my child but myself too. My child loves going and smiles when going in everyday!!!

The best Nursery. The teachers are lovely. Clean and tidy. I am really appreciate it.

I’ve only had my child there for about two months ,trying to find some activities and friends for my child , but every week he came home sick from the other kids , every time I was picking him up he was alone next to the door sad and crying , dirty rooms , shoes from outside where they sleep and play , doesn’t matter if the kids step where all dogs… they just go in and out without a problem. I gave them my own nappies and wipes , even with this he was changed maybe one time in 6 hours when at home I’m changing him at least 5 ..and so many other things .. it’s not worth to pay 100£ day when they don’t even care about the kids . Very low standard of care.

Cannot fault Busy Bees Bamber Bridge for my two boys. Staff really get to know your children and have great relationships with parents. Couldn’t be happier with the care they receive.

Unfortunately this nursery has really gone downhill the past year. Many longstanding members of staff have left and now temp staff seem to outnumber the permanent staff. This leaves children upset and confused about who is caring for them. Children are moved from room to room during the day due to staff shortages, causing disruption and stress. Children rarely go outside if the weather is cold, leaving them stuck indoors for a full day. I have witnessed staff trying to move a group of very young children, some still babies, down the corridor to a different room - during which the children were grabbed roughly and staff carrying three at a time trying to move them across. Another staff member dealt far too roughly with a toddler and grabbed him using excessive force to pull him away from another child. Pick ups and drop offs are chaotic, with staff often not knowing what the child has done during the day. On one occasion staff were so distracted that they didn’t notice another child take my hand and try to walk me out of the building. I had to bring this child back outside where his key workers should have been looking after him. My child has been left in soiled and/or wet underwear on numerous occasions and I’ve turned up to find a crying child who is embarrassed and in pain, sometimes to the point where they’ve needed nappy cream for several days afterwards to help heal the sores. I am removing my child asap due to these safeguarding concerns. There are one or two staff who are fantastic, and it’s such a shame for them that the nursery has gone so downhill.