“Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control we needed to look for a nursery for Arlo to access his 30 hours funding. We were slightly panicked as our back up plan of a school nursery didn’t work out so after a number of phone calls with nurseries we decided on jollys as our choice. We were lucky that we knew some other Jollys parents and were able to speak to them about the nursery ‘outside of covid times’ and allowed us to get a feel for things. Due to covid we watched the nursery video on Facebook and showed Arlo the video regularly which was really helpful! We had a lovely video call with Sian to show us round although Arlo wasn’t that interested in the call seeing the videos on Facebook really helped him. He regularly asked to see his new nursery on video. We drove past jollys a few times to help him get used to the changes and talked lots about the nursery.After a number of emails backwards and forwards Arlos first week at nursery arrived. We had a telephone call the week before with Laura who would be Arlos key worker and we got to chat through any of our worries etc. Arlo had spent the last 2 years with a childminder in a small setting so we were worried how he would deal with lots more children but from the moment he started jollys we were reassured. We had a settling in session where mummy stayed with Arlo for half an hour outside and then Laura took him inside for an hour. Laura went through his likes and dislikes and anything they needed to know while mummy wasnt there. He was happy on pick up and come down the stairs with a smile which was very reasssuring! He was full of excitement that the Easter bunny had left him an egg and he held a rabbit in nursery he still talks about this now!His first week was spent with Laura and although we had lots of tears on drop off we were always reassured by the updates on EYLog which were great to get through the day at work. Its great to get these updates through the day and allow us to see how he is developing in nursery.Arlo has been at jollys nearly a month now and although we sometimes have a few tears he is quite happy to go to Laura or one of the other girls in his room and have a cuddle. He always has a cheeky smile for Laura when he sees her coming down the stairs which is lovely for us to see.Although Arlo has only been at Jollys for a short time he is already growing in confidence and always has a story to tell on the way home about what he’s been up to. Hes always excited to tell us what he’s had for dinner and there’s a variety in food throughout the week on the menu. He’s tried new things he would never have eaten at home but puddings are of course his favourite.We think Jollys is a lovely nursery and now we know why people raved about the nursery! Arlo will be with jollys until he starts school and we can’t wait to watch him grow and develop over the next year. A big thanks to all the staff at Jollys for making us feel so relaxed and welcome, we hope sharing our experience with others will allow other parents to feel reassured and supported”.
