brighthorizons.co.uk Bewertungen 131

My employer provides back up care through Bright Horizons and I booked holiday club for my children through this process on two occasions. Both occasions the childcare was cancelled at the last minute without a clear explanation on the second occasion I wasn’t even informed. I’m now in the process of escalating this as the complaints department are ignoring my emails. I have also escalated this to my employer as this clearly doesn’t serve it’s purpose as “back up care”

Don’t use these guys if you have any choice. Apparently my company’s procurement department too busy doing eff all to hire a good company. They have zero accountability, constantly cancelling or not even cancelling but not delivering on promised childcare. Also don’t expect the phone number or contact details of the prson you entrust looking after your kids. Just a soulless apology when that person doesn’t show up.

We have been happy with the staff at our local Bright Horizons nursery, but I want to raise a concern about the organisation as a whole that I suspect many parents share.

Bright Horizons has introduced inset days across its nurseries — days where the nursery is closed for staff training. In principle, I have no issue with staff receiving training. What I do take issue with is that full fees are charged for these days, meaning parents not only pay for a day of childcare they cannot use, but also have to fund and arrange alternative childcare at their own expense.

At a time when childcare costs are already at breaking point for most families, this feels tone deaf from an organisation generating hundreds of millions of pounds in annual revenue.

When I asked for a breakdown showing how inset days are factored into the fee calculation — as their Terms and Conditions claim they are — I was directed to a billing email address that responded with an auto-reply warning of up to 14 business days for a response. I have yet to receive any actual calculation.

Bright Horizons are a large, well-resourced American-owned corporation. Producing a transparent fee breakdown is not beyond them. The fact that none exists, or that they are unwilling to share one, speaks volumes.

Parents deserve better than being told to trust that the numbers add up.

I am very disappointed with this nursery and feel I need to share my experience with other parents.

There have been multiple incidents involving my child, and each time there was little to no communication or reaction from the staff. What concerns me the most is the lack of responsibility and urgency when something happens. As a parent, you trust that your child will be safe and properly cared for, but that has not been my experience here.

The most serious incident was when my child had a bad injury in his mouth while at the nursery (he needed X-eay and potentially life dentists checks). I was extremely upset not only because of the injury itself, but because the staff did not react appropriately and did not treat the situation with the seriousness it required. I was not properly informed, and the way the situation was handled made me feel that my child’s safety was not a priority.

Unfortunately, due to these repeated incidents and the lack of response from the nursery, I cannot recommend this place to other parents. Safety, communication, and responsibility are the most important things in a nursery, and in my experience, these standards were not met.

I am writing this review specifically about the Bright Horizons nursery on Goldhawk Road, London — not any other Bright Horizons branch.
My son attended this nursery for 12 months. During that time he sustained multiple unexplained injuries, the most recent requiring a hospital visit and X-rays. Every single time I raised concerns, staff told me they had not seen the injury occur. No explanation, no accountability, no follow-up.
In 12 months, my son had four different key persons, making any consistent care, bonding or development impossible. We have seen no evidence of learning or progress during his entire time there.
This is not a one-off complaint. The pattern was repeated and ongoing, which is why I have now filed formal complaints with both Ofsted and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. Both complaints are currently under investigation.
I urge any parent considering Bright Horizons Goldhawk Road specifically to think carefully

This review pertains to Bright Horizons Nursery in Purley. As a first-time parent, I lacked guidance in selecting an appropriate nursery for my son. My recent experience with this particular establishment has unfortunately highlighted a significant error in judgment, leading to my son's subsequent withdrawal. He is now enrolled in an alternative nursery, which has already resulted in a marked improvement in his well-being.

(September 2025 - November 2025)

The initial introduction process did not meet expectations for a comprehensive orientation. Contrary to the anticipation of a detailed tour and full information disclosure, the first day involved a brief ten-minute session of completing paperwork with my son's key worker Katlyn, who provided minimal explanation before departing. Following the completion of the forms, the key worker Katlyn advised us to leave to allow my son to commence his 50-minute settling-in period. I had anticipated that an introduction would include a tour, a preview of the rooms my son would potentially use, and an inspection of the outdoor play areas; however, none of these elements were provided.

Daily Observations: On a daily basis, my son exhibited increased anxiety and hesitancy upon entering the nursery. I am led to conclude that the incidents I observed at the nursery contributed to this change in his behaviour.
The nursery failed to post photographs of my son, despite a commitment to post images of every child in the room at least once daily.
On multiple occasions, when collecting my son after work, I observed him playing alone, seated in isolation, while all other children were gathered together. This suggests a pattern of my son being neglected and excluded.
During one collection, I was outside the closed room door at the bottom of the stairs and clearly overheard Hannah, a bank staff member, shouting at a child for refusing to eat a chicken nugget. Upon my entry, she became visibly flushed and immediately fell silent, apparently embarrassed upon realising what I had overheard.
During the six months my son attended the nursery, the children were only taken into the garden on six occasions. While their schedule indicates daily garden activities, several nursery staff members were overheard stating that the children were kept inside because the staff "couldn't be bothered." It is unacceptable for children to be confined to a small room for nine hours a day on a regular basis.
Each time we dropped off my son, we provided his bag with three spare outfits in case they were required. It was distressing to collect my son with dirty clothes, or to find him wearing only his vest and the muslin comforter, which was saturated with food and dirt.
Decision Time: At the beginning of November, my wife and I decided to schedule a meeting with the nursery manager to discuss our observations and concerns. We communicated all of the aforementioned issues to her. She assured us that she would investigate the matters; however, it is our belief that providing this feedback unfortunately exacerbated the situation.
Hannah, the nursery worker, became increasingly sarcastic and appears to have informed all other staff members that we were the source of the complaint.
My son's key worker completely ceased communication with us, ignoring us entirely and providing no daily progress updates on our son.
We frequently observed what appeared to be 'Chinese whispers' whenever we entered or left the nursery.
Hannah is clearly a recurring issue, as the nursery manager acknowledged that Hannah has been the subject of numerous complaints in the past. This raises the question of what remedial action has been taken and why she continues to be employed in a role working with infants and young children.
In late January, we made the decision to withdraw my son from this nursery and relocate him to a nearby alternative. The contrast is remarkable, and we have already been greatly impressed. Their introductory process, including the first day, incorporated a home visit, and my son is already thriving and reverting to his usual demeanour.
I would like to express my gratitude to Mary, Georgina, Brianna, Mia who endeavoured to make my son's journey as positive as possible. Regrettably, their efforts were limited, as I believe they are overwhelmed by a contingent of nursery staff whose cliques and friendships lead them to prioritise protecting one another over the children, who should be the nursery's most important concern.

We use the backup care services as a benefit through work. 1 time the person who came was good. We keep in touch with her. Another time the nanny was not fit for purpose and I would never trust he to be alone with a child - she was on her phone a lot and left a mess. The last time they couldn’t find anyway.

So if you’re okay with an unreliable work benefit - great, but I would never pay for this

This nursery has systemically failed children. It only cares about treating babies and children as cash cows and the nurseries operate as farms - they make a lot of money, under pay staff and don’t care about the safety and well being of children - read the news if multiple failing (death of baby, employed TWO peadophiles who got away with it for YEARS despite MULTIPLE complaints from parents).

I used BH back-up care service for my child on October 20 and ever since I have been trying to resolve their issue with processing my payment. I have been on multiple calls with them, emails etc. and I have been told that this is an ongoing IT issue on their side, at this time there is no solution, nor they know when this is going to be resolved. Please note that it is 10 days now and I am keeping receiving their e-mails saying that my payment wasn't successful, threatening a £25 charge (for their issue) and suspending my account until I pay (which I cannot do due to their IT issue).

My experience with this nursery has been fine until the day of the accident. My son had an injury there when another child accidentally trapped his finger in a pretend washing machine. His nail came off and started bleeding badly. We rushed him to the hospital, and after a few visits, doctors decided to let it heal naturally. We were (and still are) very worried that his nail won’t grow back normally.

I contacted the complaints department, but they didn’t reply for six weeks. When I finally called, they said there was no update and couldn’t tell me how long the process would take. The lack of empathy and communication from the higher management has been really disappointing.

The nursery manager herself has been kind and tried to help us, but it feels like her hands are tied. We even had to cancel a family holiday because our son couldn’t go in the water due to his injury.

What worries me most is that we still don’t know whether the toy was faulty or if proper safety checks were missed, meaning this could happen again to another child.

I hope the company takes this seriously and improves both safety and communication with parents.

We are grateful to have chosen Bright Horizon as a nursery for our 18 months old baby. They have been very supportive and even when my baby struggled to settle in, they offered different options to help to accommodate him.
The way of communication through the app is very good and they keep us updated of everything that is happening during the day.
The installations are good and clean, they organise different activities to stimulate the development in babies and the meals and menu are good too because my baby is always eating all of his food when served.
I see my baby is showing already a few changes for good, like he is more sociable and less nervous around other children and he is happy when I pick him up.
Thank you so much and let’s keep the good work 😊

Like several other parents, I was shocked to receive an email demanding “overdue fees” three months after my child had already left the nursery. There was no prior communication or explanation during that time, and when I queried it, I was threatened with debt collection agencies.

Since moving my child to a new nursery, her development has improved dramatically — progress that should have happened during the past year. Staff turnover has become noticeably worse since the new management took over, and staff morale appears very low. Lack of consistency. There also seems to be a concerning culture of bullying, which has been apparent to parents and appears to affect both staff and some families.

Despite raising detailed complaints and concerns directly with the regional manager, no accountability has been taken, and no meaningful action has been shown. Based on our experience, I would not recommend sending your child here.

Unhelpful management, dont have answers to basic questions and not acting in my child's best interests.

I would like to say a huge thank you for the extraordinary work with kids, support, training, care and professionalism in your business. My child has just started his journey in your nursery, but it is already clear how interesting, fun and educational it is, my kid is very happy. Special thanks to your chef for the delicacies, kid is happy to try new, tasty healthy food.

A fantastic nursery all round – the staff are warm, caring, and genuinely invested in the children’s development. The environment feels safe, welcoming, and full of opportunities for little ones to learn, explore, and grow. Communication with parents is excellent, and it’s clear the team go above and beyond to create a positive experience every day. I feel completely confident and reassured leaving my child here, knowing they are happy, supported, and thriving.

Good staff and good chef . I m delighted that we chose this nursery.

My daughter joined Bright Horizons in July, and as my first child, I was very worried about how she would take to nursery. I found the room leader, Charlotte, to be incredibly understanding and supportive as we navigated this new chapter. The team in baby 3 are so welcoming, friendly and approachable, which fills me with confidence that my child is in safe and caring hands when away from me. The menu and activities are varied often, I love that my daughter gets to try lots of new food, which was really important to me! The nursery is also always really clean, they must have fairies that tidy as the kids play and make a mess! I also really appreciate how good the team are at communicating sickness. Through the app parents are always made aware of any cases of sickness and the team do a great job of upping cleaning of rooms/toys, touch wood 2.5 months in and my daughter hasn’t come down with anything outside of a light cold, having readied myself for the constant calls for collection. Overall great nursery, very happy we chose Bright Horizons for our daughter’s nursery journey :)

Absolutely love the nursery and both my kids do too. The staff are very hands on and attentive to the children!
Well done to the staff at the Wilmington branch.

Our son has been going to Bright Horizons since he was 15 months old. In every room he's been in (babies, infants and now Preschool), the staff have gone above and beyond to meet his individual needs, learning style, etc. They've adapted brilliantly to his quirks, followed his interests, helped him learn... His current key worker is so caring, you can tell that she and her colleagues truly love their young charges. Every day we drop him off at preschool, we know that our son is going to have a great day, full of opportunities, fun activities, visits to the park, library, etc. Trust me, I'm a teacher and I know for a fact that the curriculum that Bright Horizons delivers daily rivals that of primary one in variety and quality. Our son comes home knowing things that we haven't taught him yet, and that includes manners and routines. Sometimes he asks to go there, even during the holidays. The staff supported us through important stages such as potty training with no judgement or pressure. They've also prepared our son to become a big brother. Bright Horizons staff never fail to impress me with their knowledge, professionalism, patience, adaptability, care, dedication. I highly recommend their service and have already enrolled our second baby far in advance. As their motto states, choosing Bright Horizons isn't just about childcare, it's about their childhood.

Bright horizons Wilmington is the best nursery and would 100% recommend to all parents for their little one. They supported me every step of the way as my daughter started, helped with every query and reassured me that my daughter would love it there, which she truly does. Everyone who works there are amazing and always puts the best interest of the children first. They do so many activities with them each day to help them learn and develop, I love to see the daily pictures and the fun they have