Julia Durbin Day Nursery (Oxford)

Since our son started in the nursery at one year old, he has continued to develop well. Having the warm input from the enthusiastic and caring staff in Ladybird Room has been great and there are always so many activities on offer every day. The food is healthy and varied and I have felt very comfortable and reassured when dropping him off in the morning knowing they will meet his needs and know him well. The room is always in order, neat and tidy. The nursery manager is always friendly, attentive and caring. I would highly recommend Julia Durbin Nursery.

Julia Durbin is an excellent nursery, with both great facilities and big outdoor areas top up by the excellent teams in the rooms! Both my kids love going to Julia Durbin, so much that sometimes they cry when I pick them up before the usual schedule! My experience with all the different age-rooms has been fantastic and the staff is really committed and allow us to do other jobs for society. They do go beyond their duties very often and they certainly know how to create and keep the connection they make with the children. Keep it up!

It is tough entrusting your child to anyone, particularly when they seem so young. But Julia Durbin could not but make both my wife and I feel at ease that our little one is safe, secure and having a great time.

The facilities are fantastic- particularly the garden which was the biggest selling point for us. They constantly have new and creative activities, all resourced with no expense spared. We love the online updates we receive - you get your own individual (secure) profile where they post pictures and summaries of activities.

However, it is the people that make this place exceptional, our child’s keyworker (in both rooms she has been in so far) have been so caring and approachable. All the other practitioners are attentive and very sociable.

Food (aka kitchen staff) is great and reception team are incredibly friendly and couldn’t do enough to be more helpful.

Our 7-month-old son has just spent his first month at Julia Durbin. Every day we drop him off or pick him up we can very clearly see how much he loves it there. All the staff in the baby room are very warm and they take very good care of him. I’ve been in at quite different times and the atmosphere is always very nice; there is always a very good ratio of carers to babies in the room. They put out different toys for the babies to explore every day and activities like finger painting or exploring ice. Julia Durbin has an online system where the key person every so often uploads pictures and short descriptions of what they have been up to which is wonderful for giving us a glimpse of what our baby has been up to. Recently when there was snow chaos the nursery was nevertheless open which we were very grateful for as well.

We moved from Belgium to Oxford in July 2018 and we stayed until January 2019. We have a 3-year old daughter who did not speak English when we arrived. The Julia Day Durbin Nursery has been superb in taking care of her and making sure she settled in well. As part of our review, we'd like to attach the goodbye e-mail we sent to the entire team:

We just wanted to thank the entire Julia Durbin team for taking such great care of our daughter during our stay in the UK.

Our daughter's English is really sticking with her; whenever she plays games or reads a book, she automatically switches from Dutch to English. We’ll try our best to make sure she can keep practising her English.

We especially would like to mention how important two of the caretakers, in particular, have been to her. Our daughter really developed a strong relationship with both of them. These two caretakers did an excellent job and we absolutely wanted to mention this.

On the whole, nursery is good, my son has learned a lot of new stuff and experienced new things.

Although some of the teachers are spending more time with children than others still it is satisfying. Nursery has a great space for children to play outdoors and also good facilities for indoor activities, although I'm a little bit concerned about the hygiene conditions in the toilets. I hope they have extra supervision of children when they use it and ask the children to wash their hands thoroughly and check the toilets regularly to make sure they are clean enough. On the whole I'm more happy about the teachers than the reception crew, I think a warm welcoming reception team can make a great impact on the whole team but sometimes you get to see otherwise.

My son always seems happy to go to nursery. On the occasional day that he’s slightly under the weather or out of sorts, the caring staff there give him cuddles, which almost instantly seem to make him better and restore his smiley self.

Staff are pleasant and genuinely caring. He is always greeted when he enters the room. It makes me happy to know that he is having fun, learning and being well looked after when I’m at work.

The staff at Julia Durbin have been brilliant, accommodating our childcare needs where they can. Our son has had a great start, and we are already impressed with the care, attention and kindness shown to our little one by the staff in Caterpillars. Thank you!

Our daughter has been at the Julia Durbin Nursery since she was 7 months old (she is now 2). She absolutely loves her time at nursery every day and it has been wonderful for us to see her grow and develop into a happy, chatty little girl. She has made lots of friends and she looks forward to seeing them every day!

She loves the big garden and playing outside and I love that the children are outside every day, in all sorts of weather.

I cannot rate this nursery highly enough. The staff are caring, thoughtful and friendly. They know all the children's names (even if they are not in the same room) and there is always a smile from reception in the morning. Our daughter has had the same key worker throughout her time at nursery, which has really helped develop her confidence.

We are so glad we chose Julia Durbin nursery and are grateful for the care and attention they give all the children.

Both of our sons have been extremely happy at Julia Durbin. Recently my younger son has had to spend time in hospital, and the PreSchool Team's help in preparing him for the experience was invaluable and so wonderfully done. As parents, we also received lots of support, and it is this sense of emotional connection which makes Julia Durbin a very special place.

My daughter was in Julia Durbin for 10 months and we were extremely satisfied with all aspects of care, and my daughter loved going to the nursery every morning.

Thank you to the whole Julia Durbin team for taking amazing care of my son over the last 6 months. The staff is amazing and friendly. The baby room is very well suited to the children's needs. The outdoor space is fantastic. I have really enjoyed the use of Parent Zone as well so we get to see what the children get up to in pictures :) We will definitely miss the team.

I would definitely recommend this nursery to anyone.

Julia Durbin is literally my life-saver! As a working mum I can confidently drop my children off knowing they will be happy, safe, loved and inspired. The garden is an absolute asset - different to all the nurseries I visited.

The teachers are caring and informative. The management team are personable and know you, your situation and your kids.

We will miss JD!

On a personal level management have been extremely supportive and kind. My two children and I will greatly miss this nursery once my youngest leaves in August.

Fantastic nursery! My children love it here. The staff are brilliant & form great relationships with the children. My eldest daughter leaves this year & is already saying she will miss certain staff....luckily she will get to see them when we drop off my younger daughter!

Our daughter has been exceptionally well looked after at the Julia Durbin nursery. Throughout her year and a half at the nursery, the amazing teams in the Caterpillar and Bumblebees rooms - supported by a great management team - have played a very significant part in her development.

I have recommended this nursery to several friends already because it has fabulous staff, great outdoor space, healthy and fresh food and a lovely atmosphere. Most importantly, my daughter loves it here! Thank you to everyone at Julia Durbin!

My daughter has flourished at Julia Durbin Day Nursery and loves all the activities it has to offer. Her key workers are brilliant at offering her guidance and support. She already feels at home!

I had to post a review about the helpfulness of the staff throughout this excellent nursery after I managed to get my car stuck in the mud in the car park - their response in assembling a quick-fire team of helpers including tow rope and truck was incredible and well above and beyond the call of duty. I appreciate this seems a random topic to comment on but it goes to show the dedication of everyone there and their willingness to do anything to help.

Our two children have collectively spent over 5 years at this nursery because of the excellence of the staff and their ever-present can-do attitude. Thanks again, everyone!