Little Cubs Academy Honor Oak, Forest Hill Nursery & Pre-School

Our daughter has attended Little Cubs since late 2022, and is about to finish her time there. While I cannot fault the care & commitment of a few individual staff members over the years, our experience on the whole is not one I would recommend. The promise of better things after the Grandir takeover has not been met, communication remains poor & staff retention is shockingly bad. It's a constant revolving door of temporary staff who form no real bonds with the children, and seem so unengaged/unhelpful, so the few permanent staff are rushed off their feet and actively have to tell them to do their jobs, staff culture/morale seems low. There have been safeuarding issues, and obvious violations of ratios, where they've had to move kids around rooms to balance numbers due to low staff numbers. In recent weeks a poorly-timed 6-week garden renovation has closed the garden, meaning kids are kept inside with no AC and very little structure to their day's activities. Looking forward to leaving

I am so grateful for the kindness, patience, and care the team shows my son. Little Cubs feels like an extension of our family, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to any parent looking for a

The only improvement we'd suggest is better communication, especially replying to emails or finance questions more quickly. Overall, a warm and supportive place for children.

Our son has been attending Little Cubs for a year (we had to wait a long time to get in). It's a wonderful nursery. The leadership are brilliant, they genuinely care about the kids. All of the staff are wonderful too (although they do seem to have quite a high turnover), putting so much time and thought into the activities they plan and the little trips they take to the shops and the park. We love Forest School! Our second son will be joining later this year - we couldn't recommend Little Cubs highly enough.

My son has been attending Little Cubs since just before his first birthday, and has moved through all four rooms from baby to pre-school. Throughout his time, we've been hugely impressed by the staff, facilities and community of Little Cubs. As a baby, he was so cared for and looked after, and developed real excitement about seeing staff and the activities on offer. As a pre-schooler, he comes home talking happily about friends, learning, and whatever the theme and book of the month happen to be! We've been hugely comforted and impressed, and would highly recommend.

Little Cubs Academy Honor Oak is a fantastic nursery with brilliant staff who really care about the children's well-being and learning. My son attended Little Cubs Academy for over 4 years until he left for school, and now my daughter (1 year old) attends. My son loved his time there and still likes to go back to visit his favourite teachers. The whole team have always been so helpful, professional and caring, and the communication via the app has always been brilliant - sharing meal times and photos from their fun daily activities. Our children particularly enjoy the local walks they often organise and during the warmer months, my son loved the trips to Forest School. I highly recommend Little Cubs Academy for children of all ages.

Thank you!

We highly recommend Little Cubs Academy Honor Oak to any parent seeking a nurturing and enriching environment for their little ones.

My little girl has been going to Little Cubs for 4 months now but it feels like she has always been there as they have helped her to settle in so well. The staff are all lovely and she can't wait to go in in the morning. They are always busy with activities to keep them stimulated and are great at keeping you up to date with how your child is getting on. We are happy with our decision to send our daughter to Little Cubs.

I have had at least one child at Little Cubs since December 2018. Over the course of many years I've experienced exceptional care from this nursery, with wonderfully caring and engaging staff, all of whom have a genuine passion for the children in their care. I've seen my children develop friendships with their peers, grow in confidence in their sense of self and their understanding of their place in the world as well as learn about numbers and letters and sounds. The nursery has very genuinely been part of my 'village'. I would thoroughly recommend.

Our daughter attended Little Cubs for 6 months from the age of 10 months. After some initial staff changes, she became very attached to her key worker and another member of staff who were wonderful. However, she would get upset when staff members finished their shift part way through the day (usually when she was asleep) and overall we felt she never really settled. We also felt the activities in the baby room were too structured and involved a lot of sitting at a table, which wasn't appropriate for that age group, especially considering our daughter hadn’t even learnt to crawl/walk. We found the pick-up process extremely frustrating, regularly having to wait a long time outside (once up to 20 mins) for a member of staff to acknowledge/recognise us, tell the staff in the baby room we were waiting and have our daughter brought down to us. The food seemed lovely, the setting was nice and I felt our daughter was being looked after, but our overall experience was somewhat disappointing.

Great nursery. My daughter loves it here. They keep her entertained all day and she learns a lot. She seems to love the food, more than the food at home! The staff are all fantastic, and happy to spend time with you discussing your child’s individual needs.

Would highly recommend this place. We can't thank the staff there enough for taking such great care of our son.

Our little one started at Little Cubs when she was 11 months and has just turned 2. So she's been a bear, a lion and is now a tiger! Our experience has been really positive. Her social skills, mobility and speech all developed quickly from being around other children and from the constant encouragement and support she gets. She enjoys the different activities - whether thats playing in the garden, reading the book of the month, various tuff tray activities or, particularly, a visit from the music and dance classes. She has formed strong bonds with all the staff and key workers, who we are grateful to and have been impressed with. We value getting updates and photos through the day via the app and look forward to the little debriefs at the end of the day. While I can't pretend she isn't a little bit fussy, it's also nice to know that the food is home-cooked and healthy. It was definitely worth registering before she was born! Thanks to all at Little Cubs.

They also have put on a couple of extracurricular activities in the last 6 months, including a Santa’s grotto where all the kids got to meet Santa and receive a book, and also a video talk with a nutrition expert, which was interesting.

My young baby was welcomed with warmth, love and excitement by a team who clearly love what they do. From 9 months old, she's been absolutely delighted with her time there, especially the visits from the drama, dance and music organisation!

My son was at the nursery for 3 years and loved every moment. I feel he was well looked after, and the team would call me if they needed to discuss something, or if he felt unwell. They do place a focus on building a relationship with parents which is nice. It was so great to see him develop over the time he was there. We loved receiving photos of the activities on the app. They were very flexible with his needs and always very caring.

Little Cubs Academy Nursery is a loving and nurturing environment. All the staff have been incredibly warm and friendly, and made us feel very welcome. They have a great outdoor space, and we have been impressed with the facilities and activities on offer. Overall, we couldn't be happier with the nursery, and we would like to say thank you to the staffing team.

All the staff at Little Cubs Academy have been incredibly friendly, caring and welcoming. We moved to Forest Hill two years ago not knowing anyone, and my child has made so many great friends. The transition was very smooth and we felt that the nursery really took the time to ensure that we had all our questions answered and that my child had settled in well. The food menu is exactly the type of dishes we like to cook at home, and the curriculum has been incredibly varied. What is great is that the family owners seem to continue to invest in the nursery itself and the resources. My child always seems to come home happy, and we have been impressed with the communication from the whole team including the headteacher. It is great to see the daily activities on the app and to receive the monthly newsletter so I can see what they get up to.

Both of our children went to the nursery. We always found the the staffing team and senior management team to be very attentive and caring. We felt that our children were well prepared for school and they made many local friends. All round a very positive experience.