YMCA Nursery Eastleigh

Can't speak highly enough of the staff and care given to our daughter at the YMCA Eastleigh. The learning style and focus on letting kids explore and interact with the indoor and outdoor world has given our daughter the confidence to navigate her environment and has massively helped in her early development. She comes home from nursery using words we haven't taught her, singing nursery songs we don't at home and is a very happy child.

All of the staff we've had the pleasure of dealing with are polite and go out of their way to make sure our daughter enjoys nursery. The only negative I can flag is that the staff move around quite a lot and onto other roles, not a complaint against the staff themselves as career progression is natural but there is frequent change.

Most concerning of all was the impact it had on our daughter emotionally. She regularly came out distressed, traumatised, and would cry for hours afterwards. Despite raising concerns, we did not feel listened to or reassured by management.

My Grandaughter always came home from Nursery unhappy, frustrated, sometimes dehydrated, I feel that she wasn't treated as an individual with specific needs and her care wasn't always met. It wasn't the most supportive environment for her, when her parents raised valid concerns they didn't feel listened to.

Overall, we lost confidence in the nursery's safeguarding processes, professionalism, and ability to appropriately support children with additional needs. Based on our experience, we would not recommend this setting to other parents.

We moved our son here, from another nursery, in January 2025 and we couldn't be happier with the move. He was in the toddler room last year and has moved into pre-school this year. He loves going and the staff are caring and provide fun and enriching activities for the children.

Our daughter went to YMCA Eastleigh first in Toddlers and then in Preschool. The staff were fantastic from the start, helping to ease her in gently as she was very nervous at first. She soon made really good connections with the staff, who clearly put in time and effort to get to know her. The staff were very helpful and communicative, letting us know what our girl had been up to, and giving detailed feedback at parent's evenings and via the app. The resources and activities were great - she received a lot of stimulation, and in particular, was helped with a speech impediment, and became much more chatty over time. The meals were good, too, and it's a lovely, new, purpose-made, small-and-cosy setting: just three rooms - babies, toddlers, preschool, with a shared garden full of toys and adventure equipment. To top it all, they put on a lovely 'graduation' ceremony for the leavers. Such an excellent nursery, we wholeheartedly recommend it!

(Can't comment on cleanliness as never allowed in setting)

My son has been attending the nursery since the summer of last year. He started in the baby room and it was such a great experience and start to our first-ever nursery experience. The care and empathy were to such a high standard. He is now in the toddler room and has such a lovely bond with his key worker. He often speaks of him at home and the other teachers. He always comes home looking like he had a great time! My only flaws in this setting are, we never see the manager, I understand the drop-off and pick-ups are outside but it would be nice to make contact with the manager once in a while. And the other is, the menu really lacks quality and my child often will come home hungry. Other than this, we are really happy with this setting and look forward to seeing our son grow throughout his nursery journey.

Our son has attended YMCA Eastleigh for the past year and a half, he started in the baby room and is currently in toddlers. He settled in right away and sometimes it's hard to get him to leave! All of the staff have been amazing, they are friendly and approachable and build such strong relationships with the children. It's also nice to see male members of staff. They have helped him immensely with his speech and I love that my son gets a wide variety of meals and eats so much better than he does at home. I would recommend this nursery to anyone!

We feel very connected to the staff at the nursery and our daughter's love for it speaks for itself. We are grateful for everything they do.

We couldn't be happier with the nursery. My son has progressed so much since changing to this nursery just over a year ago. The staff are excellent, and the communication is brilliant. My son is so excited to see everyone each day he attends.

Our son has been attending YMCA Eastleigh for the past five months, since he was eleven months old, during the lockdown. He settled in straight away, so I was confident about leaving him and knew he would be well cared for. The staff are very child-centred and really understand him. He really enjoys nursery and his skills have really developed since attending. They give him lots of opportunities to learn new skills with a variety of activities. They encourage independence while supporting him. There is always a range of foods to choose from to suit most children. They are also good at keeping us updated with his day. The manager is particularly good at calling me following any accidents my son has had, there are many and they follow protocols.

I am really pleased with the YMCA Eastleigh nursery. The staff are excellent and my little boy is excited every day I tell him it's a nursery day. He's got a few good friends there now, who he talks about every day.

I really can’t recommend the YMCA nursery enough. It’s hard leaving your child at any point but especially during these difficult times where my baby had never been left with anyone before attending the YMCA. Our very first visit to the nursery was so welcoming and we were asked lots about my child’s routines, preferences so during the day where possible, they could keep the same routine. After only a few sessions, my child settled into the nest and the lovely staff kept me fully up to date with how he was settling in. He absolutely loves attending nursery and gets very excited when I mention the nest. He has formed lovely relationships with staff and children. Everyone at the YMCA is so child-centred and I really can’t recommend them enough. I am thankful everyday knowing my child feels happy, safe and excited to be at YMCA.