YMCA Nursery Eastleigh

Our daughter has just finished her time here after 3 years. She has loved her time here and never had any problems with her attending. She eats well here and has made good friends, particularly loving being outside in all weathers. Staff listen to concerns and work with the parents to adopt consistent strategies to deal with issues. We will all really miss the nurturing and explorative environment and this nursery has prepared her well for her move to school.

Thank you so much to the whole baby room team for everything you do - we really appreciate you!

My son had an absolutely wonderful time in Baby room. We cannot thank the staff enough for how kind, attentive and friendly they make the environment, working with parents to ensure the best outcome for all the children. They have a wide range of food options which my child enjoyed. The staff are an absolute credit to this nursery and I would encourage anyone thinking about it to go with them.

It's been wonderful seeing my daughter grow in the YMCA setting for the past 3 years!

Our son has been attending the YMCA Eastleigh since January 2023.

We've had the best experience with them. The team work hard to nurture the children educationally and emotionally. Our son struggled with with drop offs/separation anxiety and his key worker came up with a plan to support him with this transition. He's always smiling and happy when we pick him up and loves his time there.

I'd agree with other reviews that there's certain things that could be improved on e.g. a shelter at the gate for drop off, and more events for parents to come into the setting , but in the scheme of things these are small areas

Our son had a dairy allergy which he's now grown out of and the team accommodated him well with no issues.

It's notable that there's always been a consistent team and staff turnover is low which means transition between rooms was easier.

Our son is about to leave for school and the teams efforts mean he's more than ready now. Thank you!

A beautiful setting for all 3 of my boys, the staff are so approachable and friendly. They go above and beyond to make sure my children feel safe, loved and happy. I would highly recommend YMCA and my children have loved every minute there.

I also love the app, it's the highlight of my day when I receive an update with a pic of my boy involved in some wholesome activity.

My daughter has been going to this nursery for 6 months and it has been nothing but positive from the start. The communication from staff and management is always good. Her development has come on a lot in a short time and she loves singing songs she's learnt at nursery. Every day she is excited to go in and from the moments they post she is always having fun. Would highly recommend this nursery to anyone.

When she was in the baby room, the team listened carefully to our concerns about delayed speech and worked closely with us to support her communication. We're so grateful for the progress she has made in both speech and confidence. The staff are always attentive to her needs, ensuring she has plenty of opportunities to nap, play, and snack. They're also incredibly caring and responsive whenever she needs extra support. Thank you.

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.