Little Footsteps Creche - Swords

Boom_Bap

Does anyone have any experience with this creche? We are looking for a creche in the Swords area for our 14 month old and Little Footsteps has grabbed our attention. It is near my partners place of work, close to my brothers house, close to some friends of the family.....we just dont know if the creche is good or not. I havnt seen any reviews on this forum either.

Or else if anybody has any other recommendations in the Swords area that would be much appreciated.

Boom

jeni

hi boom bap

i have my 17 mo in bo peep in kinsealy - its facing the shops and i have to say they are great - my lil one was so quiet and hated strangers and she was not used to having other kids around (that was the reason i sent her to creche) - but they were great with her and i love how excited she gets going and coming home, and the different things she learns - shes talking better - id highly recomend them

Boom_Bap

thanks jeni, we are going to meet with little footsteps tomorrow morning, after talking to them we are really impressed with thier settling in period and the whole setup there. lets just hope that it is as good as it sounds.

If things dont go well i'll defo look up bo peep, thanks again

John Mason

making sure you ask to see a copy of their most recent HSE Report and what their staff turnover is like

oneworld01

Hi, how did you get on with Little Footsteps creche?

Boom_Bap

It's brilliant, my son has been going there since Sept/Oct last year and it is fantastic. The staff are really good, the facilities are great, they have regular communications with the parents. They also tend to your special requests for your child. They also agree to any food requests and nap times that your child is in.
I highly recommend it.

If you are interested, they will bring you along and show you the facilities, they will also take your child for half a day for a few days to see how they settle in, and also to see how comfortable you are with your child there.

A nice touch is that they provide a daily report showing the mood of the child, what they ate, the activities, nappy changes etc.

My boy has really come out of his shell there as he was a little shy and Little Footsteps has really helped in his development.

Dee086

Hi Boom-bap, was just down in little footsteps today and got very good first impression also, but baby is only 8 months, will be 9 months when I leave her, and was wondering what age your little one was, wanted to know did anyone have experience of their baby room? There were no babys or toddlers in baby room when i was there so hard to get a feel if other babies are contented there or not? Thanks

Boom_Bap

Glad to hear that you got good impressions. My son was about 13 months when he started and there were a few other toddlers his age.....now his buddies

So i cant realy comment on the baby room. But i'm sure that your daughter would be well cared for but not so sure if she would have company her age. It's probably worth enquiring with the staff there to check up on that, i'm sure they will oblige.
But one thing that i will say is that i dont see unhappy children there in general. When dropping off, the children are not clingy and when picking up sometimes i see parents having trouble getting thier kids to leave. I know that my son for the first couple of days was clingy but now it's difficult to get a goodbye out of him when dropping him there.

Just when i think i couldnt be happier with Little Footsteps, they have done some other little things that are really appreciated, for example my son was not there today because he was a little under the weather and they called us to see how he is as they are genuinely concerned about him. Also my partner recently passed her exams and they gave her a card and flowers. Just some really nice touches that make us feel like the creche and staff are an extension of our family.

Dee086

Thanks Boom Bap thats really good to hear, sounds like your little man loves it there I know the woman there mentioned there was an 8 month old there but don't know if there are other babies so will ask and see. Those extra little touches are a really nice add on too, it shows you're not just another number to them. Thanks again.

LegacyUser

My daughter started there in the baby room and is now 2 i feel its the best thing ever for her she absolutley loves it she talks about all her friends there and has amazing speech now because of the wonderfull creche she loves the staff and talks about them all the time at home. I could not think of any where else better for her and she will be there right up untill she goes to school its just great I cant praise it enough. !!! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a creche / montessori.

Boom_Bap

OP here.....Apologies for the zombie-ish thread resurrection!

In light of the recent scandals in creche's, I would like to note that Little Footsteps is an incredible place for my kids and have been absolutely excellent in providing us with information since the news of the scandal has surfaced.

Not only that, they have been excellent in providing us with information throughtout the 4 years we have been using thier service.
When I first started this thread, we had put our first youngster into the creche, we have since placed our second child there because of our utmost trust that we have in Little Footsteps. We have happy, entertained, healthy and educated kids thanks to the creche.

Our only problem that I forsee with the creche is with our boy saying goodbye when he starts school in September.

cathoh

These are pretty old posts and those of you who posted may have left Little Footsteps. I am looking for a creche in two months, I phoned Little Footsteps and they can put me on a waiting list. I have heard some good things about it but are there any current parents there who can tell me is it worth waiting for a place with them?

Boom_Bap

Hi cathoh,
I'm the one that started this thread....and I still have a child there!
But she is in her last few weeks before she takes a break before starting big school.
I'd highly recommend it! I've become friends with other parents there who all speak highly of the place. There are other parents that are on their 5th child going through and 3rd child there.
The staff are excellent. The lady that runs the place is constantly working on her childcare accretiations, the staff are also all certified. I think they have a sign inside the door of what acheivements they hold.
It's going to be very emotional for us (the parents) and our kids finishing up there. But they have told us to come back anytime to let our kids talk about big school to the other children.

But......it's all about how you feel about the place. We got an amazing feeling for the place immediately compared to other places we checked out.

cathoh

Boom_Bap, I'm sorry for the delay in replying. I went to see Little Footsteps and I got a really good feeling, the owner went through everything so well and I really had no questions unanswered. I'm going to have to wait to get a place because they are full (luckily I have great family) but this is maybe the most important decision I'll ever make and I feel I'm doing the right thing, and a bit of a wait isnt the end of the world if you're doing the right thing for your child. You were right about the qualifications because they won a national quality award this year, and that was something I wouldn't even have thought to ask about. For the first time I'm feeling not quite so bad about going back to work and thanks so much for your reply to my post, you were a lifesaver.

Boom_Bap

Cheers cathoh, glad I could be of help.

ninalykin

Hello everyone! Sorry for resurrecting an old thread! I have been really struggling finding a free spot for my daughter and was finally able to secure a spot with her at Little footsteps but I don’t know anyone who has gone there is it still a good place to go?