Families North West (London) May/June 2004

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Britain’s Best Nurseries
Best Bear Childcare, the on-line independent listing of recommended childcare agencies and nurseries, has launched its UK’s Best Nursery Survey 2004 to produce a parent-generated insight into the care that nurseries do, don’t, could and should provide.

If you child is one of the 500,000+ children cared for by a day nursery, you are invited to vote by visiting www.bestbear.co.uk/parents/nursery_survey.aspx. Fill in the survey before the end of May to have a chance to win one of three £100 vouchers to spend on Aspace children’s furniture.

Sally Harrison, Director of Best Bear says “The aim…is to provide a different perspective from the Ofsted reports.. The results will prove an invaluable source of information for parents on where to look for the best nurseries and will help us to establish minimum acceptable standards for nurseries, as judged by parents”. www.bestbear.co.uk.

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61% of agencies fail Best Bear tests
When Best Bear Childcare performed its annual review of 849 childcare agencies; 338 failed the test outright, 298 had closed or gone out of business since the last review and only 213 passed the test. Anybody can set up a private childcare agency, without qualifications or police checks. The Best Bear Childcare survey found that some were willing to send nannies to interviews having only spoken to them briefly on the phone. You can find agencies that met with Best Bear’s approval on the website, but be aware that some which passed their tests have chosen not to be listed. You shouldn’t assume that an agency is disreputable just because it’s not on the site. www.bestbear.co.uk.