Preschool Practitioner - Nurse Practitioner Kidzcare Employee Review

The only pro is working with kiddos

Sara is like a mean teenager who never outgrew her antics. Very rude. Very catty. Only hires college students so she can exert her position over them

One of the only positive things about working here was friendly and caring higher management and some positive interactions with children. Although those were rare as there were lots of different children and staff involved so there was not always enough time to bond with everyone within a short afternoon shift. I also appreciate how inclusive the company is with hiring people of different backgrounds and abilities. Our team was really diverse!

The 'cons' far outweigh the 'pros' for this job role and I would not recommend working here. At first you are usually expected to cover shifts at multiple schools and nurseries before you've even finished your training and I found that quite stressful. Some locations were almost 2h away by bus, which is too far to travel for a part-time shift. The schools and nurseries are mostly okay for children and parents, but working there was a nightmare. Some of the environments were way too chaotic and loud and could have used more staff. One school even used a megaphone (indoors!) as part of the after school club which I found ridiculous and jarring. Staff who were not managers were sometimes expected to cover managerial tasks due to clubs being short-staffed which I found to be a safety risk, although this did luckily not happen often. The staff turnover is very very high which means those who stay for a few months longer are expected to perform all of their many tasks while also keeping children safe and ensuring new staff with minimal training were shown what to do. All of that crammed within a few hours was nearly impossible, and when extra paperwork was added on top sometimes we reached a breaking point. The whole shift always felt rushed and chaotic, sometimes you barely had a moment to take a sip of water or have a toilet break. Within weeks of working there my mental health declined. I've also covered a couple of shifts at nurseries and while some were okay, others were full of pessimistic, overworked staff and sometimes not even quite sanitary as deep cleaning was not done after meal times. Staff were also frequently ill although that might be normal within the environment, but not ideal when you're first starting out. I was ill every few weeks at first. No wonder most staff only stay for around six months before leaving. It seems like a fun job on paper but in reality it was a really overstimulating and chaotic environment.