February 2007

"Our son has been attending Longtown Crèche for nearly two years now. When we found ourselves looking for a crèche in the locality before my wife returned to work after maternity leave, we were drawn to a new purpose built establishment which ticked all the boxes on our list of needs.

He started in that crèche when less than a year old. After a number of months, we noticed that there seemed to be a very high turnover in the crèche in terms of both staff and management. It was also the case that most of the staff were new to the job and while very nice people, we became concerned with the level of attention given to our son's development and also the lack of routine/procedure around the children's day. These early days in the development of a child are extremely important and we became more and more aware of the lack of boundaries in this environment.

We decided that we needed to move crèche even though it meant uprooting and changing many of our established routines. We were concerned that this would prove emotionally difficult for our son as well as ourselves, but it must be said that he found adjusting simpler than we did.

We visited Longtown on a number of occasions before deciding on our son's new home, as this is in effect the place he spends most of his waking hours. The atmosphere was completely different from the other crèche. The children that we saw were obviously very content with their surroundings and seemed very much at ease with the staff.

It is hard to describe all of the changes in our son since starting with Longtown. Admittedly, some of this relates to just getting a bit older, but I know that he has been directed and nurtured by Kitty and the other ladies in his life. He has become a confident and happy boy with a relatively mature comprehension of what is right and wrong. He has even developed manners!

I know that as a child, I had my moments of almost point blank refusal to go through the door of my infants class. Our son has never put us in that position, and the only time I can ever remember him telling me that he didn’t want to go in to Longtown was when he knew that I was going away and he figured he might have a chance of going along.

We are extremely happy with how he has developed over time and know that we were right to move him from the other crèche. I know that some of the ladies have made a particular impression on him, and I know that he will miss them when he transitions into school. At least he can enjoy this transition time with the added status of being an “after schooler” at Longtown and then hopefully, the next phase of his education will be as much to his benefit and liking as the previous."

Terry and Sharon

 

May 2007

 "We enrolled our first child with Longtown Creche early in 2000 when we moved to Naas from Dublin. We were delighted that the children were being cared for in what had been the family home and by a family. Our second child joined later the same year and both remained at Longtown until they started National School.

We have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with all at Longtown over the past seven years and continue to do so. Our third child joined Kitty at Longtown in 2004. During times of crisis we found that Kitty and all at Longtown pulled out all the stops and provided every possible support to our family. Longtown is a home away from home for our children. They provide a fantastic balance of play and learning in a safe and fun environment."

Rionach and Col Campbell