Nursery school nightmare

Gavin said his son, Troy, started at the school when he was four months old.

On 31 October, Gavin made an unannounced visit to the school to pay his son’s school fees.

“The first thing I did when I got to the school was pop into the baby nursery to see Troy,” he said.

Gavin was shocked to find his son fast asleep in the same car seat he had been brought to school in.

“It was a boiling hot day, yet my son was covered with a blanket and the room was extremely hot,” he said.

Gavin said he was angry and upset with the situation and after discussing it with his wife, they decided to pull their son out of the school. The McNeills took their gripes with the school to social media.

“The owner of the school contacted me after that and said ‘If you close my school, how do I get another job’,” Gavin said.

“My response to that is ‘If you kill my son, how do I get my son back.'” A Fourways Review journalist did visit the school and did not witness any signs of abuse or neglect.

The owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, explained that on 31 October, when Gavin visited the school, his son had been asleep in his car seat because he had just eaten and had fallen asleep while he was seated.

“Instead of waking him up, the carers decided to let him sleep,” she said. She denied that the McNeill’s son was overheated, and instead said she disagreed with Gavin taking the clothes off his child and putting him in front of a fan.

“I’ve been running this school for six years and I understand parents, we expect them to be protective, but they need to trust us,” she said. “If you don’t have children in your heart, you can’t do this job.”

Gavin said he does not hold a grudge against the owner of the school, but wants people to know about his experience to encourage young parents to be more informed when it comes to choosing a nursery school.

“As young parents, you are overwhelmed when you walk into a school,” he said. “You try to ask all the correct questions, but it’s hard to think of everything.”