Montessori

Honestly had high hopes for the centre, we had looked for a Montessori learning facility for some time and discovered this one.Unfortunately, the centre does not truly fulfil the standards of Montessori learning, albeit they attempt to introduce some ideas.Some of the centre's staff seemed nice enough, others were blatantly rude. We had requested certain dietary requirements for our child and had been told from the beginning that those requirements would be accommodated.Unfortunately, the cook at the time did not appreciate that we had requested our child not be given any food that had preservatives, added sugar or added salt. She, not so politely, suggested that we should bring our own food, even though the bosses had confirmed we would be catered for and that outside food would not be allowed due to allergies (obviously a completely valid point).Further, we entered the centre one morning and attempted to have a conversation about the food our child was fed at the previous session. Even with our requests, she had been given raisen toast and mince (although, at the time mince was not something we had mentioned - it was assumed, as it is processed). The cook came down and proceeded to ask what was in the cracker that our child was eating before she entered the centre. We were confused, but realised that she was talking about the omelette that we give our child each morning (that was what she was eating before entering). The interesting point is that the cook did not witness this, another employee of the centre did and it was them who had informed the cook that our child was eating a 'cracker'. The cook further proceeded to tell us that she was a nutritionist and a vegan, obviously under the pretence that she was more aware of what food to give to the children. Again, this is very interesting when we witnessed the cook providing tinned spaghetti on toast for lunch. (This may be ok if that is what you prefer to feed your children; however, as a nutritionist, one would assume that there is knowledge to the lack of nutritional value from that meal).Lastly, after cancelling our care (whilst our child was sick) and after paying a hefty two week bond, we have been told that we had not notified the centre of absences and have been charged a full rate (without CCS applied). Again, this is very dissapointing as the centre had been notified over the phone of the absences.All in all, a very disappointing experience with a centre that we had such high hopes for.