Nurseries I checked out in the past couple of days but haven’t mentioned them in my previous posts were:

1. Bloomingdales – Dasmah, tel: 2544042 (Can’t say much because I couldn’t look around and classes were full anyways, but it’s location is a problem too)

2. Mortaqa – Rawda, tel: 2540237/8 (Loved it but it’s location is a problem again though it’s my best option now)

3. Bambino – Rawda, tel: 2521961 (Didn’t like it)

4. Al-Rashid – Just called them up now but I didn’t like their location, tel: 2548401/2

5. The English Bilingual Nursery – Rumaithiya, tel: 5618197-5618198 (Didn’t like it)

6. Gulf Montessori – Salwa, tel: 5650125 (Great location but classes were full so I didn’t look around, plus they were way too expensive)

7. Little House – Surra, tel: 5513468 (Didn’t like it)

8. Little me – Jabriya tel: 5340304 (Not bad, but the traffic will give me a hard time)

9. Al-Bashayer – Hateen tel: 6179900 (Didn’t like it and I’ll have to say why too. A kid was playing with the electricity socket and no body did anything about it)

10. There was another nursery in Mishref that I checked out yesterday, didn’t get their details but when I do I’ll post them right away, though I didn’t like it. It felt like a maze! Okay, it’s called Namothijiya, got thier number (tel: 7796113)

11. The English French Nursery – Mishref tel: 5394060 (They had Russian teachers for teaching English!)

One thing I had to add to this post is that yesterday I checked out Al-Burooj for the second time and even my sister-in-law dropped by earlier on the day. Both of us agreed that the place looked very nice and most importantly very clean but there was one thing we were very skeptical about, it’s whether kids would really learn anything or not. For now I don’t mind but later I’d want him to learn new things so I’m not sure on what I should base my decision now. It’s either I go for a nursery I know will benefit my son or just opt for a location that’s close to home. Two things that will always affect my decision at the end.

Note: if I do check out some more I’ll just update on this list.

Related posts: (Afnan Nursery, Kids World & Finding Nurseries)

Around 5:30pm yesterday Rami picked me up to check a nursery which he found about through an ad in the paper called Afnan in Bayan. This is an example of how an administration should be. The lady welcomed us in, was so friendly and had an answer to every question I shoot at her. She was very confident and knew a lot about everything.

Their place didn’t impress me much because of two things, the first was they didn’t offer kids any meals I had to bring his own meals and the second was they don’t have a nurse. The girl who showed us around told us they were moving into a newer building nearby in a month or two.

But overall, the nursery is not bad at all and I understand why they’re moving because their place is not big enough. The owner of the nursery will also give a speech to parents this week, I wish I can attend it because I really want to know more about what they have to offer in their newer place.   

Their number: 5395808

Prices on a yearly basis: KD 996

I heard good things about Kids World Nursery so I got their numbers from 101 and gave them a call but no one would answer me then I had to call their other nursery in Qurain. The secretary working for them answered me with a very rude tone and told me she was too busy to answer my two questions consisting of: whether they had an alternative number to their other nursery in South Surra and their address. “She was like just call them up, I can’t help you!” I insisted, then she gave me an address only and told me their opening hours, again in a very rude and impatient tone, as if I was wasting her time?

All this took 1 minute of her time, maybe less. I didn’t want to judge the whole nursery because of this one incident so after work I thought I’d I’ll pass by their place in South Surra and see for myself. Too bad I didn’t see the first incident with the secretary as a sign not to go. As soon as I got in their administration gate instead of being greeted with a smiling face and can I help you attitude, all I got was a frown and ’I'm very busy’ attitude. I thought to myself what the hell is wrong with their staff, if they treat parents in this way then how would they deal with little kids?

Before I could open my mouth to ask her about the nursery she told me in a very rude tone that I was late and she was too busy now to answer any of my questions. I told her I know that, but if it weren’t for the security guy outside who told me the administration was still there, I wouldn’t have gone in and the gates were all open. She refused to help me and told me “anyways we have enough students now and many are still on our waiting list.” She didn’t even give me any leaflets. On my way back to the car they had a huge sign that read “registration date starts 2/9/2007.”

There was not one nursery I went to had treated me as bad as them. It’s a shame because their nursery looked very pretty from the outside and beautiful from the inside too. So it’s sad that their administration people are not as nice or professional and they suck at what they do. I wouldn’t advise parents to go there at all.

Phone number in South Surra: 5032107 (don’t bother calling them, nobody answers) You’re better off calling Kid’s World in Qurain, at least they answer your calls: 5422834.

I didn’t know we had so many nurseries in Kuwait until I started looking for one. Many are homes turned into nurseries. You’ll be happy to know you’ll never get lost on your mission to finding the right nursery for your kid. We didn’t even make a list of nurseries or plan anything, we just drove about and found so many nursery ads on our way, only problem they were all in Arabic. So anyways all we had to do is find one of those ads, call them up for their address and head there.  

We didn’t wake up early as planned but I thought we still had a shot as we left home at 1 pm. Some were super fancy and some were just dull which all made our choice a very tough one and because I’ll be the one dropping and picking up Hassan I needed a nursery that fits with my working schedule. 

First place we checked out was Little Steps in Mishref. I didn’t like it at all, too many steps in wrong places and bulky corners meaning a guaranteed injury. No meals included and we’d have to pay around 90-110kd per month. I didn’t think the place looked like a nursery at all.

So we left quickly to check another nursery in the same area called Al-Burooj and boy what a very warm welcome we were greeted upon our arrival. It scared me how friendly everyone was yet I didn’t feel the place was right for Hassan even though everything looked amazing inside out and the prices were quite reasonable, still I had my doubts. I wish I took pictures of the place.

Next we headed to Taiba nursery and all I can say I would rather keep my son at home than taking him to this nursery. It looked miserable, at least they were not rip offs like Little Steps and only charged a fee of 60KD per month, meals not included.

After that we got out of Mishref and headed to South Surra where we found another nursery called British International, it was closed at 2 pm sharp, not so convenient with my working times but the security guy said that they’ll be open tomorrow, so we thought we’ll pass by the next day. (We did go there next day and it was okay compared to the others, though I thought their prices were a little over the top).

As we left in search for some other nursery ads on the steets we randomly found one called Universal Cambridge, asked for their address and off we went. I liked the overall look but I hated how they had a flight of steps going up to the play room. I felt so uncomfortable with the thought of kids running up and down those steps, there’s a huge chance that the kids may fall and get seriously hurt. They had an indoor pool which I thought was too deep for two yr olds too. It was out of question not a nursery I want to enroll my toddler in.

At that point I was ready to give up hope. I still had one nursery I liked very much which I checked out with a friend a while back called Marafie nursery in Salmiya, what I liked about them is how flexible they were with everything, I didn’t have any restrictions of payment whatsoever, and they offered healthy meals. They open from 6am-8pm which is perfect if I was a bit late. Nothing I saw today was as impressive as them. Next day I convinced Rami we’d go check it out together, thank God we did because as we were standing at the counter the power went off and I couldn’t bear the heat, neither could Hasson.

The last nursery we checked out was The English Playgroup in Salwa and I have to admit this is how a nursery should look like, turns out they do offer meals for toddlers only, only thing that bothered me was they start at 7:30am and end at 12:45pm, which meant I’ll have an obvious problem with dropping him off and picking him up. I didn’t like their payment plan because it’s not based on monthly payments but yearly and a down payment of 400 KD. It’s not appropriate when it comes to fussy toddlers but worth it looks wise I guess.

In the end I haven’t settled on any of them, I’d like to look around some more before I make my final decision but I like The English Playgroup the most and I’m ready to sacrifice a little of my time too if I had to.

Note: all of the nurseries above were bilingual nurseries.

Little Steps (Mishref) costs 90-110 KD per month with the uniform and meals are not included, I don’t advise anybody to take their kids there unless you don’t care whether they learn anything or not, tel: 5375372 or 7117317

Al-Burooj (Mishref) costs 75 KD monthly (special offer), very fancy place but meals are not included, if I didn’t have other options I would take my kid there because of their friendly staff, tel: 5386404 or 7373522

Marafie (Salmiya) costs 85 KD monthly, very flexible with everything, even if you take your kid for one hour or a whole day, it doesn’t matter with them, no restrictions at all, tel: 5613385-5628220-6355349

Taiba (Mishref) costs 6o KD per month, please don’t take your kid to this nursery because there’s nothing there for them, tables with no chairs not even cushions to sit on, tel: 6816134

British International (South Surra) costs 100 KD per month, plus 65 KD open file charges tel: 5030612

Universal Cambridge (South Surra, AlZahra) costs 75 KD per month, and  yearly 700 KD, cool place only thing I disliked were the stairs, tel: 7228489

The English Playgroup (Salwa) costs 75 KD with a 400 KD down payment, tel: 5652457