Creches in Woluwe saint pierre

If you want an opinion, ask for a copy of the latest report from ONE or Kind & Gezin.

There's a long waiting list for Commune crèches, as the cost is means tested, and they give priority to people on lower income, which means that you may not find out you have a place until a few weeks before it becomes available. Fortunately, WSP (and nearby in Kraainem) has some good private crèches.

Beware though - crèches in the area have been known to go bust or to lose their accreditation, thereby leaving parents in the lurch with no childcare.

Stay away from private creches, they all have one issue or another. My daughter started creche when she was 6 months, and has been to 2 private creches both of which left me completely shocked! The 1st creche, I just had a feeling after a few months and removed her from the creche luckily I managed to get my deposit because 2 months later the creche was no longer authorised by Kind and Gezin. Turns out the boss was employing a non trained staff and paying her in black to take care of our daughter and other children. She also did not pay the staff that worked so hard for over 3 months, after we left it was discovered that a lot of issues with food and the corners they cut. I was a shame because it was a nice family run business that switched! Soon after all the drama they had no choice but to close the creche as the other staff made it clear they was not going to working for free and told the parents. The second creche the woman sold it oh so well, I then soon started noticing my daughter aggression towards her toys but it was very specific aggression, for example she would put a doll on a chair in front of a wall and then yell at her and keep yelling at her. I thought hmmm, nobody in the house does this where is she getting it from. I asked the creche only to discover this is how they discipline children. She was out of there quick! Our daughter is now 21 months and in a wonderful communal Prégardiennat. Her attitude changed overnight she started kissing her dolls and has become the gentle, kind, energetic girl again. Commune creches have better facilities and staff are approved and trained to work with children, they also have more staff per child as they assign cooking and cleaning chores to other employees. I would never never put my next child in a private creche (I would rather not work) as the communal creche has explained to me that the bosses cut a lot of corners and always at the expense of the development, emotional and well being of our children.

It is not true that communal creches are for low income families, we discussed with the boss of schools in St Gilles commune and she said in actual fact they need high earners to contribute to the functioning of the creches and Prégardiennat otherwise it would cost too much too keep these spaces open. So they in-fact dependant on each commune they need a mix percentage of earners at these creches.

I can only advise you to do everything you can to get your little one in a communal creche. They are worth every penny, even if you find that you will be paying more than a private creche, as we have found in our case.

Good luck

P.s.

Perhaps I have had bad luck but judging from speaking to others my case is not isolated.

The first crèche we had looked brilliant, but there were all sorts of issues with the financial and administrative management. It turned out that these were ongoing and had been picked up in the K&G report. The crèche went on to lose the K&G accreditation, and closed down shortly after when parents withdrew their children.

The 2nd one had been going for 15 years and was brilliant, even though the facilities were not as modern. But they have now changed hands, and that was some years ago.

Commune crèches, we never got in, despite being on several waiting lists.

YMMV.

My first daughter went there and the second one just started there today as well. It's a fantastic crèche!