Nursery charges - a few questions

I'm in wigan and pay £23 per day from 9-6pm, but it is a sure start nursery so they are government funded which is why think they charge less. DD takes a packed lunch but gets a hot meal at tea time provided plus snacks. They do charge for bank hols but not for when they are closed over xmas, plus if I take dd out in school hols I dont get charged.Although when DD1 went to a private nursery as a baby it was only £26 but then I think it is generally cheaper around this area. I think overall though most nurseries charge in holidays.

Yorkshire-Lady wrote: »

Can I just ask, would a childminder have been better value when you had your first child, and if so, why did you choose a nursery?

Yes, a childminder would have been a little cheaper for the same hours - £50 rather than £65. However, we didn't know her then.

I only ask as I'm a childminder and often get phone calls from parents wanting spaces AFTER their child has been in nursery. Usually there is some sort of problem and they want to change care. Having said that, I've never had a parent take their child away and send it to nursery, unless it was just prior to starting school.

We chose the nursery as we were new to the area, & it had been recommended. It was the most expensive one, but the others made me run screaming :eek: , especially the one for £28 per day, where the lunch menu consisted of veggie fingers every day, & the babies slept in buggies in the hall under the coat hooks, and when playing were basically in a large babydan playpen to keep the bigger ones off them.

I only found the childminder once we'd left the private nursery, & were struggling with school nursery hours & life. We looked for ages, & were let down by so many people (or even just not called back at all) She was & still is a godsend. :A

With no. 2 there was no question of him not going to her. We love her. I still want him to socialise with lots of others, not just the childminder's own, & her regulars, so he's also just started playgroup.

Plus, when both go, she offers buy one get one half price With no 3 on the way, I'm wondering if she'll be free

Thanks for all your responses (I'm the OP on an alternative ID by the way!)

I have just doscovered that the nursery will be closed over christmas for a week and that we will be expected to pay for the time they have decided to close. I don't begrudge paying for bank holidays, the days I decided to take my son out of nursery or indeed any sick days but I do feel like they are taking the micky somewhat when they have decided on this closure themselves. Where will it stop? Will they decide that they are going to close for a week at easter too? Or maybe that they fancy a summer break next year too! My concern is that I etiher have to take time off work to look after my son or pay someone else to (whilst still paying them to be closed), neither of which I can really afford to do...thats why he is in nursery. And they have just hiked prices...they haven't given us a new daily figure (like they did when we first enrolled DS), just worked it out on a monthly basis and presented us with the monthly cost. I need to ask them what the new figure is.

I wouldn't care but I am quite unhappy with the "care" they provide anyway, and have had to speak to both the manager and the owner on a number of occasions about NOT giving DS food I have asked them NOT to give him and actually adhering to my wishes for his daytime routine...e.g: putting cream on his eczma every nappy change (this I know they haven't done because the pot I put in his bag still has the manufacturers seal on it.)

I don't want to take him out of the nursery because all of the babies we met from the first time mums group go there and I don't want him to lose that contact with them. I work full time so we don't get to go and play with them any other time and he has quite close bonds with them already. (please don't tell me it won't matter to him at this age...it would matter to me for him and that would be really hard for me to cope with. I carry enough mummy guilt as it is.)

I feel like I may be being unreasonable but it seems so unfair to pay for the holiday they have chosen to close for. We weren't told about it when we enrolled. Sorry this has kind of turned into a bit of a rant.

I don't know what to do

Morty_007too wrote: »

Thanks for all your responses (I'm the OP on an alternative ID by the way!)

I have just doscovered that the nursery will be closed over christmas for a week and that we will be expected to pay for the time they have decided to close. I don't begrudge paying for bank holidays, the days I decided to take my son out of nursery or indeed any sick days but I do feel like they are taking the micky somewhat when they have decided on this closure themselves. Where will it stop? Will they decide that they are going to close for a week at easter too? Or maybe that they fancy a summer break next year too! My concern is that I etiher have to take time off work to look after my son or pay someone else to (whilst still paying them to be closed), neither of which I can really afford to do...thats why he is in nursery.

(If you are not self employed), you'd be a little p*ssed off if your employer decided not to pay you over the xmas hols.

It sounds like you have other reasons to be unhappy with this nursery though.