Choosing a nursery

clw1

Personally I chose to go with a nursery close to my home rather than one close to work for the following reasons:
- means OH can also do drop off / collections (this is a big help esp if you have to be at work for 8am). Also what would happen if you were away on a course so not in the office coukd someone else easily drop off LO?
- family / friends can collect in case of emergency
- if I'm having a day off LO can still be dropped at nursery for a couple of hours if needed
- less travel time for LO
- I have the time going to work to get my head round what I have to do for the day and on the journey home I switch out of work-mode and into mummy-mode.
- if I change jobs I don't need to change nursery
- other children at the nursery are likely to be in the same primary school class as my LO.

As all the others have said finding the right nursery is a 'gut feel' thing although the oftead reports can be useful too. It is worth making a long list of questions before you visit to make sure you get all the info you need. We visited the 6 nurseries in our local area with Good or Outstanding oftsted reports and ended up with 2 we liked and now 18months on our LO is still very happy there.

onlyroz

School holidays - I send my son to a holiday club, which costs around £125 a week, 8 AM - 6 PM.

pinkshoes

clw1 wrote: »

Personally I chose to go with a nursery close to my home rather than one close to work for the following reasons:
- means OH can also do drop off / collections (this is a big help esp if you have to be at work for 8am). Also what would happen if you were away on a course so not in the office coukd someone else easily drop off LO?
- family / friends can collect in case of emergency
- if I'm having a day off LO can still be dropped at nursery for a couple of hours if needed
- less travel time for LO
- I have the time going to work to get my head round what I have to do for the day and on the journey home I switch out of work-mode and into mummy-mode.
- if I change jobs I don't need to change nursery
- other children at the nursery are likely to be in the same primary school class as my LO.

As all the others have said finding the right nursery is a 'gut feel' thing although the oftead reports can be useful too. It is worth making a long list of questions before you visit to make sure you get all the info you need. We visited the 6 nurseries in our local area with Good or Outstanding oftsted reports and ended up with 2 we liked and now 18months on our LO is still very happy there.

Me and OH work at the same place and have the same (long) hours, with the 35 minute commute each way. We do lift share though, so saves a fortune on petrol!

Unfortunately the ONLY nursery anywhere near our house doesn't open until 8.30am, and closes at 5.30pm - they're not flexible on hours, so it would mean employing a childminder from 7.15am, and then someone to pick him up and look after him for 30 minutes until we get back!

Would love to be self employed, so am currently trying to think up business ideas!

clw1

pinkshoes wrote: »

If we ever have a second child, then my career will be over, as child care for two would be equal to my take home pay.

QUOTE]

Once they hit 3 you can get 15hours nursery free (and use the time at a private nursery) and then state primary school is free so the cost isn't totally doubled (thankfully !).

For lot's of people I know with 2 they keep on working even if they don't earn much above the childcare costs in the first few years as if they gave up work it would be impossible to find a reasonably paid part-time job in their type of work once the kids were at school :-(

clw1

pinkshoes wrote: »

Unfortunately the ONLY nursery anywhere near our house doesn't open until 8.30am, and closes at 5.30pm - they're not flexible on hours, so it would mean employing a childminder from 7.15am, and then someone to pick him up and look after him for 30 minutes until we get back!

Would love to be self employed, so am currently trying to think up business ideas!

Sounds like a good business would be another nursery in your area ! :-)

toffifee

clw1 wrote: »

For lot's of people I know with 2 they keep on working even if they don't earn much above the childcare costs in the first few years as if they gave up work it would be impossible to find a reasonably paid part-time job in their type of work once the kids were at school :-(

That's what I did. It was very hard at the time, but now that mine are 9 and almost 7 I'm very glad we stuck with it.

galvanizersbaby

pinkshoes wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Oh dear! I work in a male dominated environment, my 3 days a week are only a trial, and my work are anything except flexible! I'm amazed they agreed to 3 days a week, but I'm going to have to keep my fingers crossed that DS never gets ill, as I really want the 3 days to become permanent, and not revert to 5 days (otherwise I'd have to quit!).

It would be nice if your DS was never ill but tbh if your banking on that I would say you are being a bit unrealistic
Does it have to be you that goes to collect him if poorly? - can grandma help or your OH perhaps?


So how on earth do normal people in non teaching jobs cover school holidays?!?! (My mum was a teacher, so school holidays weren't an issue!). Is it about 15 weeks a year they spend off school in total?

I, like I suspect many others, use a combination of my annual leave (holiday) - my OH's annual leave, Grandma and a local holiday club to cover school hols.

If we ever have a second child, then my career will be over, as child care for two would be equal to my take home pay.

Yes - lots of parents are in that situation - my 2 are close together in age and were both in full time nursery together for a long time - it was only just financially viable for me to work - have you looked in to possible tax credits as that can sometimes help towards the cost of childcare?

With tuition fees at £9k a year, I wonder how any females wanting kids will ever pay tuition fees off, unless they earn salaries of over say £45k?!

Welcome to the world of the working parent - lots of juggling going on lol!
I do think given what you've said about the job you are returning to it may be wise long term to look at other options as you've said

rachbc

Party of my job is helping young mums find childcare - I must have rung 100s of nurserys asking to visit and have never been told they are too busy for a parent to visit - if that had been me they would have immediately been off any shortlist!

My nursery did take dd when she was poorly with coughs, colds etc but not with tummy bugs etc

pinkshoes

It gets more complicated!

Nursery 1 (that didn't answer email and were rude on phone) - I mentioned my thoughts to someone else, who laughed knowingly and said they knew many others that thought this.

Nursery 2 - I looked round, have been offered a place, but just felt the baby room was dark and dingy, and limited outdoor space. Staff were nice, but for the cost of a nursery, I was expecting something more.

Nursery 3 (expensive one) - no vacancies until possibly January 2012, but have said I can go on waiting list and look round!! I don't mind the cost, and I drive past on way to work.


So, now what? Could I get a childminder until a vacancy comes available? How much notice does a childminder need?? I feel even more confused now!

onlyroz

Generally, vacancies in nurseries can come up at any time - usually around the point at which the older kids start moving off to "big school" - so I'd expect some places to come available around July.

Regarding notice period for childminders/nursery, I think a month is normal.

I'd suggest keeping your options open and looking for both childminders and nurseries, while getting yourself on the waitinglist of nurseries that are "full".