Beatrix Potter Nusery school or Mouse House: help!! Post Reply

[katebelshaw]

Hi, our daughter is currently at Mouse House and very happy. We are in catchment for Beatrix Potter and whilst we are going to send her there for Reception as we love the school and want her to have local friends, we are in two minds about the Nursery. It seemed very chaotic and I'm not sure how much they actually 'learn' there. Saying that, it's free - and it's less than a ten minute walk from us.

Mouse House on the other hand is excellent, it (gently!) pushes the kids - but is very expensive and nearly an hours round trip to walk to/from. This isn't that appealing when we'll be doing this every day from September.

My eldest is quite bright and loves learning and I don't want her to have a wasted year. However, I also appreciate that we only saw a snapshot of what the school has to offer on our tour.

Any advice/personal experiences of Beatrix Potter Nusery gratefully received.

Thanks,

Kate

[Spenner]

I've heard very good things about Mouse House and know people who've loved it. Having said that, both of mine went to Beatrix Potter nursery and absolutely adored it. They moved on to Reception with no difficulty, settling in quickly, partly because of knowing children in their class but also because the nursery works with the Reception teachers to get the children used to the idea of moving into the school. It's a fantastic environment for them.

As a school, BP is absolutely brilliant for giving children confidence and awareness of being kind to others - two things that I really think they need when they are at nursery age. One of mine in particular is a keen learner and I was also concerned that he would prefer a more structured approach. I was wrong! He thrived (and also learned plenty, but mainly through play). He was also at a Montessori nursery for two sessions a week and by the summer term he was reluctant to go there, much preferring BP.

I think it's easy to focus too much on maths and literacy as they are the things we notice our children learning (and it's very exciting to see it). There are many other things for them to learn at this age - soft skills like cooperation and good listening - and BP excels at that. If you're nearby, wander past the nursery when the children are playing outside. They are happy, engaged and well looked after, which is exactly what you want. I don't think the nursery sells itself particularly well to parents, unlike private nurseries, but don't let that put you off.

[pie81]

Do you have a second child (you mention she's your eldest?) If so then if you stick with MH your younger child will be spending best part of 2 hours in the buggy every day. Since they both sound like good nurseries, albeit different, that would be enough to push me towards BP nursery.

[Flowermummy]

We are at Mouse House and love it.
However, in your case I would be leaning towards moving to BP, because: a) it's closer to you, so easier; b) your child will be used to BP and will have more friends there that continue with BP at reception.
You can then supplement the BP nursery with additional activities like tennis, playball, drama etc (a bit like they do with the clubs at Mouse House).
I wouldn't worry too much about maths and literacy at this stage, as they will learn that at school anyways, but that's just my personal opinion..

[pinkhorse]

My eldest went to Mouse House before going to her current primary school for Reception. We could have put her in the nursery of her primary school (we got a place) but then thought socially she should stick with her friends in Mouse Hole who are moving on to Mouse House. It turned out none of her friends transferred over from Hole to House so she had to make a whole new set of friends in Mouse House. Luckily, she is very resilient despite being shy.

My second is currently in Mouse Hole. We just got a nursery place in the school where he is going to Reception. We're not going to put him in Mouse House because after our experience with our first, we realised socially in the long run, it's the friends in the primary school that will be his friends as he gets older.

Literacy and academics weren't deciding points for us because he is still so young.

[katebelshaw]

Thank you: that's really helpful and has definitely pushed me more towards BP!