Shocked by nursery fees! Post Reply

[LinsayS]

Hi All,

I've been looking at nurseries for my daughter who is 21 months old and I'm shocked how expensive the fees are. Given that it's a government objective to get parents back into work I find the child care provision costs an outrage.

I was very impressed with Wee One's in Wandsworth and keen to get her started on 2 days a week (possible as they have plenty of spaces at the moment). For £798 per month. If however we wished to go on holiday for 2 weeks it would still be £798 per month. Even if we went away for a week it's £798... Why are we paying for services we haven't used??? It makes no senseI And I believe this is common practice amongst private day nurseries.

For me it is a matter of getting my daughter to socialise and learn from other children on a regular basis...and to give me a little break and possibly take up some charity work again . I have no family in London and therefore need a little extra help.

Can anyone recommend an excellent nursery in the Wandsworth common / St John's Hill area that have a slightly more practical approach to budgets?

Am I alone in my POV? I appreciate companies can subsidise etc but I'm genuinely shocked!

Thanks
LinsayS

[erinisle22]

There are a few family centres/playgroups around Tooting that do morning sessions for over 2 year olds where you drop them off for about £9 to £11 per session. One is called Derington Family Centre and the other is Rookstone Playgroup.
There might be some nearer to Wandsworth Common that do this? I am about to look into putting my nearly 2 year old into Derington a couple of mornings per week so I can focus on my newborn and so he can enjoy being socialised with other children but I couldn't do it if it were that expensive!
Good luck in finding something more affordable.

[Goldhawk]

You could consider pre school instead of a day care nursery
But they only usually do a 2-3 hours either morning or afternoon

The cheap option is the preschool playgroups like the Bolingbroke http://search3.openobjects.com/kb5/wand ... ZHJi_G_joc

[Camille]

Sure nursery prices are horrendous for us all but surely you are not surprised that they charge you when you are on holiday.
They still have to pay their staff while you are away and I guess if you are with a partner he will expect his employers to pay him during his holiday...

[irap]

Hi!

I agree, nursery fees are crazy but there is not much to do about it. The most important thing to think about is: these people are taking care of your child, so no point to save on it. They take care of you little treasure!

Also, it is totally normal for them to charge you even if your child is not there. Sometimes a nursery needs to hire an extra person just for one child, so it would be unfair to fire them just because someone goes on Holiday.

I used to work in a school in the US and the same happens there. Everyone pays all year!

When my little one was like yours we opted for nanny sharing some 15 hours a week so I would have three mornings off. This way he was playing with another child in a different environment and the cost was ideal!

IP

[shellbell83]

You still have to pay for fee's because the nursery is still open, there are still the same amount of staff...

Just because ur child is on holiday, should the staff not be paid..

Its the same as if u had a nanny... She/he will still need paying if ur on holiday they still have bills to pay, its not there fault ur on holiday...


Theres loads of crech's, playgroups, classes your child could go to

[carolhugs]

Hi,
Did you ever consider a ofsted registered childminder. Its usually a much cheaper option.

[kidzibuzi]

My son goes to Learning Ladders since he was 10 months and really enjoys it. It is in the middle of an estate, so they have space, a large garden, lovely rabbits and guinea pigs, but it may be a bit too far for you... The staff is wonderful and the cost is much more reasonable than all the other nurseries (230 per week full time) my first daughter had been before reception. I live in Clapham Common and the nursery is on my way to work to Victoria. The two lovely ladies who run the nursery for years never had a website so it has been difficult for me to find the nursery the first time, plus the number on the Ofsted was wrong... They are now making a website !
The address is : ground floor Falkener Court - Francis Chichester Way, SW11 5HX (0207 622 9300)

[meeshter]

Look at the website for Wandsworth Primary Play Association. Under the groups section there are details of the various pre-school playgroups in Wandsworth. They are much cheaper than the private nurseries and tend to run in term time. However the youngest they usually take are 2.5 years.

My son went to Bollingbroke Pre-school playgroup 6 years ago and my daughter went to Lochinvar Pre-school playgroup. The fees for Lochinvar were £60 per week (for morning or afternoon place) but the term after they turn 3 it is covered by the government childcare vouchers so its free, for four half days and one full day. They are very flexible if you want to do full days also (9am to 3pm). The year before school both my children went to Balham nursery which is a state nursery and is free and covers 4 mornings and full day. I have been very happy with the provision at all these places.

Wandsworth Primary Play Association
http://www.wppa.co.uk/content/view/13/28/

[Third Door Nursery]

Hello,

Third Door (Workhub & Nursery) on Point pleasant, SW18 1GG has very competitive rates and one of the unique selling point's is that we are flexible. So if you were to go on holiday for two weeks, you can downgrade your package (naturally there is a notice period needed for downgrades).

One of our customers recently went to New Zealand and downgraded her package so she wasn't paying for childcare whilst on holiday, and upgraded it back on her return. Another customer, who also is about to go on holiday has done the same thing. It's worked really well for both of them and very several of our customers.

I'm the Nursery Manager and the founder is a local mum - so we might be a bit biased with this post as but I can say hand on heart, that our nursery is very flexible. We still have to pay our staff like every other nursery but have found a solution that meets the needs of working parents and a way of working around the flexibility whilst till providing excellent care.

Please come and visit hello@third-door.com 0208 8770098 and http://www.third-door.com

[supergirl]

Hi
Maybe your wish of cheaper nurseries will come true at some point as the government just announced that nurseries could look after more children so increasing the ratio...

(Although what i think will happen in the area is that nurseries (good-oustanding ones) will increase their fees and tell you that you are paying a premium so you can have smaller ratio...)

[Lucullus]

shellbell83 is right: just because you're on holiday, it doesn't mean the nursery staff are. Nurseries need to spend a small fortune on getting staff, getting a building, setting it up appropriately, keeping staff trained, etc.

To compound this, property is expensive to buy or rent, so you have to factor that in, when looking at nurseries in W'worth ...

[momtomum]

With more than one little one, we quickly did the math when I went back to work and hired a nanny! At this point our 4 are between the ages of 2 and 8. All but the 2 year old go to school 5 days a week. Our daughter will start nursery half days next year. Our nanny has a baby who she brings to work - that means it's fairly affordable. I'm very happy with this set up - and the free nursery schools starting at age 3 are great in my opinion!

[smurf4t]

Try out Treasured Times Nursery

They are £19 a morning from 9 - 12:15...

Look at their website

http://smurf4t.wix.com/treasuredtimeschool

They take children 2 - 5 years of age and price drops to £8.50 after 3 years of age when they get the grant.

[Samalawl]

Hi there, as already mentioned have you thought about childminders? The fee is less, you can pick your hours/days and your child's care is more personal whilst still gaining those important social skills etc...may be something to think about. Although most of us do still expect payment during holiday, but would have a limited time, eg 4 weeks paid holiday as we would expect if we worked for a company
I hope you find something to suit you both!