Nurseries - how much? Post Reply

[Historytutor]

Hi everyone,
I am looking into sending my 16 month-old to nursery for a day or two a week, and have contacted two in my area, but am amazed at how much they cost! I was wondering if anyone would care to share how much they pay for theirs, so I can figure out if it's a reasonable amount to be paying. (£71/day for one place, £67.50/day for the other)

Thanks in advance,
AGD

[AbbevilleMummy]

Those prices sound about right. I know of one that goes up to over £90 per day.

[twice_as_nice]

as far as I can tell, there are generally two different types of "nurseries"

1. Day Care. Generally for mums who've returned to work (though obviously you can leave your child there if you're not working too!). They are expensive because they are all day care typically from 8am (or earlier) til 6pm or so. They take babies of all ages, from very young and up to pre-school.

2. Nursery Schools. These are typically for 2 years plus (some 2 1/2) and generally sessions are half a day. Some places do both morning and afternoon sessions which may mean that you can send your child for the whole day, but the days are 'school hours' typically - ie. 9-3.30 or so, so no good for working mums who do full days.

From the age of 3, your child is eligible for a grant of around £600 per term (from the term after they turn 3 until they start school). Most places take the grant, though a small amount of nursery schools aren't eligible so worth double checking.

I think the solution you go for depends why you want to leave your child in nursery. If you're just looking for them to get to socialise with other children a little and to build a little independence away from you, you may want to try and see if you can find a supervised playgroup (I've never found any though!) that takes younger children or maybe see if you can find a local child minder who could take him / her for a few days.... which would be cheaper as it's not all day care. If you want full day care then really the expensive day care route is your only option I think.

[Historytutor]

Thanks for the responses. I want to send her to nursery for a day or two a week, partly so I can do some work from home (which is flexible, so my hours can be adapted) and partly so she gets some socialisation.
I like the idea of one or two fulls days, so I can get a good chunk of work done, rather than mornings or afternoons for 3ish hours, as it seems there would be very little useful time once I got home, settled down to work, etc. I would have to go back out to pick her up again.

[twice_as_nice]

Very true! 3 hours goes very quickly!

if you can travel, and aren't too restricted by time, then might be worth shopping around, I know that a friend of mine paid somewhere between £55 and £60 for her nursery - not sure if the name but it was in Springfield in Earlsfield....make sure you check what's included though as some don't include food or nappies I believe (you have to provide these on top of the price)

[Historytutor]

Thanks again for the replies. I am, unfortunately, limited in scope as we don't have a car, so need the nursery to be no more than 30 minutes walk from our house.
On a separate but related note, one nursery I went to see had all of the 'big kids' (i.e. not the babies/under 1's) in one big room, divided by mini picket fences. It struck me as a bit odd, but since this was the first nursery I have ever been to visit, I didn't know if this was the norm? I kind of expected all the different groups to have their own room - so the set-up was a bit surprising. Does anyone have any opinion on this?