Postby number28 » Thu Jul 25, 2013 1:08 pm
Hi CtoB,
we did the move from sydney some years back, but you seem much more organised than us! I agree with Bubs - don't underestimate the shocking traffic from BTC/Battersea to Newton Prep, it's not like the 15 minutes of queues on Northbourne in the mornings. It's worth finding a nursery/school in walking distance, usually the easiest way despite the weather. London is really a collection of villages connected by 300 year old cart tracks, with bottlenecks at every river crossing.
Lots of nurseries do 3hour sessions, though school-day length ones are fairly common too, but not usually every day at that age. Long day care-type nurseries generally do pre-school type activities as well. Really depends on your little man's nap needs, and how often you want to do the school-run.
Parkgate House is a lovely nursery and school, the Willow gets good raps, you probably already know about catchment areas for the "good" BTC state schools, and it's probably worth phoning any other nurseries you're interested in often during the first week of september, as places can come up (generally to start in January) when they know who's actually turned up at the start of the academic year. Happy to chat anytime if you have more questions - good luck!