Which nursery - local village or nearer work?

[rockdoctor]

OK, so I'm back to work in a few weeks and currently trying to decide between two nurseries, any advice welcome:

Nursery 1 - in the local village, seemed quite nice when I went to visit, local staff and can do the days I need. Only issue is that its in quite an old building and some of the facilities looked a bit "tired" to me - don't get me wrong, not dirty, just not shiny bright and purpose built. Also would need to compromise with work about start and finish times as I couldn't do an 8am drop off and be in work in less than an hour.

Nursery 2 - about half an hour away, near to my commuting station, bright and shiny and purpose built. Of course, being near to the station they have a waiting list so I'd have to compromise on my preferred days and if I went back to work full time I'd have to go on a waiting list.

Both nurseries have good to outstanding ofsted reports fwiw and seem to have low staff turnover. I'm drawn to the local one because of the community thing and the fact that she'd be in nursery with kids she's more likely to go to school with - but does that really matter at 8 mo?

[witchandchips]

i'd vote for local one

• no commuting with tired child/pram
• tired facilities really unimportant, key thing is what the workers are like
• more likely to get play dates for weekends etc in local one
• if you are ill, putting dd in local one is less hassle otherwise you are faced with choice of looking after child when you are ill or a long journey into town

[midnightexpress]

I'd go local if I had the choice I think, for the reasons you give (community and likely to be at school later with these children).

We moved recently and mine have just started at a local nursery - before that I was doing an hour round trip to take and fetch them (I work at home) and although it wasn't too bad, it's so much nicer to take them just up the road.

Also, with a LO as young as yours I'd be worried about her falling asleep in the car if she's going to be there all day.

[midnightexpress]

not in the car all day, of course. At the nursery.

[GreenMonkies]

I opted for the close to work/onsite nursery. My reasoning was;

1 The half hour/45 minute commute was time spent with me not nursery staff. This also meant we were apart for less time during the day.

2 If I finish work late or get stuck in traffic I don't have to panic about getting to pick her up on time. (a problem I've had with DD1's after school club)

3 If she is poorly I can get to her super fast, even if it is just to give paracetamol/ibuprofen and then go back to work again (not all nurseries will give your child non-prescribed medicines, which can be a pain in the @rse when they are teething)

4 It meant I could breastfeed her at lunchtime (as well as expressing morning and afternoon) until she was at least a year old. (mine were both only 6 months old when I went back to work) Not only did this make it easier to continue to breastfeed whilst at work, it also meant we were seeing eachother after only 3-4 hours apart, not a whole day, for the first 6 months after returning to work.

5 To make sure DD1 knew some of the local children before she started the local primaryt school I took her to the local preschool for one afternoon a week for the year before she started school.

Good luck with your return to work!!