in thinking £728 a mth is a lot for 4 days nursery - in small northern city?

[mylittlemonkey]

I have just started DS at nursery and was so keen to find one i felt was the best for him and that i felt happy with that i did not pay much attention to the cost. However having looked at the costs of some other ones in my area they are quite a bit cheaper. This nursery is in a city centre but is quite a small city in North East.

I am happy with the nursey and DS seems to be settling in very well and staff there seem nice/ good with him etc. I know that is the most important thing but i just feel like i seem to have picked the most expensive one in my area and so just wondered what a reasonable charge for a good nursery was and whether people think that you get what you pay for in terms of nurseries in that the better/ more facilities/ good staff etc the nursery the more you pay or is it all down to location?

yanbu

how many hours per week is that?

I had DTs in nursery 3 days per week and it was about the same you are paying. I live in north west

Looks like you've picked the Eton of nurseries!

nursery fees really differ from area to area

yours is about £42 a day (assuming you pay for 52 weeks a year). Mine is the southeast commuter belt was £54 a day as a guide. London nurseries charge £80 in some areas.

You must have chosen the nursery for a reason, and maybe it is more expensive because it is near the station or on bus routes or something

If you can afford it and ds is happy then probably best to stop looking at prices for other nurseries

Seems a bargain to me. I pay £1k per month for a nursery in a small town in the south east. And that's not the most expensive one in town.

Annoys me that prices for everything seem to be higher in the south east. I am never sure if we are subsidising the rest of the country or just being ripped off.

4 days often costs the same as 5. The weekly rate is not usually as much as 5x daily rate.

£180 a week is pretty common. About 2 years ago it was £150 and 4 years ago £125 in my northern county. Supply and demand.

Mine is £40 a day, so £525 for 3 days (52 weeks a year). Also North.

Going rate, not at all the most expensive. A local one attached to a David Lloyd gym is £54 a day! And its Ofsted was only satisfactory !

I was paying about the same 6 years ago in a small northern city..

3 full days (with breakfast, lunch and snacks) in nursery here would be around £680.

Small town, outside Edinburgh. Great nursery though.

Sorry that should say 4 full days

Seems to be £5.68 P/H
to DS contribution to cover the salaries of
Manager
Key worker
Other workers
cook
keep facilities up to date
staff training
building management

Doesn't seem that unreasonable to me.

At the nursery where Charlie goes, we pay £649 for 4 days 9-5.30. It is £35 a day, and then £5 for 8-9am and 5-6pm, so I pay £2.50 extra each day for 5-5.30pm.

I have recently changed his hours so that he does 5 days a week 9-5 as there is then a 15% dscount, which makes it £659 (yes the same price for 5 days a week as it is for 4!)

On average, you're paying £42 a day at your nursery - which would be the equivalent of 8-5.30 at my nursery and if it is the case that you are dropping your child in early and/or picking them up late - that does make sense.

There are a lot of cheaper nurseries out there, but as they are not YOUR nursery, it is not worth dwelling on the fact too much unless you want to move your son just for the sake of saving a few quid. My nursery is expensive because there is not another for miles - but is does have outstanding Ofsted and all of the girls that work there are fantastic, all of the problems that we have had with Charlie - and with other children, I feel have always been handled very well - and I've enjoyed taking him there each morning, greeting the same girls/women and watching him and his friends grow up and learn so many things!

It's all relative.

HTH, - and no, nursery is not being unreasonable, as I say - IF you are having him there longer than 9-5

my dd's nursery is £41 per day which is on par with your costs - large city in the north

she was previous at one which cost £30 per day, but i was not happy with for a number of reasons, and so moved her. i prefer to think of her current nursery as Reassuringly Expensive, as you cannot put a price on the peace of mind you get from trusting your childcare completely.

Its 40 hours per week so 10 hours per day. I am happy with the nursery and Ofsted report good and was recommended by someone i trust so i do feel glad that i have found a nursery i am happy with and it wont bankrupt us to pay these fees. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that what appear to be comparative nurseries in the area are up to £100 cheaper per month which i think is a lot. I did not really look at many other nurseries as this one just happens to be close to my work but it is not particularly near transport links etc or any other reason i can think of for fees being so much higher.

It is very interesting to see what other people pay where they live though.

City center = massive rent

Oh and you get what you pay for my son was at a council run nursery, £25 a day but they gave the babies and tots ASDA smart price bread which you could see through, the cheapest mince which smelt like old socks being boiled and the staff were far from enthusiastic.

I think that our nurseries are similarly priced, and therefore YABU - cough up and enjoy the quality childcare

I live in the North East, in Teesside. The first nursery I took DS to back in 2008 was £800 a month for 5 full days. It wasn't the cheapest around but it made sense commute wise and it was a truly fabulous nursery.

The one he goes to now, is lovely but a fair bit cheaper - it is not as posh as the other nursery but they provide excellent care. The food is excellent - they are based in a surestart centre, and the cafe there provide the food for the nursery which is all freshly cooked on the premises and is really nice!

Nursery prices can vary and cheap doesn't necessarily mean nasty and expensive doesn't necessarily mean good.

If you can afford to pay it and your ds is happy there then keep him there.

I'd kill for those fees. In London, so probably paying top whack, but we pay a grand a month for 4 days in nursery.

I think it's a bargain but then, I'm in London where the local decent nurseries are £80-£100 a day and I can't afford to work because of the childcare costs.

£42 per day, in surrey, 2.5 days. seems more than reasonable.

I pay £46 per day.. it seems a lot but its a nursery I trust and am happy with, so worth it imo.

we pay £41 per day including breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea in Lincolnshire.

The nursery DS does to is one of 2 of the more expensive in the area but other nurseries charge extra for extra meals (fpr example only include 2 meals in a day so if like me you want to make the most of the hours offered I work longer hours and need 3 meals a day).

tbh sometimes when you find the right nursery for your child you just have to run with it - i have sometimes considered moving to somewhere cheaper but I keep coming back to the fact that the staff are fantastic at our nursery and the care and attention the children receive is brillant and I couldnt imagine DS anywhere else.

How old is your ds? If younger than 2, then it seems reasonable. Fees are higher for under 2s because of there is a smaller number of staff per child.

The nursery where my kids used to go charges £149 for under twos, £132.50 for over twos, that is for full time, i.e. 7.30 till 5.30 if needed. It hasn't gone up all that much in the last 3.5 years either, about in line with inflation. We're fairly rural, not too many working mums so perhaps that's why - and it is a very good nursery, small, low staff turnover, home cooked meals and so on.
I have friends in Cambridge though who are paying about what the OP is paying.