to think this nursery is the very embodiment of gentrification in London?

[roundaboutsroundabouts]

I won't name the group of nurseries as I don't know if that's allowed (is it?) but I've just seen them referenced on instagram by a scandi toy brand. They are all in vair gentrified hipster parts of London and the fees are fcking EXTORTIONATE - £90 a day for the under-threes. I know that isn't unusual in London (although in my much cheaper part of London I only pay £55 a day). It holds a "curated" "programme" of monthly "events" (including pilates). The children get a daily smoothie - tomorrow's is beetroot, banana, ginger, berry, lemon and hemp. It describes itself as "design-led" and it's all vair tasteful scandi wooden toys in neutral colours. Design led?! Why does a NURSERY need to be "design-led"?!

You just know that everyone who sends their child there is going to have an ombre "lob", wear clothes from Arket, carry a fjallraven kanken backpack, own a bugaboo or a babyzen yoyo, dress said children in varying sludge colours from Mini Rodini, and have linen bedding in their Victorian Terraced house with white painted floorboards and scandi style planters.

I am BVU I know. But it is so irritating. I grew up in London, the child of an immigrant, and I feel like it's just an endless line of artisan coffee shops and overpriced farmers' markets these days.

Sounds lovely! Mine are 17 now so a bit beyond nursery but if someone can afford it then what's wrong with it? You sound a little jealous OP.

At my middle child's nursery they shear sheep, raise chickens, climb trees and makes bonfires

Great post to bring out all the reverse snobs on here. £80 is standard for our not very fancy area of London. And given that chains are folding like crazy and staff get paid peanuts, it's obviously not all about luxury provision. £10 more for fancier toys and food hardly seems ridiculous to me - and salaries are higher here too, so it's not necessarily more expensive on a person by person basis than a £50 an hour one in a more deprived area of the country. We may not get pheasant shooting, but we do ok, thanks.

Sounds lovely! Mine are 17 now so a bit beyond nursery but if someone can afford it then what's wrong with it? You sound a little jealous OP.

I think all your points have been answered up thread.

grace I think I know exactly where you live

Op those fees aren't extortionate. They sound average to cheap for a gentrified area in London. London is expensive. A nursery near to my parents charges a lot more, prices upon request, 'affordable'. (I asked, and discounted it as an option)

Yes, it sounds like it is catering to a bit of a cliché, but if the parents and children are happy, then no harm done.

Would you pm me the name as I am curious?

90/day including food is a bargain.

It sounds wonderful. We pay £55 a day up in Wales. I would imagine £90 a day in London is around average.

I know what's curated art exhibition is and what a curator does..but what is a curated programme???

Catherine of Aragon it's not standard per se but it is usual. At the "normal" nursery my baby attends they have pigs and chickens etc, and spend most of the day outside too. There are big advantages to being raised in a city culturally speaking, and I'm not knocking Londom exactly, but the early years education here is amazing and the nursery the OP was talking about sounds ridiculous, pretensious and not actually particularly good to me.

To be fair to this knobby nursery, they are just being unusually open (or shameless) in targeting a specific demographic. Other nurseries are less open about it, but will be using the same bait to catch the same fish.

I saw it when visiting primary schools too - certain words had those same parents pricking their ears up and nodding enthusiastically (class dojo, forest school, ukuleles, etc).

Fucking forest school, if I hear/readone more parent jabbering on about how amaazing it is that the kids eat their lunch in the rain I will not be responsible for my actions.
Googling Class DoJo now, I am picturing a Boris Johnson - shaped punchbag

No it’s not Teddybear. We pay 28 quid less than that for 3 meals cooked onsite and we are in a wealthier part of London than the nursery OP is referring to, if google took me to the right one.

It's a chain of nurseries, there are four in different parts of London.

I must be thick but I still can't figure out what chain of nurseries is being talked about!

@TFBundy Workers looking after your kids will be getting a lot less than £12 an hour.

Yeah no way on God's green earth is that money being invested in the staff.

I am always surprised that forest school has so much kudos. It is great fun for the kids, but it is basically playing outside.

crunchy it’s called n-something - google design led nursery London or nursery coworking space London and it’ll come up. (I’m not being cryptic, I can’t remember and am on mobile.)

I am always surprised that forest school has so much kudos. It is great fun for the kids, but it is basically playing outside

My DD did forest school right up until Year 6 and they did lots of really interesting stuff, way more than playing outside

I pmd you crunchy.

I'm deeply ashamed to admit that I read this in awe and thought it sounds great! If I lived in London I'd probably send my child there

Yes the one I found was a chain. I am assuming the clue is in OP’s username.

I am always surprised that forest school has so much kudos.

It's just the latest buzzword. And parents often feel great their kid does forest school so they feel less guilty dumping them in front of the tv when they get home.

No it has nothing to do with my username!

If you read the website about Forest School it is full of great inspirational examples of what kids have got out of it, and brilliant sounding buzzwords. I used to work somewhere that is now a Forest School. All the staff are now officially Forest School trained. They do basically what we used to do anyway with the kids. So I used to run an insect "club". Basically hunting for insects and looking gently at them and talking about them. They still do that but in a different package.

I am not knocking the actual activities. Just surprised that some buzz words and a nice website, and suddenly some parents think it is an amazing new thing. It really isn't.

Although my DP had the same experience in the NHS. Something they were doing 30 years ago has now been repacked and seen as the next great thing. Maybe this is just what happens when you get old?