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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think nursey fees are a rip off

73 replies

bigbumhole · 28/02/2008 22:15

AIBU to think that £9 a day for pre-school nursery is too much? It's 9.30am until 12noon. Its run in a little village hall by local mothers (all passed as proper childcare givers, so all very kosher but far from anything formal). I can't help but think its a bit expensive for what you get. I'm not looking for alternatives or solutions but just wanted some feedback regarding the cost.

To add to slight insult, we have to pay an extra £8 a week for drink and a snack per child, when i questioned this, a drink and snack consists of a cup of tap water and 1 biscuit per child (per session)

OP posts:
choosyfloosy · 28/02/2008 22:18

Don't know. It doesn't sound expensive to me tbh, if you can leave your child there I think it's reasonable. If you can't, then yes it sounds enormously expensive.

The drink and snack sounds very expensive though - that's about what we pay for school lunch. can you opt out of it or is it compulsory?

lullabyloo · 28/02/2008 22:19

sounds v.reasonable to me tbh

KatyMac · 28/02/2008 22:19

look here
Put in your post code & you can see what the other pre-schools in your area are charging

It's about £4.25 an hour so it would be expensive in Norfolk and cheap as chips in Bedford or Northampton

lullabyloo · 28/02/2008 22:20

but not the extra for the tap water & biscuit

lullabyloo · 28/02/2008 22:20

but not the extra for the tap water & biscuit

Bubble99 · 28/02/2008 22:20

The drink and snack price seems OTT. But £9 for two and a half hours care sounds reasonable to me

Oblomov · 28/02/2008 22:21

£9 per session x how many children ?If there are 10 children, if there are 30 children ?
£9 / 2.5 hrs = £3.60 per hour per child. Considering that childminders cost that here, and a nursery is £4 p/h that seems VERY STEEP.

CantSleepWontSleep · 28/02/2008 22:22

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, although the drink and snack thing sounds like a rip off, and I'd most certainly challenge that if it's compulsory. Tell them you'll send a pack of biscuits in at the start of the week, and they can give your dc one a day!

southeastastra · 28/02/2008 22:23

it's cheap!

hatrick · 28/02/2008 22:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

LazyLinePainterJane · 28/02/2008 22:27

I think it sounds expensive when it is so informal.

We have 2 options here, an official pre-school nursery which charges £9 a session and offers fruit and water, or an excellent playgroup in the community centre with a good ratio of carers, excellent play and learning for only £4.50 a session.

What would bother me more is the water and biscuit money. Sounds to me like they needed to make more money but felt like they couldn't charge any more for the session so decided to add it on elsewhere.

cathy5 · 28/02/2008 22:30

I pay £5 for 2 1/2 hours of pre-school care and snack is in with that price- however I live in rural Cumbria so prices differ throughout country. Milk should be free to all under 5's i think and water - well that should surely be free-send in some packets of biscuits next time £8 a week for a biscuit is shocking -have a word.

KatyMac · 28/02/2008 22:30

That fee may be nominally for food but it is likely to go on wages - in some areas the council enforces the nursery voucher prices and they cannot charge more for the session so they charge top-up fees

Bubble99 · 28/02/2008 22:40

This is true, KatyMac.

We are lucky in our area. The council realise that if they do enforce the no top-up rules, all but the state nurseries (and there are very few of them here) will opt out of the grant scheme and there will be virtually no places left for grant funded three year olds.

IMO, the grants have got to be weighted to allow for salaries and overheads in expensive parts of the UK.

But that's a whole other thread.

Original poster
bigbumhole · 28/02/2008 22:47

Oblomov, i don't understand your post, sorry im dyslexic and sometimes struggle to understand straight forward stuff Do you mean how many is in the nursery? There are 20 children there. It's £9 per child, per session/day.

Once again, apologies for my lack of intelligence!!

Thanks for all the other feedback too, i'm a bit new to all this nursery malarkey so i don't know what the going rate is really.

Regarding the drink and snack, yes it's optional but at the same time i don't want DC being the only one going without because im too tight to fork out the snack fee

OP posts:
HarrietTheSpy · 28/02/2008 22:48

We are in London (greater but still on tube, IYSWIM), and it's just gone up to £7 per hour. This is for a preschool which is rated outstanding by ofsted with teachers who have been there for ages. I would describe it as a formal learning situation. Only additional costs are to bring two pieces of fruit each week. I htink yours sounds a bit expensive relative, but I hvae heard of preschools going as high as £10 in our area.

moondog · 28/02/2008 22:50

Expensive???

You are obviously quite mad?

So how much do you think people deserve to be looking after the most precious thing in your entire life???

My childminder is utterly fantastic and I would happily pay her twice the amount I do.

KatyMac · 28/02/2008 22:52

Are there any under 3's - it affects the staffing costs

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 28/02/2008 22:52

Agree with Moondog.

Original poster
bigbumhole · 28/02/2008 22:53

Moondog, no i am not "quite mad", i was just after some feedback, like i clearly stated.

And i think you are being totally unreasonable in putting a price on your child life. God sake.

OP posts:
Oblomov · 28/02/2008 23:06

Sorry, i meant it sepends on how many children there are , as to how much is being made per session. if there are 10 children @ £9 = £90
If there were 30, 30 children @ £9 = £270 - makes a big difference.
you say 20, so £180 per day not bad.
And £4 per hour is not alot. but if you are a child minder and you have 3 children it becomes £12 per hour, which is totally different.
£180 / 2.5 hrs = £72 per hour
Which is a very good hourly rate, irrespctive of costs of drinks/heating/ hall hire.
Don't see how that equals moondogs view of how much is our cheap children's value.

moondog · 28/02/2008 23:06

I'm not putting a price on my kid's life.It seems you are the one doing that.

'I can't help but think it's a bit expensive for what you get'

Fuck me.

KatyMac · 28/02/2008 23:07

Assuming 8 under 3 plus 12 over 3
a nominal rent, insurance, snacks, teas, craft stuff, replacing toys occasionally & they will be making virtually no money each week (between 10 & 50 dependant upon on-costs)

I certainly wouldn't be running it for £7 an hour for 3 hrs a day (remember all the planning OFSTED will require, 2.5 hrs a week to plan, do wages, HRT etc is tiny)

Bubble99 · 28/02/2008 23:13

Katy. Good point. I read the 'pre-school' in the OP and assumed all over threes. But of course, if any two year olds - it will increase staffing costs.

HarrietTheSpy · 28/02/2008 23:13

I took the question to be, how does this compare to prices other people pay for their pre-schools. In fact, the £7 per hour we pay is about the 'market rate' for pre-schools in our area. Not sure how they make the math work - and it's a fair question - but there we are.