What is a reasonable salary?

[baltimore97]

What is a reasonable salary for a Norland nanny for a four day a week live-out job? It is her first job following completion of probabtion. She is asking for £100 a day net, but I believe this to be far too much. She seems willing to negotiate. I was thinking more £90-£100 a day gross.

Help!

I haven't seen a single post that explains what value a Norland nanny delivers that another nanny does not.

Why would an employer pay more for a Norland nanny (apart from the label)?

Nice post, nannyj. I completely agree.

Athene,
from what i know and i might be wrong, Norland Nannies are very big on etiquete, manners, piano etc...

Instead of spend 30 min with a toddler doing finger painting or cuddling or messing around, they might spent 30 min 'teaching' a 2 year old how to use the right cutlery-and i mean all the cutlery, which one is the fish knife etc

Most of us will laugh at it of course, but there are families whith this lifestyle and priorities.

isn't a Norlander and has been made to do the above re: cutlery...but not with a fish knife

It was actually a very frustrating experience but the parents were absolutely insistent.

IMO Norland is just a particular, very old-school, method of training with a big focus on British culture. The college knows what its client base is and trains its nannies accordingly, which is very sensible of them. Yes the average Norlander just out of probation might be earning £500pw net but whoop-di-doo so was I working overseas! I think their 'average' (by which I mean the mean wage) is affected by the silly sums of money any nanny willing to not have a life and work in strange places could earn. They do come with a lot of "extras" but you could find other non-Norland nannies with the same childcare style and skills, just acquired in different ways.

I'm yet to find something a Norlander can do that anyone else who wanted to couldn't.

It's bizarre someone of 19 or 20 could be so naive as to think they were worth £39k in the middle of a recession. Totally dislocated from reality. I think there are a lot of young nannies who are about to have a bit of a wake up call in the months to come.

They are not naive BoffinMum.

They work for very elite families. Celebrities or Lords are not going to starve during the recession.

And there are not too many Norland Nannies out there because the training is very expensive. (it used to be around 20K, i dont know now)

Ok, if I was a Lord (or Lady), why would I spend more for Norland nanny? Let's just assume (ok dream) I've got a mountain of money and I'm deciding who best to look after my children (whilst I ear another mountain). What does a Norland nanny offer me that that another nanny does not?

There seems to be a few posts on this thread describing Norland nannies as those who work for the elite. This seems to me to imply that all the other nannies work for the less elite. And I would like to challenge this perception. I suspect (thought I don't actually know) that there are lots of elite people who want a nanny with a bit less.... well... attitude. Someone who knows how to play footie (and dresses like it). Someone who chops carrots rather than making hot cross buns. Etc.

I asked the Norlander herself that very question! Her answer was that she had done a course in just about every aspect of childcare, and had done placements in every possible childcare setting.

So I guess she is excellently prepared to look after children and very aware of the needs of all ages.

But my current childminder has exactly the same knowledge - only she gained it through years of experience working with children.

"Every possible childcare setting". erm... that seems to emcompass so many different possibilties that I'm incline to doubt it is even possible... unless the course is 15 years long.

It took me about eight years of training to get around every possible childcare setting in any depth ... obviously if you're only doing a day in each, that would help.

Also you have to question what the need is to experience all these settings for a fairly routine residential job, which is only taking place in one setting. After all, a teacher doesn't do placements in children's own homes in order to be a teacher.

I expect the Norland course is a lot more rigourous than your average NVQ - includes things like baking, repairing teddies, and lots of other "traditional nanny skills". The average candidate is going to be a lot more focussed if they're paying 20k on their training too - no girls at Norland who didn't know what they wanted to do when they left school and decided going to college to do childcare would be an easy option.

... but then the same could be said about a nanny who is studying an NVQ3 in Child Care off her own back, in her own "free" time and goes to college on a Saturday all whilst holding down a full time job non?

*yes, I do mean me LOL.. apart from the full time job bit, but I have had and will have a full time job whilst still doing the NVQ, if that doesn't show commitment I don't know what does! plus I have 8 years of experience and do not ask for £8 ph net - and I'm in London!!

I'm done now

Funnily enough some of my better APs have been German trained nursery nurses and they do a three year apprenticeship with a lot more placements than a Norland. They are also very good at the old domestic routine, including baking and repairing teddies, and can deal with simple children's sicknesses. Admittedly you don't get continuity of care, but as I say, the training is probably a bit more thorough.

Oh, and anyone who needs to take a course to learn how to mend a teddybear is too think to avoid being manipulated by my 5 year old -- who's manipulation skills are getting better and better every day.

think=thick

It's not really mending teddy bears, it's craft they do, like knitting and making special things for the kids, and baking little buns with pictures on, that kind of thing. I think it's quite nice to keep the old traditions going actually. I learned all this as a young teenager at school, personally, so don't place the highest value on it as a professional activity.

So it needs to be kept in perspective - at the end of the day people don't want to pay £39k for stuffed toys or buns, they want to pay £39k either to show off to their friends, to care for multiple birth babies, or to get some sort of highly skilled sole charge overnight care for their kids on a continuing basis while they are physically absent from the home for social or professional reasons.

Other people want to pay less and get something suited to a dual career lifestyle where they come home in the evenings.

It's horses for courses, and nannies need to be responsive to the market. If someone is applying for a non-celeb non-Royal job, it's a bit daft to ask for top dollar, in other words.

Had a nosey on the website, found it rather amusing they feel the need to point this out -

"Applicants should be aware that working with children is physically demanding and a reasonable level of fitness is therefore required - a BMI of under 35 is reccomended"

I saw that too, www.

so no porky norland nannies about then

i also learnt how to sew a cuddly toy and design and make a childs article of clothing as part of my NNEB course

have to say in 17years of nannying NEVER needed these skills, though did help no 1 make a cuddly teddy after christmas, but shape was cut out and material had holes punched in it - wejust sewed round edge and stuffed!!!

yup blondes, if you're 20, a porker and are entertaining thoughts of being a nanny -
NORLAND SAYS NO!!!

My mum told me the Norland lot were doing a placement in the hospital I was born in and I was used in a demonstration on how to bathe a newborn - I was picked due to my calm nature and happiness to be bathed several times LOL

rofl www

computer says no!!

cough LOL

put the chelsea bun down and step away from the baby!!

I found this on google search of what is the expected Norland nanny wage, hope it helps.

Weekly salary guide (net)

Probationer (first job)
Full time daily or residential
UK only
Daily £260-£400 pw
Residential £210-£260 pw

Qualified Norland Nanny
Residential
UK
£300-£550+ pw

Qualified Norland Nanny
Daily
UK
£400-£550+pw

Qualified Norland Nanny
Daily or residential
Overseas
Daily £550-£800+ pw
Residential £450-£650+ pw

400 - 550 as first job after probation-OMG

took me 15years to get to that salary!!!

guess they wont be working for the average family