Oxford University nurseries

[cbloom]

I'm about to join the University in a new job, and am applying for a nursery place.
Has anyone get any advice/views on the University Nurseries:

Quality
style
differing wait times
etc.

Thanks SO much!

I am employed by the university, but when I was appointed, the waiting list for babies (>9months) made university nursery a useless option (I couldn't go on the waiting list until my apoointment was confirmed, but which time I was starting work). In general, places come up most often and thus waiting time is shortest at the Cowley site. This may be v inconvenient (Oxford traffic is a nightmare). There were a few other things which decided me againt university nursery; a caveat here is that I haven't looked at them in approx 3 years.

1. Inflexible: in general, if you are not full time, you get little say in what days you can do, in that the policy is/ was 5 full days or 5 half days
2. Closure during university holidays: most private nurseries are open almost every day, the university ones shut some of the university vacations (which are largely irrelevant to many people employed by the university)
3. Finish time: 5-530, which is very early (I don't often leave DC until after 530, but I find it vital having the flexibility to do so) As I said, my experience is a bit out of date, so worth having a proper discussion with someone in admin.

It depends where you will be based but I would recommend the Julia Durbin nursery on the churchill hospital site, it's near one of the uni campuses and on a short bus route to town....

Definitely depends on where you're based and where you live. Julia Durbin is reportedly brilliant, but useless if you're coming from Bicester and working in the science area.

p.s. don't forget to apply for the childcare vouchers!