Hitchin childminders and nurseries... and primaries

[fiatlux]

Hi Hitchin mums,

We are hoping to move to Hitchin from north London in July - it was meant to be a lot sooner but we had a purchase fall through when the sellers changed their minds... and then put the house back on the market 4 months later for £20,000 more than we were going to pay... sigh!

Anyway... we have now found a much nicer house (I have to keep telling myself that!) but are now moving at a horrible time and need to find childcare and schools quite urgently for my 2 DSs. DS2 was born in February and will be 8 months old when I go back to work in October. We would consider nursery or childminder - wherever we can get a place and obviously somewhere where we would feel happy leaving him. It would be great to hear any recommendations. We really liked Kinders Mill, but have just heard they are full for this October.

DS1 has been with a childminder in London and has been really happy, but will start primary school in September (if we can get him a place anywhere in Hitchin). Does anyone know whether any schools will have spaces? Has anyone moved house at this time of year? Would even consider going private (until a space comes up somewhere local).

Finally - we are moving to south Hitchin, and our nearest school will be William Ransom but we are outside their 200 metre cut-off. Next closest is Mary Exton but I think we are also outside their likely cut-off. Any idea what school we might actually have a chance of being offered?

Thanks in advance for advice - can't wait to move, but blimey it's stressful!

fiatlux

I think for the schools you would need to get in touch with Hitchin council (North Herts District Council) and look where there is space. That said I think nearly all primaries are oversubscribed so you may have to travel. Of course you can be put on waiting lists for your nearest schools and there may still be movement pre September.

Kinders Mill is very nice, but popular! Again the council should have a list of childcare options.

Good luck with the house purchase and move!

If you look on the Hertfordshire council website,they maintain a list of schools with places ( not district council). In your shoes though you should call the council and as soon as you complete get on the waiting list for the nearest 5 schools. This is a difficult time to get a place but they do have to find one for you and if you are very near a school you will be close to the top of the waiting list if a place becomes available perhaps in September. Herts CC also have a list of child minders and nurseries that you could work your way through.

If you're still looking for nurseries then Toad Hall is lovely. It's just round the corner from Kinders Mill on an industrial estate, so don't be put off by the location! My DS absolutely loves it there, and they offered so much help and support when he had behavioural problems. All the staff are lovely and know my son by name, and they run lots of events and fun days.

In terms of primaries, obvs William Ransom is the popular one, although some of my friends children have found it very demanding. To be honest there's only one primary that I'd avoid, and even that one isn't as horrendous as people make out.

So enjoy! There seem to be a lot of Londoners moving here now so it's a popular town.

Hi all - thanks for the advice @HitchinPie, @hertofdarkness & @notquitehuman.

An update - we ended up getting a place at Kinders Mill for DS2 (yay!) and he will start in October.

However, finding a primary school for DS1 to start Reception has been a complete and utter nightmare - all the schools in Hitchin are full and have stayed full. We were initially offered a school in Stevenage (The Leys) which looked fine but would have been a logistical nightmare and resulted in DS2 having no local friends. And after that our nearest school with a vacancy was the Garden City Academy in Letchworth. So in the end we've gone for a village school which is miles away but seems lovely and has a Reception class with only 14 children in it (it was mentioned on another thread here). William Ransom will apparently go to 2 form entry next year - one year too late for us!. Sigh.

Basically we are really loving Hitchin, but if anyone is thinking of moving here, don't do what we did and move your Reception-aged child after school applications have closed, unless you want to start developing a stomach ulcer.

Very relieved now to have DS1 starting full days at a lovely school tomorrow.