Relocating in Feb - childminder/nursery advice

[Wheezal26]

Hi,

We're relocating to Cambridge in February and will need a childminder for our 15 month old son. We don't know yet where we'll be living but Would love some recommendations on childcare, plse.

We haven't completely ruled out nurseries yet so if there is any advice about those too, plse send my way!

I'd strongly suggest that you work out whereabouts you hope to be living and how you'll be travelling to and from work before setting your heart on any particular childcare arrangement. Cambridge traffic is a nightmare so you don't want to be committed to regular car journeys across town in rush hour. If you're coming here in February then presumably you'll need to work out your living arrangements pretty soon?

We found our very lovely childminder through childcare.co.uk, but she has no spaces at present so there's no point me recommending her specifically. The site does seem to be quite well used by local childminders though so worth a look. There's a lot of competition for good childcare here so the sooner you can start to make plans the better, especially if you need a full time place (we weren't especially interested in nurseries either, but were miles from the top of the waiting list for our workplace nursery despite having a priority over some others). Good luck!

Thanks Leucanthemum. I should be working city centre and most def won't be driving. My husband will be commuting to Stamford so we were thinking north side ish. Yes, need to sort housing. We'll rent to start with so have eyes peeled on rightmove!

Thanks for the website suggestion.

My mum will be looking after him for 2-3 days so it's "just" 1 or 2 we're looking for.

Don't know anything about childminders, sorry! But just wanted to say that North side seems to be better for nurseries, should you find yourself needing one - lots of them around and less pressure on places than the south of the city :)

I'm in Chesterton, and we have three good nurseries nearby - Chestnut, Clarence House and Cambridge Day Nursery. I know people with children at all three that are happy with them :)

Ellenme thanks. We're probably looking in a similar area and that's great to know! :)

Hi......if you decide on a nursery instead of a childminder we have one opening in the Spring 2017, Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Cambridge.....for childminder the website suggested above would be the best childcare.co.uk :-)

ellemme
I'm looking at those three nurseries! Do you use any of them yourself? Do you think you could shed any light of the differences between them based on your friends' experiences?
(Sorry to slightly hijack your thread OP!)

Hi ellemme,
My daughter was at Clarence House for 4 years before leaving for school. She loved it there! It changed hands a few years ago (taken over by Clarence House) and things greatly improved and they are rated 'good' by ofsted. Very nurturing and caring environment. Lots of feedback from staff at the end of the day. They were very flexible (could book extra days/ change days if there was availability). They also let my daughter do term time only which was great when I changed jobs . Might be worth checking out www.daynurseries.co.uk for reviews of this setting and others.
P.s- their day rates are also very competitive compared to others!!

How's the search going? Did you narrow your search?
If your still looking for a childminder for your little one, you can log in online to the Cambridge county council information service which lists all registered childcare providers in the area (childminders, preschools, nurseries etc) which includes links to ofsted reports and distance from your home/work.

As well as the previously mentioned childcare.co.UK.

Thank you for all the help. Still waiting to hear from work about my transfer date so can't quite sort a rental to move in to until that's done. All a little stressful to say the least!