Nurseries in Stroud Green / Finsbury Park - recommendations please!

[MrsD28]

Hello all!

Does anyone have any experience with / recommendations for nurseries in and around Stroud Green / Finsbury Park? DH and I are currently expecting our first child, but I am conscious that places at good nurseries get snapped up quickly. so want to sign up well in advance. I am planning to be on maternity leave until DC is 9 months, then both DH and I will be working full time, so will need a full time place. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated!

You could try our MN Local sites for Islington & Haringey, which have talk boards where you can ask locals for advice & recommendations, plus thousands of listings including a childcare & education guide, where Mumsnetters can add their reviews: local.mumsnet.com/islington, local.mumsnet.com/haringey

Ambler children's centre at FP end of blackstock rd behind the primary school. My son adored it there. Purpose built, very friendly and lovely to both parents and kids. Best thing that happened to him - no problems settling and they were just superb. Fab toys and room/outdoor space just for babies, little cots for naps in sep room. sensory room too. Sign up Asap - took us ages to get in. Keep calling til you get in! Still see staff in the supermarket and have a natter. Great facilities/activities and lovely people.

Are you on the Haringey side or the Islington side? We are on the Haringey side of Stroud Green (less than 10mins to the borough boundry) and when looking for nursery places for our 18mth old twins the Islington nurseries said that their residents would always have priority and that they were over subscribed anyway. If you are lucky to be on the Islington side sign up your child to the nurseries such as ambler as soon as they are born seeing as you will want childcare to start before they are 1. The childcare information service website is useful in listing all the childcare options on your postcode. Would you consider a nanny? That's what we did and it worked really well and was flexible around work.

Thanks for the helpful replies. We are on the Haringey side (just) and have heard that getting into the Islington nurseries can be very difficult. However, there don't seem to be as many on the Haringey side.

Cornwall73: I think that we would consider a nanny (even if only for a few days a week). How did you find yours?

Hello, we are just in the Haringey side too but I used the Islington children's centres a lot for playgroups. However, when it comes to parenting courses or nursery places its residents only. Would a nursery in the ladder suit? Little Jewels us there. The others are mostly in Crouch End so not convenient depending on the commute.

We found our current nanny on gumtree but I have also used childcare.co.uk which you can search by postcode as well as posting an add in the local library (lots of nannies take the children) and Harringayonline. You could also do a nanny share if you find another family. I think there is a matching website too.