Epsom Downs Nursery Advice

[morethanmrsmum]

Hi All, my first Mumsnet post here! I am moving to the Epsom Downs area and need to find a nursery for my DS who will be 14 months. I have seen that Epsom Downs School nursery’s ofsted is amazing, but I’m unsure on the one room set up. I went to see Busy Bees and liked it but it’s a 20min trip from our house and not on the way to work. It’s also £84/day instead of £74/day. We are at a great independent where we are (set up more like busy Bees with a baby room etc) so I am super worried about moving in May and finding childcare. Any experience/advice from people who know the area or have had their children go to open plan mixed age group nurseries, welcome. Thank you x

Epsom Downs is a great nursery. Personally I like the one room set up as it’s free-flow and children can move around as it suits them ... for example if you have more than one child there then they can see each other, or if you have ones that are more or less physically confident they can mix with older or younger ones as appropriate. It also means the staff know most of the kids, even though the responsibilities are clearly divided and certain areas are kept for certain groups. The staff are amazing and they have great retention which gives good continuity for the children. They are flexible with how you can use the 30 hours funding, although currently only allow it to be term time only. I highly recommend it!

Thank you Highway Cat, this is reassuring. Do you have a child there? The primary school also looks good but the results are a little disappointing. It’s so hard feel like you’re making the right choice!

I have 2 there at the moment and my eldest was there before. I’ve been going there for 6 years and although it’s the only nursery I’ve used I couldn’t be happier with it. State schools in the area are slightly trickier, and the more popular ones will depend on where your house is. As with all areas I’d say visiting them is at least as important as the reports and a lot can change in a couple of years .... although reputations are harder to change.

Thanks again HighwayCat, it’s so nice to hear that you chose the nursery 3 times.
Not being from the area makes me feel a bit blind in terms of primary schools, we won’t be too far from the racecourse and looking at the primary schools they all seem to be below average when it comes to SATs results, I only checked the ofsted ratings when we decided to move, so I feel a bit silly now - like I’ve already failed him a bit. I agree there is more to a school that reports etc though, we have time so I will be a bit more patients, maybe start a new thread closer to school application age 😉 if you have any info on school reputations though, I’d be interested to hear them?

Tadworth is one of the schools I hear good things about, but may be out of your area if you’re closer to the race course. Warren Mead also seems to be fairly solid but again may be too far. The Vale, Epsom Downs and Shawley may be your closest? Of those the Vale probably has the best reputation but I have known people with children there who had a difficult year and weren’t happy. Shawley recently has had a bad time but they seem to be making a lot of effort to improve. Epsom Downs is the biggest and possibly has more challenges because of that, plus historically possibly has a worse reputation. It all depends who you talk to though! Have a read of the full Ofsted reports: the SATS are only looking at specific targets but the report will give you an idea of the whole school. On an individual level I feel the SATS type of measurements are skills I can help my children with. There are many other aspects to learning and education around interaction and behaviour which are so important, however I’m coming from a place of just having one child in key stage 1 who has picked things up easily so far but all that could change! TBH secondary schools do worry me, but that’s too far off to base decisions on at the moment. Where are you moving from? Why did you chose this area?

Thanks that’s really useful. We’re not too far from Warren Mead but closer to Shawley, which I dismissed due to the ofsted report (currently requires improvement). We’re moving from Morden, we have family in Epsom and couldn’t afford much where we are, it’s a shame because the schools are fantastic but it is a very built up urban place to settle. We first started looking more near the centre of Epsom, but soon realised we couldn’t get much for our budget, and a house came up in our price range that was a good size etc further out, so we decided to make the move. Nervous about this decision now. Secondary schools are a worry too - even further off for me but still it’s nagging in the back of my head that we haven’t chosen a solid set of feeder schools - a friend made the move to Hinchley Wood a few years ago and I think she may have made a better decision 🤔

@HighwayCat I hope you’re ok, a bit of a delayed response here but I was wondering if you had any info on areas in Epsom? Just get an idea of where is sought after/avoided! The sale on our house looks like it might fall through now, so we might have to restart the search. I might make a new thread actually 🤔

Anyone done a mum to mum sale at Epsom downs school please !! Just wondering if it’s ok for selling ?
Regards

Anybody sold items at the mum to mum sale at Epsom Down primary school, just wondering if it’s worth doing it on 28 th November