Feeling overwhelmed!

[WindUpPenguin]

We have two nurseries within walking distance.

One costs £95+ a day and it is £100 to join a waitlist with no guarantee of a place, even though we wouldn’t need them to start until May 2024! It’s rated Outstanding but is really more than we can comfortably afford.

The other is slightly more affordable, but although it is rated “good”, there are a few negative reviews online and the chain it is part of gets bad reviews overall for high staff turnover. It also does not have a buggy park which will make drop off and pick ups very difficult on the days we are both in the office. Plus their food hygiene rating is a 4, when my husband doesn’t even like us eating at restaurants less than a 5!!

All other options are a 40 minute round trip and buggy storage would be a must. I’m really struggling to find anything that we feel is acceptable.

Are we being too precious on the reviews and hygiene ratings? Will we just have to settle for wherever has a place? I’m just feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all!!

High staff turn over would put me off tbh.
Due to no buggy storage how would you be getting him there/back?
Do you have a car?

I’d check about the buggy storage-ours didn’t officially but there was basically a cupboard where we could fold and put.

however high staff turnover would bother me- other things not so much.

we used the nursery for 4 years (2 children) and it was a big deal for me getting to trust certain individuals- even though as a big nursery there were a few staff I was less keen on.

Could you register for both and before starting try and get a feel for each one through talking to mums you meet in the playground, baby groups etc.
I went to view a nursery, was waiting outside and got talking to a parent of a child there which was quite handy to get the inside scoop.

Thanks for the replies. We do plan to register for both, as the risk of ending up without a nursery place at all seems to high to chance. We have a visit booked at the chain one I am not sure about next Friday, so the ideal situation would be they put all our worries completely to bed, but that seems unlikely! Annoyingly, the expensive one has not got back to me about arranging a visit, so that's not a good sign.

Have you considered a childminder? They are inspected to the same standards so an outstanding childminder will have demonstrated the same knowledge as a manager in an outstanding nursery and offer the same learning experience

I just wanted to say, we had a similar kind of choice recently. We ended up choosing the £76 a day nursery as what they offered was so much above and beyond what any other nursery was offering. Woods they own and take the kids to almost every day, little animals for each room to be responsible for, organic locally sourced food, a proper preschool teacher etc etc. We never planned to spend that much, If it had just been a case of just an ofstead report etc we couldn't have justified the cost. But it was pretty much everything that to us, was better than the other nurseries.

Childminders could be a good option too if your DC is still young, well away from starting reception year. I had a fantastic lady who minded my DS since he's 8 months till he started nursery after 3yo, but still with her all Friday and school holidays back then. She was to him like his family.

I saw a very expensive nursery, a middle costing one and a "cheap" one- it wasnt the expensive one that gave me the nicest feeling. Ratings are good and important but the feel of a place, the vibe you get from staff is just as important.

What is the chain? I wouldn't care about staff turnover at the chain generally, only that specific nursery. My DCs used to go to a chain and their particular one was amazing, no idea if the rest of the chain are as good but that's irrelevant really.

Also is it just one DC you have? How far is the walk? Can you use a sling/get another cheap second hand buggy etc?

Staff turnover is important for building a child's security and self confidence

Why would you register for 2?

That is very unfair on the nurseries. They reserve a place for you, don't sell it to anyone else and then you pull out?

I understand that sometimes circumstances change, but to deliberately decide a place that you hope to care for your child is not great.

Don't worry about reviews or ratings, just visit them both and book the one you like the most.

• deceive

The nursery DS goes to seems to have a high staff turnover but it's never bothered me. I think most low paid jobs like working in a nursery this is the norm. Also, he has moved up a room twice in less than two years (normal, getting older!) so this comes with staff changes anyway.

Not helpful but I never thought of checking food hygiene ratings at a nursery! Just checked ours and thankfully it scores 5!

Could you consider a childminder or nanny share? Those options would probably be within budget.

Because registering and joining he waitlist does not guarantee you a place. I thought it was the done thing to join all the appropriate wait lists and spread the risk? Once we are at the top of the waitlist I assume we will have to make a decision but presumably there will be someone else they will call if we turn down the place.

That was in reply to Stopthatknocking’s question about why we would register for two. Also to add, I would not deceive them. I will let them know we are joining a couple of waitlists due to the risk of not getting a place.

A childminder is the way forward here.

We went to visit them both and I am still unsure about the cheaper more convenient one. There was nothing bad at all about the care or facilities, but there were a couple of little things that put me off. For example, they informed me of their policies for signing in as a visitor before we got there, and then didn’t follow any of them.

It will only be the one child, so we could manage with a carrier, but they did say they could possibly accommodate a folding buggy.

And to address the high staff turnover issue, I don’t think it is an issue for my child, but I worry as to why. I don’t want to send my child somewhere that doesn’t look after their staff!

Thanks for the ideas about childminders/ nanny sharing. We will certainly look into those.

Not if it's at a completely different nursery that just happens to share a great office.

Head not great!