Future Parent Seeking Nursery Selection Tips in London

[TiddlerInParenting]

Hello everyone,

My partner and I are engaged and starting to plan for our future family. Although we don't have kids yet, we're beginning to explore nursery options in London. We'd appreciate any tips or advice on what to look for when choosing a nursery. What factors did you consider when making your decision, and what makes a nursery stand out from the rest? Any recommendations based on your experiences are also welcome!

Thank you!

Location. Make sure it’s on your commute or very near your house.

Hello 👋
I’m in Scotland but my LO will start nursery soon so thought I’d share how we decided.

Initially we only looked at one nursery - a big purpose built one, because it was so much cheaper than the rest.

it seemed ok enough but we didn’t see any staff with kids and we weren’t showed any rooms they were in so as not to disturb etc. They do a lot of extra activities such as rugby tots etc and provide nappies etc, on-site chef who caters to allergies etc. Open early. So ticks a lot of boxes. But, those things alone are not enough for us. We didn’t get much of a feel, just more like ok it seems good enough…
but then we thought LO will be there 4 years, and asked ourselves that if we can help it then is good enough really good enough? let’s look around. We even looked at nurseries with waiting lists so we can compare etc.
anywyay, we have gone for a small family run nursery.

because that one had the best ‘feel’ for us and we fell in love with it. We didn’t even really know what we were looking for until we saw that nursery. We both walked away feeling positive and it was the only one where my head feels calmer thinking about LO going to nursery!
the staff were lovely and well looked after by the owners, we saw them in interacting with all the kids in different spaces. Both kids and staff seemed happy to be there.

different age range of staff, not a big turn over, some have been there since it opened , 2010?
the owners regularly bring them in Starbucks & breakfast etc.
it closes 2 weeks over Christmas, and 2 weeks over summer to ensure all staff get proper breaks ie no risk of having to come in and cover sick leave etc (that suits us from be, I like staff being looked after so well, I just think happy staff, happy kids)
it was such a warm nurturing environment. The garden is lovely, growing fruit. Sheltered Outdoor classroom so outside everyday no matter the weather, frequent walks to nearby parks & gardens & museum etc.
mixing all age groups together twice a day…
visiting primary and music teacher…

this nursery costs more, and we provide our own lunch until LO turns 3 but that’s fine.

this just had the best feel for us and seeing the staff just as happy as the kids, and knowing they were cared for just as much as the kids meant a lot to us.
so my advice is look around to get the best feel for what you want personally.
som me nurseries I didn’t like other people
have raved about etc. I was worried liking around too much might make for a difficult decision, but it didn’t , it just helped us realise what we want..

Oh and of course we only viewed nursery that would be easy to get to, but we live somewhere a lot less busy than London!

Hey there! 😊

Thanks for sharing your experience from Scotland! It's great to hear how you went through the process of choosing a nursery for your little one. Your story tells me to not only focus on the practical aspects but also considering the overall atmosphere and how the staff interact with the children.

I appreciate your perspective, as finding a nursery in Scotland or London is likely a similar experience for parents, regardless of the location. What we look for in a nursery is quite universal, and your insights are valuable to us.

I love that you ended up choosing a small, family-run nursery that felt right for you and your LO. It sounds like such a nurturing and warm environment with happy staff and kids. I especially, liked that the stuff is well looked after. It's something that should be the norm. I appreciate your advice on looking around to find the best fit for our family personally, even if it means comparing different nurseries with varying features and costs.

Your experience has given me a lot to think about and has definitely encouraged me to trust my instincts when visiting nurseries. Thanks again for sharing your journey with us!

Thank you @Kranke . Good point. We definitely need to make sure to choose a nursery that is relatively close to us or at least on our commute.

Look at the facilities including napping area and talk to the staff.

Regardless of how shiny the nursery is or is not if you don't feel ok with the staff then don't put your child down with the nursery.

So true. One thing we love about our nursery is how happy the staff are and we’ll looked after by the owners.

they bring them in Starbucks etc and close 2 weeks over Christmas and 2 weeks over summer to ensure all staff get a proper break with no risk of being asked to cover sick leave etc.

I think this helped them to be so happy and relaxed with the children. We saw all the spaces and the staff interacting with the children.
some staff have been there since it opened 12/13 years ago.

some nursery visits they didn’t want to disturb the kids so we never saw staff interacting with them which makes it difficult to get a proper feel for the place.

Always, always have a back-up plan.

I went with a small company based nursery which accepted children from the wider community to fill in numbers. Three weeks before DD's placement was due to start - they pulled the place as they had a new staff member who wanted 2 places. This was a confirmed, deposit taken place for my DD. The other Mum effected went bat shit, threatened all sorts of legal action, our places were re-instated at the last moment. I went with my plan B - I never like being where I'm not wanted.

@DPotter woah! I did not know they could do that! That seems so unfair!

No they can't do that - but they tried - tried really hard, but I think the other Mum was legally trained. But even so - the principle stands - always have a back up.

Thank you @Reugny . We will keep this in mind when looking for a nursery. I totally get that as parents we would want our kids to be taken care of properly by staff and making sure it is a safe and enjoyable environment for the little ones. No matter how great the facilities look like from the outside staff will take care of our kids.

Thank you for sharing your story @DPotter . It is unfair and upsetting what they did to you. Good thinking to have a backup plan. I hope the plan B nursery turned out to be even better than you expected.

Put your name down early! I'm in London mine started nursery at 15 months. I reserved their place when they were a few days old and got the only remaining places for the days I wanted.

Get your name down as early as possible. I had my name down from as soon as I'd had the 12 week scan which meant he was able to start a few weeks ago at 3 months.

I looked at location, staff turnover, facilities and a bit of gut instinct when looking around. I'm very happy with my decision so far.

Oh and check ofsted reports. I also heavily googled the owners of the nursery 😃

Hi OP, if you have an N Family nursery somewhere near you, it’s worth a look. Our daughter is with N family and we think it’s great especially when comparing to the other local nurseries. Small groups and very personal care, we’re really happy there.