Best nurseries in Manchester for future independent school applications?

[TheCyanSheep]

Hi mums,
I am a new mum in Manchester and my daughter is 10 months old and im thinking of enrolling her into nursery from next month because im now going back to work.From the age of 3 I would want her in schools like Manchester girls , Whittington Lady Barn etc and from research the nursery she goes to could play a massive role in admissions and preps for those schools. I am looking for a really good nursery (preferably private as I assume these are the best) but open to suggestions i have looked at Moor Allerton nursery Kids Planet Salford Quays is it good and are there any other good choices, I would really want the best education for my daughter.

I don’t mind location as I work from home and can travel to drop and pick i just really want the best for her.
thank you

Don’t make the mistake in thinking private = better when it comes to nurseries. Some will be absolutely brilliant but many are not. You need to look at OFSTED reports and reviews, then visit them. You might find that the best ones will be full though and only have waiting lists!

There are two nurseries in my little town. One has the worst OFSTED rating in the area, and is failing in several areas including safeguarding. They struggle to keep staff and have a high turnover of young inexperienced staff

The other in the next street is rated outstanding by ofsted with happy staff who have been there for years (decades) and with about 150 years experience between them, including specialist training in many areas.

One is a not for profit organisation, the other is part of the local private school. Which do you reckon is which? 🤔

The nursery they go to is going to make no difference to them getting into the nursery at MHSG or Ladybarn at 3. You’ll just need to get your name on a waiting list and parent them so they’re not totally feral if they have a stay and play session - which I’m sure you’d be doing anyway! Withington doesn’t take kids until age 7 anyway. I’d be a bit caution of starting at Moor Allerton if that’s not where you’d want her to go for prep since you might find yourself inadvertently “funnelled” into the school with everyone else. That’s not necessarily an issue though since it’s a nice school. What area are you in? Even if you’re able to travel a fair distance no one wants to be running from Bolton to Alderley several times a week and MHSG and WGS both have kids coming from those places. I think the best thing to do is look at a nursery where the staff seem nice and happy, the rooms are clean and well set up, and they have some sort of schedule/system of activities as they get a bit older. DD is at a Montessori nursery which we think is amazing and at 17 months we can see the progress towards independence that she’s making but not all Montessoris are equal so if you look round one it’s worth asking some questions to try to work out what they mean by being Montessori

To be honest though if you’d like her in from next month you might just have to take what you can get - we had DD’s name down from 6 months before she was born

Surely you'd have needed to put her name down on a list months ago for a starting date next month?

“from research the nursery she goes to could play a massive role in admissions and preps for those schools.”

Where have you read this? I don’t think any nurseries specifically prepare for these types of school. I’d just go and look round your local nurseries to get a feel. Though you’re leaving it a bit late tbh if you’re going going back to work next month! It’s normal to look around nurseries when you’re pregnant. You’ll get a place somewhere but the nicer ones will have a waiting list

Not In Manchester, just reading out of curiosity. I teach in a selective independent school and honestly the only way which nursery your child attends will affect your application is if it’s our nursery. And saying that we still sometimes reject from our own nursery.

I don’t know the Manchester context, but I’d be surprised if you could get a source at a month’s notice in a Nursery that would be off the standard you are looking for.