local private nursery VS quite far children centre which i have a very good feeling

[smallriver]

hello i am new here. our 3 1/2 years old daughter has started a nursery for a week now. she is only doing 3 hours in the afternoon. it is a private nursery in the area with ourstanding ofsted report(i dont' care much about this but FYI). everything else in the area is full and we can only get afternoon place with this private nursery.

my daughter is very attached to me. i am lucky that i don't have to work for the time being. that's why we have fun time together all the time. she is active, happy and talkative.

she doesn't show a sign of loving to go to school much. however she hasn't objected it just yet. last week i was there in the school but not in the room with her(not allowed). she kept running back to see me from time to time. when i was there at school, i didn't find the school particularly any good. i didn't find my daughter doing very much at school. she didn't seem to be very happy either. maybe she just needs time to settle in. today when i told her it was time to go school, she said she didn't want to go. she wanted to be with me. eventually we managed to get to school....

that was the background. the thing is we went to a children centre on London Open House weekend. we just went there to see the architecture. it is a new building. i fell in love with it. it has lots of natural light. the staff were friendly, my type of people(how can i explain this,...mmm people are friendly but only certain type that will become your friends.) we met the manager and the admin. we didn't meet any nursery staff nor seeing the kids in action.

i love the place and the staff. i believe happy staff run happy nursery. they have cooked meal provided(we have to pack lunch at the private one). i have better feeling towards the staff here more than the private nursery. i like the space more too. however the kids at the private nursery seem to be all well behaved and all came from well to do family. (the fee is expensive.) i have read some concern in other posts on children centre about rough kids. ofsted report of the children center is 'good'(not outstanding). the worst bit is children centre is 3 miles away, ahhh.

basically i love the children centre and the staff but it is far. i'd appreciate any comment and opinion, please.

is nursery about socializing with other kids and i shouldn't worry much?

BTW, i asked my daughter. she says she likes both places.

sorry if all these are not well written. i am a bit distracted but want to get this out of my chest

thank you thank you thank you and a big smile

Hi smallriver,

Have a look at this thread :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2320/604554

I am a big fan of my local CC and compared to private nurseries there is a bif difference in the quality and care the staff provide. For me, its down to profit (private) and non-profit (CC) and the CC wins hands down. Go with your gut-feel!

Good luck

Hi webchick we meet again funny to see the same question asked twice so quickly!!
I wonder if your cc is one 'near' me can you give me a clue about it? Are you in Lewisham? Is there a c in the initials?

Don't send her to the children's centre, rough kids might take advantage of her well behaved well to do family status.

colditz where did that come from?

to OP go and have a look at the place in action looks aren't everything, one of the best nurseries I've used looks dire and is 'attached' to an awful school

Hi 1dilemma no my CC is one run my Lambeth....it's just been through a tender process which I was involved in, which is prob why it's on my "MN Nurseries" hot topic radar!

I wondered about Lewisham from the SE bit most people call Lambeth SW (don't they she asks anxiously )
is it CM or WL? trying to think of the others there have been a couple of new ones I think recently!
Why were you involved in the tendering? (just nosy) does that mean it was a nursery that converted or is it run by an outside provider? I think MT used to be a nursery that converted
actually looking at the Lambeth council site loads of thier childrens centres are linked to primary schools

My advice is always the same: check out the nursery staff - the ones who will actually spend time with your child. That's the one thing that REALLY matters. No amount of cute toys, beautiful furniture, high-tech gadgets or nice architecture will impress your child if the staff are sh*t. 10 hours is a long time for a child, and if the staff that deal with your child are disinterested, rough and unapproachable, that will represent 10 hours of hell and misery for your child.

My advice is always the same: check out the nursery staff - the ones who will actually spend time with your child. That's the one thing that REALLY matters. No amount of cute toys, beautiful furniture, high-tech gadgets or nice architecture will impress your child if the staff are sh*t. 10 hours is a long time for a child, and if the staff that deal with your child are disinterested, rough and unapproachable, that will represent 10 hours of hell and misery for your child.

If the CC is so far away, will they take your dd?

I ask because ours only takes children from certain areas. The idea behind it is that local children get the opportunity to use it rather than it being filled with children whose parents who like it but live miles away and would have to drive their dc there, which would not be an option for many of the families for whom it is the closest nursery.

i will just have to cycle her there. we're going to see it in action and see the staff next week. we're far away but the manager says we stand a chance since not many people know about the place and it'not very overbooked.

we actually first applied for state school and cc in the area but they were all full up to the brim. we live 3 blocks aways from the nearest state nursery(with 48 spaces available) but we still could not get in. we had to bite our teeth and went for this private one otherwise our DD will end up staying at home, not getting to socialize with other kids and not experiencing being with teachers...