STREATHAM nursery recommendations - help a complete novice!

[Boobz]

Hi all. Looking for some sage advice here have started to look at nurseries in Streatham, SW London, and have booked in about 7 appointments next Monday to take a look at them all. The prices seem to vary from £35 a day to £60 a day, and I wondered what could make a nursery twice as expensive. Can anyone who has a baby / toddler in a Streatham nursery give me details of their experience where does your LO go and can you recommend it?

Am pregnant, first baby, and need a place from Sept 2009 so have started early (or have I?) ANY comments on nurseries in Streatham would be really helpful.

Thanks - Ali xxx

My ds went to Teddies in Streatham for a little while. The staff and facilities were very nice, but I'm not sure it was nice enough to justify the cost which was at least £60 a day. The high price was mostly cos of the name/corporate nature I think, which did give me some reassurance, but regardless of that, DS kept catching bugs and having to be off so I felt like I was throwing the money away. I switched to a childminder instead which suits him/me much better. So in summary, Teddies is pretty good, but expensive so definitely worth shopping around... or trying a childminder!

Also, other ones I thought looked pretty good were the Kiddi Caru next to Sainsbury's and the Tenderlinks on Mitcham Lane. Obviously I chose Teddies over them but they're worth a nosey to get a feel for what's out there.

Look at ofsted enter your postcode and use drop down menu to select type of provider - nursery.

you can access reports
do ask other mums
word of mouth
do visits (planned and unplanned)

i had my baby nursery place booked when i was 12week pg as it had 1yr+ waiting list

so yes do get in early you also pay a deposit to secure place

Several MN-ers have been very very happy with Elm Park Nursery. It is on Clarence Ave so on the borders of Streatham, but easy to get to. We visited and were impressed - didn't end up there, but not because we didn't like it.

Thanks for your help everyone. I have Teddies and Tenderlinks on my list for Monday so will know more then. Where did you end up going then Blu? Will check out Elm Park as well.

Cherubins on Palace rd - it was brilliant then - just opened - but have no experience of it several years on.

No batters - how do I get an email? I haven't set up an account on here. But you can email on ali_bishop at hotmail dot com

xxx

My 1 year old ds has been at abacus in streatham for a week (plus a week's trial) and is thriving - the staff are really lovely & caring and they do lots of activities with them. The one thing I would say is they are not very forthcoming with details of what he has done in the day but they answer all my questions and I am probably just over-anxious cos it's his first week.

Hello
I have two children at Bright Futures Nursery on Eardly Road. Its opposite Streatham Common Station (so thats handy).

They love it. My older child, 3 years, shoots through the nursery's front door and I have to drag him out. The nursery is small and the children are grouped in small numbers. In my 3 year olds child's room there is only 8 children max and in my baby's room there is 12 children max. I like it that way as both of my children have thrived from the extra time the staff have with them.

I spent a long time looking around for the perfect place. Being a qualified childcare practitioner myself, I found fault with every nursery I visited. I know how you feel and you are right to be looking early.

But the manager at bright futures was very reasuring and I could take as long as I liked to settle my children in.

When you go out on your visites ask about menus, routines, curriculum and make sure they can fit around your child's routine and not the other way around

hi boobz

i am new to this site, also starting to think about child care in streatham/streatham hill/balham area. wondering if you had any comments after your post of 21 oct last year when you were visiting the various nurseries?

DB

Hello MrsL1 - I've just signed up my PFB at Bright Futures, having been very impressed when I first saw it, especially with the manager, and not so happy with the other two I saw.

Given I was so happy with BF, I decided not to bother looking at any others as they wouldn't be on my way to work so add lots of time to the day.

Attitude of the staff was my #1 issue - did I feel they would be nice to a small crying baby? Was a bit nervous of the one that wouldn't let me look round until 2 weeks later... the other two both said 'how about tomorrow?'

Hi all

Thank you for all the advice on Streatham nurseries. I am thinking of going back to work and therefore found all the comments very interesting! Has anyone heard anything about Baby Elephants nursery on Leigham Court drive? This nursery is near us.

Thanks again

Any feedback on cherubins, abacus or first steps??
This nusery hunting is so so so so so hard!!

my son started at baby elephants two weeks ago - he's 9months old. He seems to really enjoy it, laughs and giggles when we arrive in the morning, same when we pick him up - he's crawling and standing all of a sudden! The women who run it are lovely, a mother and daughter team - though the daughter is hvaing her own baby in the autumn and she's brill so hope it's still as good (they have another childminder who works there too)

The main room for the children is quite small and packed with toys but they have a big garden which is great when it's fine weather.

The children all seem really contented and happy, they do what their told without any hard discipline going on (not while I hung out two afternoons to get my baby used to it) and the house seems really clean. The atmosphere is just very realxed which I liked for a baby.

My friend has twins at Abacus and adores it....

Hi please no one put their children into cherubins day nursery on palace road.. The first day they let my son nearly suffocate on his front as his head was not strong enough, the next day a boy who was much bigger fell on him and started shaking him.. They did nothing as they were not aware I was watching them and on the third day they let him bang his head on a toy and put his straight to bed when everyone knows you should wait atleast an hour before doing that.. After that i'd had enough and pulled him out but I just wish I'd done it earlier!

my son went to cherubins on palace road from 6 months, the baby room is really excellent and when he moved to the older room he also loved it - very much recommended, they are flexible and accommodating, good realxed and friendly place.

I checked out Baby Elephants (actually they are childminders and not a nursery) and although the staff working with the children seemed friendly enough, I felt that the space was just too small for the number of children they had (and I was told they could take more in!). The garden I felt was very small. I did not go to this nursery.

I also checked out Abacus Streatham recently and liked that one, although it is bigger than Baby Elephants so obviously not comparing like with like.