Advice wanted: finding a nursery place at short notice

[Bullhespy08]

Help! I am in search of advice on how best to arrange permanent childcare (preferably at a nursery) at short notice in London. My husband and I currently live abroad with our 5 month-old son. We will be returning to London at the start of September when my son will be 11 months old. My husband will be starting work as soon as we return and I will be starting work within 3 weeks of moving back to London. We do not yet know where in London we will end up living and I do not know if I will be working on a part-time or full-time basis. Ideally, I'd like to get my son into a nursery but I've heard we would need to have his name down months in advance. Any advice on how we can do this when we don't know where exactly in London we will be living and how many days each week I'll be working until 3 weeks before we need the childcare to start????

good luck with that!

Have you thought about getting a nanny?

Most nurseries have waiting lists for babies

Once you know where you will be living you will have to phone every nursery within a reasonable distance to find out about vacancies

September is when some nurseries, child minders and nannies have vacancies/need positions, as it is the beginning of the school year. However, you do need to know where you will be!

Nursery places in London can be very difficult to get, and some need far more than just a few months in advance, more like a year or so! (Although you might get lucky as some areas have been really hit hard by the mass of firings in the city)

A nanny would probably be easier, and 3 weeks notice could be enough time to find one, but you will need to dedicate a lot of time and energy to it. There are nanny agencies, and websites where nannies can put their CVs and you can look through them for a small fee. Or, you could put your own ad on one of those sites!

Many thanks for the replies so far. We have an idea of where we want to live but won't have an address until September. If we were to target nurseries in a particular area, do you think they would accept us on to their waiting lists without us having a London address yet?

Can't hurt to try!