Would you choose the cheaper nursery or pay more for forest nursery?

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would you pick a cheap and cheerful nursery for £800 p/m for 3 days. The rooms are smaller and darker and theres very tiny concrete courtyard outside as the only outdoor space. Place seems friendly and kind but older scruffy toys. Good reviews (4.7), parents seem happy, no bad reviews. i would have no worries that my child would be treated well.

Or an amazing forest nursery for £1200 p/m for 3 days. 5 star all around. Larger outdoor space, very friendly and professional and on the ball, lots of outdoor activities, lots off light. Feels much higher standard with a great website talking about outdoor learning through play. It feeds into the local primary school and i feel would have a better chance of meeting mum friends but that's just because i've walked past them when they all collect. If we had more money i would pick this.

£400 is alot and we would feel it. We are not well off but also wouldn't go into dept. It would be the difference of putting the money into more days out and having more wiggle room financially, putting more away in savings/ towards holiday fund. We live a frugal life style, have a good enough savings pot to fall back on that we don't need to be topping up savings but need to heavily budget.

My feelings are all over the place. i hugely feel a pull towards the forrest nursery, but then i feel the pinch and think how much more fun we could have on weekends and days out with that money.

Out of these I’d go for Forest, although I’d also look for a compromise. Also if it’s a feeder and the school is oversubscribed that’d be a deal breaker for me.

OP is in Scotland, we don’t have feeder nurseries. Children just go to the school in their catchment area. You don’t apply to multiple schools or anything like that. If you live in the catchment area for Green Primary School then you go to Green Primary School, even if you attend a nursery 20 miles away in another town.

I presume OP means it’s linked with the primary school in some way but all nurseries ‘link in’ to the primary schools in their area for visits for school starters etc.

OP doesn’t have the 30 feee hours in Scotland.

Ok, so otherwise it’s 30 free hours a week then?

Personally I'd go with the forest school option.

Although I think you need to factor your child's personality into it. Even early on I could tell that my child didn't like busy environments with loads of other kids, so would have found regular nursery with small rooms and limited outdoor space hard. Whereas an outdoor nursery would have been much less overwhelming for him on many levels.

Presuming she will eventually but her DC is under 3 hence the cost. We only have the 30 hours free here for children 3 and up.

I personally would decide by the general atmosphere ie happy,engaged staff ,staff turnover ,variety of activities etc. I wouldn’t necessarily be influenced by ‘Forest school’ whatever that means . A decent nursery would take the children outside to a play park ,walks daily etc .

I assume you’re getting 30 free hours for the nursery you use to only cost £80/month. I was just explaining why it was significantly more expensive for the OP.

Sorry replied to the wrong person with this one!

I’m not in the UK. No free hours. It’s £80 a month regardless of hours.

Well it’s free if you are on maternity leave with a sibling or unemployed.

Both sound like really decent places. It depends how much you would feel it financially. One advantage of forest school to factor into the financials though is a much higher likelihood of needing to take time off with DC being unwell (or you catching more illnesses).

My DD went to a nursery in a big old building with big windows and plenty of outdoor space and she just loved being outdoors - they were out even in the rain, they just put their puddle suits and wellies on and carried on!

Have you thought about actually how much the weekend activities you want to do would cost per month? Little kids aren't usually bothered about going places that cost loads of money, they're just as happy with the park, library etc. and UK seaside holidays. Only you can decide what's best for your family but I would pick the forest school one every time unless my budget was so tight that I couldn't realistically afford it.

We don't have in the budget for any holidays or luxuries. The £1200 a month will mean we don't save anything and live frugally but we also don't dip into savings. If we want to go on holidays or more days our then we will dip into savings.

The £800 a month option means we can put money away for holidays, more days out, and even top up savings

These are the only two nurseries within 20m walk, i really would rather not drive as we already juggle one car between the two if us

by feeding i mean that its in the catchment area for my primary school so all the kids who go there will likely go to the same primary school. The other nursery is 15m in the other direction and in the catchment area for a different primary school, so i expect most of the kids will go to the other primary.

Depends on what he's doing when he's not in nursery?

If he's at home crafting/puzzles/TV, then forest school.

If he has plenty of time outdoors during spare time, the other nursery.

I'd pick the non forest option personally

£400 is a lot of money

It sounds like the cheaper option is the one that allows you to go on holiday, so this would benefit the whole family whereas the more expensive nursery may benefit your child, but at a cost to the rest of your family. Maybe ask at the cheaper nursery if they take the children to a nearby park etc to allow for more outdoor time? That could make it a better compromise, but from what you say it sounds like you would be happy to send your child there as it is. Definitely not an easy decision though.

@ThePurpleMoose the do take them to the park but it's not every day

Forest school. No question about it. Toddlers cooped up inside all day every day till be going absolutely potty. I actually chose a "less good" nursery with a large garden and biking area over a "better" nursery which had a tiny courtyard and took the children out to the park to make up for it.

Granted, there was much less of a financial difference.

I think your little one would be fine with either but the small concrete outside area doesn't sound at all appealing if it's empty. Does it have outside playground stuff?

What does being in Scotland have to do with funded hours or tax free childcare if they’re over 3? How old is your child, we don’t yet get 30h here but there is TFC.

Forest option.

Children need outdoor space.

Better to have that every one of the three days a week rather than 3 days a week cooped up plus the occasional outing from home.

Mind you it's all ridiculous money. I can't imagine how you will be in pocket over it from working.

Child will be 9 months when they go

Have you checked their most recent care inspectorate reports?