Entirely confused please help re nursery, creche, kindergarten.

[shinybaubles]

Hello
Can any of you kind mumsnetters point me in the right directions, we currently live in Belgium and it looks as though we will be returning to the UK in the summer of 2012. I have a ds1 who will be 6 then - so I am thinking he will be going to primary school, but also have ds2 who will be 2 1/2 then he is currently in creche here, what should I be looking for in the UK for him would it be a nursery, kindergarten, creche, - I don't actually know. Could someone let me know what I should be looking for, and also an approximate idea of cost just so I can start planning. Here his creche fulltime costs approx 500 euros a month.

Whereabouts will you be moving to? For your older one you need to look into transferring into year 1 or 2. You need to check with your local authority in the area you'll be moving to. They tend to take place in June but they can only let you in if the school has spaces so might be good idea to check out a few of the schools in the area. You can look up ofsted for school inspection reports.

For younger one, private nursery costs is roughly £40/day (in London and v surrounding areas will be more like £50). If you are uk or eu you will get 15 h free per week in the term after your child turns 3. If you work or dh works for a co that does childcare vouchers take it up. It allows you to pay for childcare up to £243 taxfree through salary sacrifice scheme. So if say salary is £2000 before tax you get to deduct £243 from it to pay nursery. And you will only be taxed on £1757. Which is great. Any extra for childcare costs then come out of your bank acc. Both of you can claim it so you can save quite a lot (243x2). The ratio is 1adult to 3babies up to age 2. Then 1 to 4 up to age 3. Then 1to 8 up to preschool age. In England children start infant or reception year the year after they turn 4. School starts September.

Hope this helps!

In my area of London private nursery fees are more like £60-85 per day. However there are a couple of not for profit playgroups that take kids from 2 or 2.5 and are much cheaper eg. One is £45 per wk for 5 mornings but they don't offer whole day sessions. Then the September after your little one is 3 they could go to a school nursery or other preschool for 15 hrs per week termtime (round here normally offered as 5 mornings or afternoons) free of charge as mentioned by the previous poster, or you can obviously continue to pay privately and deduct the 15 hrs entitlement.

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for the delay in replying. We won't be in London - not sure where yet - another problem - but maybe bucks. So we would really be paying double what we pay here - that's interesting and scary. Maybe a nanny would cost approx the same. Many interesting points raised.