How much do you pay for playgroup?

[thatsnotmymonster]

If your child is at playgroup, how much is it and what's it like? Is it worth the money and can you pay per session or is it a weekly fee only?

My dd is now 3yrs, so gets her five 2.5hr sessions a week paid for by the government, however her playgroup takes children from 2.5yrs and charges £9.50 a session, which is 9am to 11.45am.

You can't pay per session, or even weekly, you say which days you want your child to attend at the beginning of the year and pay termly.

Personally I waited until I got my government funding before starting her, but this is because I don't work and couldn't afford it before then, but I would say it would be worth the £9.50. This covers staff costs, materials, snack, heating, building upkeep etc, it is not a profit making group and we all help with fund raising activities to help buy new equipment etc.

Wow £9.50 is a lot! DS used to go to one and it was £11 a week, it has relocated and I went to visit this morning to see what it is like now and was told it is now £20 a week. I wouldn't mind so much if it was good but it is just a big room with hardly any toys and tables with a few jigsaws on. Plus I know for a fact that the ladies running it are lazy and scream at the kids

DS and DD1 are both at preschool nursery every morning but I would like dd2 to be able to have a couple mornings somewhere to give me a break but I can't afford £90 a month anyway.

That sounds like a terrible group

Know what you mean about cost though, I also have a 2.5yr old ds, I'd love him to go to the same playgroup as dd (she goes there rather than preschool as it's situated in the playground of the primary school she'll be attending)I know he'd love it, and I'd like a break to get other stuff done, but at £9.50 a session it's not going to happen.

Like I say though it is a really great one, fantastic fully trained staff, great equipment, lovely outdoor area, maybe that's why it costs so much? I was just discussing with a friend who takes her dd (2.5yrs) to a group which only costs £2.50 for 2.5 hours, and she thinks it's great, so guess it varies a lot.

I've just started looking at preschools and my favourite so far (and it really is fantastic) is £9 per session. I've seen another which is £5.50 but it wasn't somewhere that I would be happy to leave DS.

Ours is £9 per session for three hours.

Ours is £9.50 for 2.5 hours. I think it is ok for the level of care my ds receives.

and I thought £4 a session was expensive.

ours is £8 for 2 and a half hours, and £4 for one and a half hours of lunch club

My DD just started playgroup today and its £7.00 for a session 9.00 - 11.30.

She is just going for 2 sessions per wk atm as she is just 2

Oh, this is interesting. I'm on playgroup cttee this year, and our funded places are paid for at £9 for a 2.5 hour session, but for non funded children it's £4.50. It's a fantastic group, with committed, friendly and imaginative staff, and all the children love it, but it's struggling financially (have to rent church hall as there are no council buildings in our village, etc). I've been saying we need to raise fees - it's that or lose staff, tbh - and it isn't a deprived area, so it's interesting to see the variation of costs on this thread. Could people also say roughly where in the country they are?

dd not at pre school anymore, she left at xmas, it was £12.50 for 3 hour session, you could put the free session thingy towards it and then pay the rest

i'm in se. london/kent borders

I'm in Yorkshire and the playgroup Ds went to last year was £6.00 per session for 2 1/2 hours. You signed up for a set number of sessions and paid whether they attended or not.

The staff were lovely and always had time for both ds and me if I needed advice. They also ran the mums and tots group we had attended for a couple of years so we were both comfortable with them.

They had a good range of equipment and activities and took kids on a couple of outings too (Nature walk and train/bus trip). Ds had a very happy year there and i cried when he left.

Habbibu - I'm in Harrogate, and the £9.50 per session seems pretty normal here, the non-funded places pay the full £9.50, and those with funded places still pay the extra 50p per session to go towards providing fruit, milk etc for snack. As I mentioned earlier, we still have to fund raise on top of this, we hold a yearly jumble sale and have cake bakes, stall at the school fair etc. to raise extra cash.

Ours is £10.50 a session for 3 hours. It is free once you get to age 3. You are meant to pay weekly for what you have but basically you could sort something out if you needed to pay per session.

£10.50 is on the more expensive side for the town here (North Hants) but is miles cheaper than a nursery or one of the posh village preschools round here, but when I say more expensive the cheap ones are £9. The £9 ones tend to be non profit making but seem to have endless fund raising things, and the only people that contribute to the fund raising are the parents, so why not just charge them a bit more?!

Our sessions are toys, some going outside to do activities, books, puzzles, lots of craft, climbing, ride ons, pretty good toys really and nice staff. Grotty building.

£13.50 per session (2hrs 45 mins)

• £3 for lunch club (45 mins)

Very expensive compared to the others here . Just a church hall type one, with 3 rooms. They are absolutely fantastic though. ds loves it there and gets a huge amount out of it. He has learnt so many songs and they do a creative activity each day.
You sign up for certain days every week and then pay termly.
South Herts

I'm in West London and pay 9.50 for 2hr 15mins and ds1 loves, loves, loves it. In fact if they turned it into a boarding playgroup he'd be there like a shot .

It is totally worth it though I wish it was a bit longer as I can't get much done by the time I'm home (20min walk each way).

Crumbs we've just put our fees up to £6.50 but perhaps we should have gone higher!
As a parent of a child there (I'm also Chair) I'd pay up to £10 per session (2.5 hours). The staff are amazing and it's a wonderful pre-school, but then I would say that!

DD left pre-school at Christmas. It was £8.50 a session (2.5 hours) for non-funded children I think and £3.50 for 1 hour lunch club.

We're on North Herts/Beds border.

Wow! Dd's lovely old playgroup in north London (N16) was £15 per week (9-11.30am, signed up to every day but I didn't usually send her every day). Then free with the 3yr old funding. ..

It was private/voluntary aided but attached to the school, don't know if that made a difference.

Hi my toddler is 18 mnths and I really want her to go to some preschool or a place where she can meet other kids..but can not identify a gud place with low rate..can anyone suggest..my postcode is (mk9)

7.50 per session (9-12 or 12-3 though you can add lunch to the morning session too or do all day) and its a fantastic playgroup with good facilities and a large garden plus brilliant staff

Is playgroup the same thing as nursery? Because I'm tempted to come live in England with these prices!

I pay $AU65/day (about 25 quid) for childcare for my 15 month old, which is the standard price around here. She's there for about 8 hours, but it's the same price whether she was there from open to close (6am to 6pm) or just popped in for a couple of hours.