Nursery advice - Piplings or Le Nid

[Kitkat80]

Hi,

I was hoping someone might have some experience they could share please. We are lucky enough to have been offered a place at 2 lovely nurseries - Piplings and Le Nid (the new one on East Dulwich Grove). I'm terrified about going back to work and leaving my baby so trying to ensure I make the best choice. He'll be 11 months.

Piplings is well established and outstanding by Ofstead yet the management are extremely hard to get hold of. On my tour of the nursery, I was very impressed by the building and grounds but when I asked what a typical day might look like, the manager answered that the children do what they want but are encouraged to be outside all day come rain or shine. My favourite nursery by far was Little Jungle and is booked up unfortunately as I loved the sound of all the lovely little activities they do together there. Piplings also had some extremely small toys in the babies room such as little toy racing cars with little rubber wheels(which I'm probably being way too over cautious about as I do seem to worry more than my friends about these things!)

Le Nid is brand new so has had no formal inspections as yet but looks lovely. The management answer the phone when you call and are happy to answer any questions. However it is brand new and I think as with most nurseries the staff turnover is high. The structure of the child's day does seem clearer there.

It's very tricky as I can see both are good. I should have asked more questions at my tour at Piplings such as do the children all sit down to eat together at the table and do they have story times and other activities as I'm sure to get Outstanding by Ofstead they must do more than play outside all day. My little boy is very active and wants to climb everything so I'd worry if he was outside all day climbing when he is so little. Has anyone got any experience of Piplings they could share please or of Le Nid. A caring nurturing environment in which my baby feels secure and I feel well informed is most important as is teaching manners, sharing and kindness.

I originally thought to go with the most established outstanding one but actually Le Nid seems great but risky as it is new?!

Thank you so much for any experience or thoughts you can share :)

[Sue]

You'll probably have more responses if you post this in the family section of the forum?

Good luck!

[Kitkat80]

Thanks Sue, I've moved the thread to family :)

[Ginster]

Very happy with Le Nid for my 3 year old and the younger one will be going there too in a few months.

They sit together to eat, are outside a lot, have visitors doing things like dancing/singing and languages and the staff are lovely (and my daughter loves it and talks about it even when not there).

I did like Piplings but thought it was very expensive and then the days they offered me didn't match with what I needed so we went with a childminder until I wanted to move her to a nursery in a lead up to going to school. If you search on the Forum you can also find previous posts about Piplings to help your decision.

[Kitkat80]

Thanks so much Ginster. I think I might have the same with Pipligs in that I'd have to put him in full time but only need 4 days which might help me make my decision. Nice to know you are happy with Le Nid. It does sound great and is a really handy location too! Great if they have visitors in and activities together. I have a couple of weeks until deposits are due and final decision so will keep weighing up and pros and cons of both and listen to any further advice and experience others have had. Such a big decision but sounds like the care is fab in both nurseries which is the main thing. :)