Nursery school waiting lists and advice

[jonbateson]

Hi all,

We are currently living abroad but will return to east dulwich in 18 months time when our son will be nearly 3. What I need help with is..

A. What are the nursery choices in east dulwich?

B. How does nursery funding work?

C. Should I put him on a waiting list now?

I have tried the family services website but just keep going round in circles, if anyone can direct me to a more useful site, with this info on, I would be very grateful.

Thanks

[nylonmeals]

There are a ton of nuseries in the area (use the search functionality on this site to see the many threads about them all) ED has some great options, but you are right they get full up very quickly and I think worth contacting ones that you are interested in and asking them but I guess it can't hurt to be on a waiting list.

In terms of gov funding, from 3 I believe that everyone is entitled to 15 hours a week a free nursery care however as most of the ED nurseries are private they are not obliged to take governement nursery vouchers (somenoe step in if i am wrong) Places that you might not expect like the private nursery, pre prep and prep school Oakfields do for example.

In terms of a central web resource that has nursery info, I would try Southwark council and phone them and talk to someone. Usually they can send you a list of nurseries and childminders.

Hope that at least helps you start your nursery journey! Good luck

[Fidgetsmum]

Definitely get on waiting lists now. The good nurseries tend to have at least 12 month waiting lists. There's lots of choice, but there are a lot of families too, so I'd take nylonmeals' advice, check out Southwark's website for a list of nurseries and then trawl the EDF for recommendations. Although, in all honesty, you'll only know when you go and visit the place if it's right for you or not and you'll always have happy and non-happy parents at each nursery!

Good luck.