Nursery / childminder search

[CarolineW]

Hello, I'm looking for a nursery or childminder from next year for my baby, who will be 10 months by then. I've been thinking of Cuddly Bear, but I've also seen websites for Crystal Day Nursery and Cherish Day Nursery. Does anyone have experience or recommendations? I'm the Lawrie Park Road end of Sydenham. Thanks.

[Parkrunner]

Ours go to Townsend Montessori in Forest Hill and we're very happy with it. Not the closest but it has lovely outside space and a great pre-school room. It's only a 5-minute walk from Forest Hill station so an easy enough onward commute once you've dropped them off. Think the waiting list is quite long though (as with all good nurseries, I imagine). Good luck with your search!

[Mazzer]

Both my kids go to crystal day nursery and they love it there. Everyone I know with kids there has been very happy with the place.

Marie

[syd parker]

Hi, we have been doing the same search - about a year ago and more recently, for our older child. My two cents:

Cuddly Bear - we decided against it but if you haven't had a look round yet, go and decide for yourself. Reasons: the building isn't a great space - very little outdoor space (outdoor time was important for us) and the whole church building was open-plan, not separate rooms (kids of different ages kind of penned off) which I think just makes it a noisier and more stressful environment for a young toddler. The baby room seemed quite nice but they were a bit 'routine' heavy for us (you and your baby may like routine though!) - they were the only nursery we looked round that specified nap times for babies for example, rather than letting them sleep when they wanted.

Cherish - haven't looked around since the new owners took over so can't comment on what they've done. It's a good space though, more secluded from the street than CB and has a much bigger space for playing outside.

Townsend Montessori - Hear lots of good things about this and the rooms and the staff seemed good when I looked round. Very convenient if you take the Sydenham/Forest Hill line in the morning. At the time, the manager put me off, but she has apparently been replaced.

Rubadubs - if we had ended up choosing a nursery it would have been this one. Good spaces, good outside space (although a yard, not a garden). Staff amazing, lovely baby room that really understood the needs of babies. Convenient for FH station.

In the end, we went with a childminder, because we were looking for care for an 11 month old and it just seemed much a more appropriate environment than a nursery. Looking again, because I think the older guy would benefit from a little nursery now! Don't discount childminders, they have a lot of advantages. I signed up to childcare.co.uk to find one - there was a small charge, but it only took a few weeks, I met about 4 and I am so so happy with our choice!

[Cherish Day Nursery]

Hi All,

Please do check out our relatively new nursery website which has our recent 'Good' graded Early Years Register inspection report from Ofsted - http://cherishdaynursery.com/

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Thanks,

Cherish Day Nursery