Asquith nurseries - how much do they charge?

trainspotter

Does anyone know how much the Finsbury Park or Crouch Hill Asquith nursery charge for a 2 year old? It doesn't say on their website and they won't tell me unless I book in for a visit and share lots of personal info which I know from previous experience they will then use to harass me with for ever more. I'd rather avoid that if it's way over my budget in any event. Thanks everyone.

Papa

My daughter is 3 and it's about £90 a day - I imagine a 2-year-old is slightly more

trainspotter

Ouch, thanks Papa. We only pay £65 at little stars, which is brilliant but only caters for under 2s, and I expected it to be more to reflect the longer hours but not that much more.

Ali

Find out if your employer does Childcare Vouchers could help you pay less Background here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/childcare-vouchers

Papa

It's expensive, in my experience nurseries are. And the 15 hours free childcare is a racket. It's only term time, it's pro rata so you can't get it unless your kid is at nursery every day, and the nurseries charge extra for admin and food. We're lucky my mum looks after my daughter two days a week and she only goes to nursery two days, still costs more than £600 a month including free hours. Childcare vouchers help but barely make a dent.

Ali

Some one has to pay for it being provided. Should it be "free" government provided service? The cost doesn't last for ever although if you have a couple of kids it is quite a few years you will have to pay out. Remember it well

trainspotter

Thanks for the info. Yes, I have childcare vouchers. They don't go far though. Ali - I actually have quite a lot of ideas about how we could make childcare more affordable - eg spread the cost over more years like student fees - or provide more wrap-around care so school nurseries are viable for working parents, but I wasn't actually arguing that here. As it happens it's 50% more than my current (private) nursery charges for under 2s, which has a higher staff ratio and gives excellent care, so it does seem very pricey. Sadly the more reasonably-priced Rainbow nursery, which my elder daughter went to, is no more and the excellent Bowlers, North Islington and Mary MacMillan, which are £65 a day, prioritise Islington residents so we are extremely unlikely to get a place so there's not a lot of choice. I did make full use of my 15 hours though at Stroud Green School which I can applaud. I got half day on Wed, plus Thurs and Fri school days for free - then topped it up with their excellent breakfast, after-school and holiday clubs which, unusually, they offer to 3 year olds. It's the 2-3 year that I'm struggling with since Rainbow closed.

Papa

Ali, but [childcare in the UK is hugely more expensive than across Europe](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3831626/UK-childcare-expensive-world-Families-spend-income-nurseries-childminders.html "childcare in the UK is hugely more expensive than across Europe"). I struggle to understand why that needs to be the case. The idea of making it cheaper is to make work pay and enable more people to get out and work, which is theoretically good for the economy. It's also good for working mums - who the burden of childcare still mainly falls on and who end up working for very little pay, once the cost of having kids looked after is covered. It's also a huge issue for single parents - who get even more hammered. Even if we didn't actually put more money into subsidising childcare through lower prices, at least making a lot more of it tax-free by dramatically increasing the childcare vouchers limit would help. This new system they are bringing in is actually less generous for many. As I said, I consider myself pretty lucky in this, as my mum helps massively. I feel for those who don't have that kind of benefit.

Ilovegreyhounds

@trainspotter at an open day in spring 2015 Asquith said their fee was £110 per day for a two yr old.

Have you considered Little Jewels or the Hornsey Day Nursery?

Agree that Rainbow was great for that age group and greatly missed. Hopefully the new head will overturn the decision.

Ali

I agree that Commoin good view should be taken on this as that was where wasmoiving to when Tony Blair and co were in power. Rainbow and the Sure start place at SG school was great but it was killed off by Toiry policies on austerity and pushing private sector delivery.

grenners

What is this "new system"? I have got a 5 month year old. I'm self employed through a limited company. What tax breaks on child care can I get?

grenners

5 month old baby boy.....!

Mirandola

My three year old had been at the Hornsey Day Nursery for over a year and has been very happy and well looked after there. We had been going to send him to the Asquith, but in the end had to find a place at very short notice and Hornsey Day had a vacancy. - and were a lot cheaper.

trainspotter

Thanks all for your responses which I have belatedly seen now the site's back (*hurrah*). £110 is definitely way over our budget and to be honest I can't see that it offers value compared to the alternatives, albeit that those alternatives are further away. I'd walk quite far for £50 a day! I haven't checked out Hornsey Day Nursery - thanks for that suggestion Mirandola. We are actually the other side of Stroud Green so it's quite far for us, but could be worth considering. Since I posted I have discovered the relatively new Castle View nursery, which is not that far from Manor House and looks very nice, although unfortunately I don't think you can access it from Seven Sisters Road, so it is still quite far. I did visit Little Jewels, but to be honest liked it less as it seemed a bit chaotic and is quite close to a busy polluted road, though I have heard good things from parents. I think I might be favouring Blythwood nursery if we can get a place though as it's closer to my daughter's school and , while it doesn't get a standout score in any of my categories, it ticks most of my boxes. I am struggling to find much in the way of parent testimony though and have asked about it on here before but got no replies. It is also run by Islington Council but they seemed more confident than Bowlers or North Islington about being able to offer Haringey residents a place - presumably as the facilities are less nice - but are there any other reasons it's less popular? I also heard great things about a childminder called Storm, but she doesn't have any current vacancies - and someone has contacted my about the possibility of a nannyshare. So I am confident we'll sort something out, but if anyone hears any rumours about new nurseries opening/reopening or extending their provision please keep me posted! Stationers' playgroup is extending their hours to cover the whole school day, but the lack of holiday cover would prove our undoing, I fear.

Papa

Grenners, it is basically a tax-free childcare scheme with a top up similar to how pension tax relief works. You pay in money, government tops it up with equivalent of basic rate of tax. So you put in 80p, it goes up to £1 That's a 25 per cent uplift equivalent to the 20% tax you had taken off in the first place. You do it yourself not through work, ie you pay into an account. Means self-employed can take advantage too. Initial outline is that both parents must be working and earn between about £6,000 and £100,000 a year. Government has said its maximum contribution will be £2,000 per child (ie if you have paid in £8,000 that's the max top-up). This is less generous because at the moment the salary sacrifice scheme means that a basic rate taxpayer doesn't pay tax and NI (which totals 32%), whereas the new one means they get the equivalent of basic rate tax relief (so 20%). It is, however, good news if you are self-employed and thus shut out of childcare vouchers at the moment.

grenners

Isn't the price just higher because most people get some kind of discount? It's like lowering stamp duty for first time buyers would simply increase prices. Usual government nonsense. There should be more nurserys and they should be given huge tax breaks so prices decrease.

TheMimsy

@ Mirandola: is Hornsey Day Nursery the one at the corner with Spears Road?

Ali

Grenners have a look here, it is all explained been doing it for ages http://www.sjdaccountancy.com/about/ourservices/childcare_vouchers_contractor_guide.html

trainspotter

Grenners - I would say no, on the whole, because childcare fees don't only reflect supply and demand but also high overheads. The tax breaks are valid for state and third sector childcare whose fees reflect the costs of providing the service, not just private sector provision - and private providers are in effect competing with these alternatives so that (should) keep their prices competitive too (though clearly not Asquith's, who seem to be benefitting from a bit of a local monopoly!)

Mirandola

@TheMimsy, Yes, that's the under-2s site. The over twos go further up Crouch Hill in New Orleans Walk.

grenners

Ali. Thanks for that. Very helpful. Not sure exactly what we will do yet we won't need nursery for another 7 months at least and then my wife will be back at work. Do you use the accountancy firm in the link?

Ali

Yes they just won a big award voted for by the public. Found them to be very good

grenners

Ali, they look worthy of further investigation. My local accountant is cheap but not hugely forthcoming with advice. Looks like i might be able to have a more reassuring chat with them on IR35 and some other issues.......are they expensive and do they want to charge extras for snippets of advice?

Ali

It is a fixed fee, you can see them face to face anytime you want at Liverpool street. Fees are on tgs website. uyr get a response same day if not you get that months fee back

trainspotter

Thanks everyone for the info above. I thought I'd update that I've signed my daughter up with Blythwood nursery. It's run by Islington Council but unlike North Islington they say they have space for Haringey children. Upon revisiting it it looked better than I remembered - on the first visit the big main room was packed away and I got the impression it was never used but it was set out and big and bright. It's £65 a day for Haringey residents so a lot cheaper than Asquith. I thought it might be worth mentioning in case anyone else is also looking for a nursery in Stroud Green. In the meantime her current nursery, Little Stars, was inspected by Ofsted and got "outstanding" which was richly deserved, imo, but might mean it is even harder to get a place from now on.

grenners

@trainspotter we have a 7 month old and are thinking about options in 5 months time when my wife may return to work part time. We have a friend who just pulled their child out of Asquith as they said it was way too expensive and not so great. Just out of curiosity why did you leave Little Stars?

trainspotter

@grenners, I wouldn't by choice, I honestly live it there. Both of my girls have been through there and they feel like family. But they only take them until aged 2 and then you're supposed to move to their sister Nursery,Starshine in crouch end. That's a bit of a hike in the wrong direction for the station, the hours are already a bit tight for us and it's on a bit of a main road. None of those are dealbreakers in themselves but in combination they mean I have decided to go with Blythwood instead. It is not as convenient as little stars but it feels more like part of Stroud Green so maybe we will get to know some of the children she'll go to school with etc. My elder daughter moved on to rainbow at Stroud Green school which used to take 2 year olds but sadly no longer. It's a disadvantage having to move on but for the year or so that your baby would be the right age I would recommend it highly. If you're Islington side of Stroud Green there are other good options too - bowlers and North Islington but they rarely have out of borough places.

I decided against Asquith as a result of a combination of price, mixed feedback and an annoyingly corporate feel. Not even being able to get simple info without them going into hard sell mode got me off on the wrong foot. For the difference in price I'd probably rather walk to Starshine anyway.

grenners

@trainspotter thanks. It's a difficult decision. We did inspect Little Stars as that's the nearest to where we live but we didn't get great vibes, the person in charge seemed very stressed. Asquith send us all sorts of corporate bumph in the post and I'd rather not pay their fees......and I hadn't heard of Blythwood until now so thanks for that but it says on their site min age is 18 months. We will have to look into it again in more detail. Maybe Little Stars is better than we had initially thought.

trainspotter

I honestly have no hesitation in recommending little stars. The staff are all the same as were there 5 years ago when it first opened and my elder daughter started there and they remember her with an obvious affection that's lovely to see. The management maybe isn't their top strength (was difficult to get place confirmed etc) but to be honest that's been my experience of most nurseries (we've used a few as my daughter also went to Keiki in Crouch End before Little Stars opened and Into the Woods outdoor nursery as well as Rainbow/Stroud Green school and little stars,) My daughter is 20 months now and if we walk past on a non nursery day she has a tantrum about wanting to go in.

Yes Blythwood is more suitable for toddlers than babies and their minimum age is 18 months.

Ilovegreyhounds

New nursery opening at Stroud Green school in Sept 2017! Places for 1, 2, 3 & 4 year olds (48 wks per year / 7:45-6:00 childcare)

Ali

Is this going to be the Hideaway building ?