SimoneA

Hi ths0105 Thank you, this is very helpful indeed!! I love the idea of the arts and crafts element. I will get in touch and explore this again. My son, for the past year has refused to speak or understand any German (a phase I hope) so his German is not up to scratch anymore. I was a little worried, as their website states: "findet ausschlie?lich auf Deutsch statt. Desshalb ist es wichtig, dass die Kinder die Sprache verstehen, so da? sie am Unterricht aktiv teilnehmen k?nnen und Spa? haben." I'm not sure we're at this stage anymore... Thanks so much.

Hi there I'm in the same boat. I too am looking for a German tutor (not too formal) for my 4.5 year old son once or twice a week. Perhaps something we could do together? I know of the German school in Forest Hill and have heard good things about it, but for now we would prefer not to send him to school on a Saturday as we are really enjoying the time together on the weekends. I also believe he has to be "fluent" in German to attend, which he isn't quite. I've starting to look into this and if you're interested in joining forces let me know. Thanks Simone

Hello both. Thanks very much for your very helpful replies and tips. Sorry for my very late reply. I'm pregnant and suffering from hypermesis. We're actually struggling to find an au pair at the moment, as well as others that we know. There has been a 40% drop in au pair applications for London/UK this year. Thanks again.

Hello. Does anyone have experience/knowledge around the circumstances of insuring au pairs on car insurance policy? We currently have a 20 year au pair from Germany (EU drivers licence) who had been with us since September 2016. To add her to our policy Admiral are quoting over ?4,000 for 10 months (ca. ?5,000 /12 months)! That is just insane!! Other insurers just wont insure anyone with an EU drivers licence. The quote didn't change with Admiral when we used the scenario that she had a British licence. They couldn't say what made the price so ludicrous. On mumsnet there is an old thread (2008) saying that the age is what matters. If they are 21 or 22 and over the cost comes down a lot. I read somewhere else that if she was resident in the UK for 1 year or more then this would bring the price down. This is our first au pair and it's all new to us. She is moving back to Germany in 2 months to start studying medicine. As such we'll be looking for a new au pair, in which case we would like to ensure we find someone who we can insure without it costing a mini fortune. From Sept onwards she will need to use the car for the school run. If anyone has already been through this and knows what the situation is to insure them at a normal cost, any tips would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance. Simone

We found ours through aupairworld.com. Can't recommend it high enough so far. We were warned of agencies by many so stayed clear of them, but others might have better experience. Happy to give you more details and a run down if you'd like to chat. We're based in Nunhead. PM to chat. Thanks Simone

Lovely! I'll drop you a message once she has arrived and settled in. She will be with us from 8th September. We are in Nunhead. Thank you and chat soon. Have a lovely summer.

Hi! We have a lovely au pair starting with us early September. Once she has settled in I will drop you a PM if that is ok? She's asked us about meeting other au pairs in the area. Warmest Simone

Hello - we too have a lovely au pair starting with us early September. She is also from Germany and has asked about au pairs in the area. It would be lovely to put them in touch with each other and also maybe others who have been in London and our area a little longer. We live in Nunhead and not far from the Horniman Museum. Warm wishes Simone

I think it definitely depends on what the au pair is doing and their experience. We have a lovely 18 year girl starting in September with no experience. She'll be with us for 6-8 months. Her main tasks will be getting our 2 year old son ready in the morning and dropping him off at the childminder (9am) and then picking him up at 5.30pm until we get home at 7ish. She's practically free all day to explore the city, take on part-time work if she likes (prioritising us of course) and do a language course etc. As such we are paying her at the lower end (?75) and she's happy about that. Not to mention everything is naturally covered by us from food, toiletries, travel, flights home including Christmas, phone etc. She's only doing the drop off and pick up and her hours are likely to be max 15 hrs a week. Anything more seems unreasonable in our situation. If she was looking after our son most of the time and/or doing after school care etc we would certainly pay more and I think ?100-120 sounds very fair for the added work, particularly if looking after two or more children as well as no other child care costs involved.

Thank you so much for your replies and recommendations. Great to hear they all work in the environment. Most appreciated! I will look into these.

Hi all - we were initially looking at buying the Anglecare baby monitor, but I understand that while it works well in flats, it does not have good reception through the thicker walls of the older terraced houses. Can anyone recommend a good baby monitor that has good reception through walls as well as distance? We initially wanted one with the video monitor, but good reception is more important to us. Thanks very much. Simone