Liro

Hi there, our pre schooler is at Mother Goose Upland (and has been for Over two years) and we?ve been really happy with the nursery. When we looked at nursery options we liked the fact that it was fairly small (eg only six places in baby room) and that the children mix well, so although the babies, toddlers and pre-school all have their own rooms, they interact with each other as well so our child knows the names of all the children and knows all the staff well too, not just the workers in their room. The staff are all really nice, there has been some turnover of staff during our time there but I think that?s common at all nurseries and they?ve handled staff transition well. They do a good range of activities and generally our little one has been very happy there and made good friends/has fun. Also if hours are important for you, the fact MG are open to 0730-1830 has been really helpful on a handful of occasions where there have been transport issues or we both have to be in work early - typically we pick up by 6pm but this relies on trains etc running on schedule. If you want to ask any specific questions please do feel free to Message me. I asked similar questions on this forum when we were looking at nurseries and the responses were very helpful :-)

The cab near us on CPR was moved this afternoon... my husband happened to be home and saw it was being jump started by a second black cab! Unbelievable. It?s number plate ended KOU so we shall see if it pops up again with new advertising.

I had been wondering about this as well - there is one close to us that has been parked and not moved since August (I remember it was there when we got back from holiday and it hasn?t moved since!). It?s also been parked quite badly in relation to a nearby disabled bay, meaning we?ve effectively lost a parking spot on our bit of the road. I counted seven black cabs parked between Whateley Road and Heber the other morning on the school run, which is ridiculous. I have in the past seen a bloke running the engine of one cab and then getting out and going to another cab further up the road. Have been keeping an eye out for anyone getting in the cab nearest to us to run the engine but no joy yet. It is taxed (thanks for the link Beulah) but I?m thinking of reporting it to Southwark as an abandoned vehicle. I know it?s free parking round here but leaving it outside someone?s house for three month?s solid is pretty damn cheeky!! Although I am dubious Southwark will do anything...

We used Health Hub Herne Hill too - was ?100 per jab.

This is a long shot but... my daughter lost her beloved toy bunny today (Saturday 11 June) and we think it was dropped somewhere on North Cross Road (the Duck Egg Cafe side) or on Crystal Palace Road (between North Cross and Heber Road, the west side/side closest to Lordship Lane). It's a jellycat beige bunny with flowery ears, about 20cm long, looks well worn/washed. It has her name tag sewn on the care label so I can easily identify if it is ours. We've retraced our steps and checked in places we shopped but no luck. If anyone finds a lost bunny, please PM me? Many thanks!

I thought I'd follow up on this thread in case it is useful for anyone else out there, as I know I trawled the forum when I was looking for nursery place. We ended up going for Mother Goose on Upland Road and we are really pleased with our decision. I went back to have a look at Bright Horizons and Mother Goose Upland as they both offered us places, it turned out that I'd been misinformed about MG opening hours and in fact they are open 7.30am - 6.30pm, although they ask that if you are using the half hours at either end of the day that you don't use both (i.e. they don't really want children being left for the full 7.30-6.30, although I am not sure this is strictly enforced). Of the two, I preferred the set up at MG as the baby room only takes six babies and they have their own space upstairs, in particular at lunchtime they have their own darkened quiet room where they sleep. In comparison at BH they take more babies (I think they said 15 when I looked) and the area where they slept was open plan next to where the toddlers play, so I was a bit worried about how she would sleep. The staff at both seemed very nice but we thought she'd settle better at MG plus it was slightly more convenient for us location wise. We've been really pleased with our decision, the staff are all so lovely and once we got past the initial first couple of weeks settling in, our daughter seems really happy there. She sleeps well, eats well and is always smiling and waving as soon as we approach the door in the morning! I still haven't heard a peep out of Gumboots - from July 2014 when I first called them until March 2015 they told me the waiting list was completely closed to new applications. We went on the waiting list at the first open day they held when the list reopened (that was in March 2015), so it's now been a full 12 months with no updates. I followed up with them last August/September time when I heard from other nurseries and was promised I would get an update on the wait list shortly, but I've never received anything. We're really happy with MG so it doesn't really matter as we wouldn't move her now anyway, but I do think it's pretty poor of Gumboots to take people's money (in the form of a wait list registration fee) and then never get back to them.

Thanks both very much for your replies, that's really helpful! I think we are going to have to rule MG out for the reason you say Sonners - it's a bit of a trek from ED station. We'd be ok with 8am drop off but getting back there by 6pm would be a real struggle now the trains are a bit less frequent from london bridge. When we originally looked round and went on the waiting list there was some scope to pick up 6-6.30 (although they preferred it to be 6pm) but I've just found out they are moving to a hard 6pm pick up which probably rules it out for us. I did like BH as well when I looked round but was a bit puzzled as to why it doesn't seem as popular as other places, despite it being near station/better opening hours etc and rated Ofsted good. So good to hear your feedback Esme! I've spoken to the new manager a few times and she does seem really helpful (and generally answers the phone/calls you back which isn't the case with some nurseries...) so fingers crossed we can get a place there or we get lucky with Gumboots. Thanks again x

Hi, does anyone have recent experience they'd be willing to share with the baby rooms at Bright Horizons Dulwich (the one near Sainsburys), Mother Goose Upland road or Gumboots? Sorry as I know nurseries are a frequent topic here but I couldn't find much that recent on these. We're currently on the waiting list of all three having visited them and it would be great to get any feedback, positive or negative... We're not holding out much hope on Gumboots as I know the waiting list is meant to be at least 18 months long, but I figure someone must get lucky with the baby room at some point - given the list was closed for months and you have to be under two to go into the baby room! Many thanks.