Best Preschool/Nursery in South quay Canary wharf

[dia2010]

Hi

Please help! I recently moved to London from United States, Could anyone please suggest me some Best Preschools/Nursery for my 3.5 yr old daughter in and around South Quay canary wharf,london?
Thank U All

[Skimummy]

I am not yet at preschool stage with my DD...the only one I know of in the South Quay area is the River House Montessori.

[dia2010]

Thx a lot for the info, i got 2 more nurseries in this area,Lanterns nursery and Little unicorn and the river house montessori,still really confused about selecting among this and would really good for a 3 yrs 8 months kid??

[Skimummy]

Right - I am about as clueless as you on this but I think for that age she would be better going to preschool (e.g. River House) than nursery. That said, my DD goes to Little Unicorn and we are very happy with it. The only downside is lack of outdoor play area but they do go for walks every day to the river etc. I have heard some bad stories about Lanterns but equally people who are happy with it.

Maybe start a new thread asking about age to go to preschool rather than nursery? My DD is only 18 months so I haven't got my head around it yet!

[cityangel]

Friends had bad experiences with Lanterns and it has a bad Ofsted Report I really wouldn't recommend it

[bran]

My DS used to go to Lanterns and he loved it but that was a few years ago and I've heard it's really gone downhill since then.

He went to pre-school at River House for two terms and enjoyed it, but be aware that the school is very different to the pre-school. DS moved into reception at River House and was so miserable and badly handled that we withdrew him at the first half term. The River House headmistress is barking mad a bit inflexible in her opinion of normal behaviour for a four year old, but if your DD is very quiet RH would probably suit her.

Check how many children there are in Little Unicorns in your DD's age group, you might find that a lot of them will have moved on to a proper pre-school at that age and it could be a bit lonely and boring for your DD.

Nurseries that are good but I think have a long-ish waiting list are the one in Mudchute farm (Muddy Boots I think) and Barkantine on Mellish Street.

[Skimummy]

Bran - out of interest, where does your DS go now? I have friends enrolling their DC at school already and wonder if I should be doing something for my DD!

[bran]

He goes to London Christian School, which he and I both love but is more of a commute than I would like. We are moving this summer so he will be going to a new school then and he's quite upset about leaving LCS. I can't praise them enough for how kind they were to him when he started there after River House had broken him a bit.

I know several people who send their DC to the Faraday School and they are happy with it, I think they offer a school bus service. Another school that I really liked, but rejected in favour of River House because of the distance (seems ironic now) is Gatehouse which is up near Victoria Park. The children that I know who go there really like it. There is a school bus that goes there from the IoD.

As far as I know the only school to offer wrap around care is River House, which makes it popular with people who work in CW.

[Skimummy]

Thanks, that's really helpful. I knew about Gatehouse but not the Faraday School or London Christian. River House is ridiculously convenient for us...but, who knows, maybe by the time DD is due to start we will have moved somewhere else!

[dia2010]

Thanks folks, All your resposnes have been useful and has given me an insight into the system here. Most of the schools, I have asked for admission in the mailing list, my dd has been waitlisted. Is that common out here in London? Are admission tough to get out ?

Is there any difference between private run schools and public schools in E14?

[bran]

What you call public schools are called state schools here (public schools are ultra-posh secondary schools like Eton and Harrow). People will be genuinely confused if you mix the two up. Private schools are often called independent schools, but people will know what you mean if you use either term.

The state primaries in my part of E14 are hugely over-subscribed. Partly because they have improved immensely in the last few years so families who would otherwise have moved to an area with better state schools have stayed. Partly because the credit crunch means that some who would have moved or sent their DC to private schools can't afford to. I couldn't get DS into a state school when I pulled him out of River House and I know another child who lives near us waited for two terms before giving up and going private. Having said that, places do open up because the population here is fairly mobile, there is a child in my building who used to go to Gatehouse and now goes to a nearby state school, I thinks he's about 7 so probably year 2 or 3. Once your child is 5 the LEA (Local Education Authority) is obliged to offer your child a place if you ask for one, but Tower Hamlets is a big area so the school could be as much as 50 mins commute away.

The two biggest differences between private and state are cost and class size. State schools tend to have 30 per class, most private schools are have between 12 and 20 per class. State schools are free, although they do ask for voluntary payments for things like school trips, independent schools charge fairly high fees.

[dia2010]

Thank u bran! for the reply,
I just a got few more schools after my long days of Google search for schools in this area, they are Harbinger Primary School,Redriff Primary School and Arnhem wharf Primary School, and it looks like more closer to where i live,would anybody out here recommend this? just wondering i dont see any good/bad reviews abt these schools on the internet?

[bran]

I haven't heard of Redriff Primary school. The 5 state primaries that I know on the Isle of Dogs are Cubitt Town, Harbinger, St Lukes, St Edmunds and Arnhem Wharf.

St Edmunds is good, but Catholic and very hard to get into.

Cubitt Town is very popular but has a teeny, tiny catchment area and you would be unlikely to get a place there.

I know a few people who have children in Harbinger and they are very happy with it, it's a large school with several classes for each year.

My friend who now sends her son to the Faraday School sent him to pre-school at Arnhem Wharf. She had been quite vocal about not wanting to go private but I think she felt that he wouldn't learn much at Arnhem Wharf, although he was happy there.

St Lukes is the Church of England school and has been going through a sticky patch a few years ago, but I think it has a new head and is much improved. It's a smaller school than Arnhem Wharf or Harbinger.

[simondown]

I know this is an old thread but it appears on google when you search for River House Montessori and some of the comments really concerned me when I was looking at the school around a year ago. As such I just wanted to share my experiences so far after my son has started reception in case other parents come across it. So far I'm extremely impressed by the school. The headmistress far from being 'barking mad' is absolutely lovely and seems to take a real interest in every child. The school is very much based on the principles of independence and confidence - from the first few days my son was expected to enter the school himself (shaking the headmistresses hand to say good morning) then walk to his classroom alone. Within weeks we've been able to see a huge advance in his confidence it's been great. The schedule is very full, with the class doing various projects. So far he's covered the solar system and junk modelling - in each there seems to be a blend of learning and art which he's loving. Then languages are taught very well, made fun by learning songs - the school offers Spanish, French, Mandarin and English with parents able to select one of the four. So overall extremely happy that we've sent our son to Riverhouse and would highly recommend the school.