Infant Daycare in Dunedin
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Topic: Infant Daycare in Dunedin
Posted By: Guest_73194
Subject: Infant Daycare in Dunedin
Date Posted: 27 April 2012 at 6:53pm
| I'm new to Dunedin and will be needing part time daycare for my baby when it's born, he/she will be going at 4 months old. I wondered if any Mums can recommend a good daycare? I've signed up for one which I know is good but they have a very long wait list so I need to enroll in a back-up or two! Any advice appreciated, thanks! |
Replies:
Posted By: kernowexile
Date Posted: 05 May 2012 at 4:30pm
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I am in a similar situation! I have put my name down for the Uni infant care and was also thinking about enrolling in a back up. A friend has her daughter at City Heights Montessori which seems okay, although I don't know what their infant care is like. Where have you put your name down so far? ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Lucky apple
Date Posted: 06 May 2012 at 3:50pm
| I've heard positive things about uni daycare, polytech daycare, kiddie campus (I think it is). We went home based care and that's been fab. I wasn't ready to put my little person into a really busy environment under 2 years of age - preferred the home setting. Still had some other children there, so has thrived with a small & consistent group. It is definitely worth visiting places. With home based, completely go on your gut...I visited an atrocious (in my view) carer before being put onto the one I have gone with who is fabulous - so, don't just settle for anything. |
Posted By: kernowexile
Date Posted: 06 May 2012 at 5:05pm
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Sally - how did you find out about the home based care? I have heard of Porse, but didn't know if there were any others around? I used to go to a childminder when I was little and it was great, as you say, a small and consistent group, so am kind of keen for similar. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Guest_73194
Date Posted: 07 May 2012 at 1:25pm
| Thanks for your replies, I work at the University so obviously have signed up there because it's so conveniently close to my lab, but other than that I have no idea of places and was hoping to get some suggestions. I've looked into home-based care as I like the sound of this, but the places I've seen actually work out to be more expensive than a nursery so I'm exploring all options :) |
Posted By: Guest_73194
Date Posted: 07 May 2012 at 1:26pm
| Ps. City Heights Montessori don't cater for infants, which is a shame because I've heard good things about them. |
Posted By: Lucky apple
Date Posted: 07 May 2012 at 3:46pm
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Kernowexile - There are a few home-based options - Dunedin Child Care Association (I think is about $5.20 per hour), Wild Things ($5.30per hour), I think there is one called Origins?? , and there is Porse too (which is little more maybe $6 something) an hour...Um quick google showed up another couple - Barnardos ...Another company called Quality Homebased Care...Te Aroha Homebased care...
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Posted By: Lucky apple
Date Posted: 07 May 2012 at 3:56pm
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Nannys on the other hand (where they come to your home) are really pricey as they aren't subsidised at all by govt (I think it was about $18-20 per hour when I got sent the info from wild things a few years ago now).
I didn't think cost of home based care was too much different to centre based care to be honest...But, I didn't really look into centres much cos I wasn't going to go with that at that point! |
Posted By: MissJen
Date Posted: 11 May 2012 at 8:07pm
This is untrue. My DS goes to City Heights Day care and he started there at 8 months. They cater from birth as at present I know they have an 8 week old baby there. I find City heights to be very good. They are very flexible and stick to home routines. The ladies there are lovely and take such great care of them! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Guest_73194 wrote:Posted By: kernowexile
Date Posted: 12 May 2012 at 2:32pm
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Thanks MissJen. Good to hear as I thought City Heights took wee ones. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: janine90
Date Posted: 15 June 2012 at 12:43am
| little citizens are good,I've heard from other people that the hospital and uni centres are really good but they have long waiting lists. If you attend playgroups you'll get a really good idea of where to go and which to stay away from, thats how i got sorted. I think city heights have a few staff members that are not that great with the kids. |
Posted By: bythesea2
Date Posted: 15 June 2012 at 8:54pm
| I work at uni too, but found the uni childcare really inflexible. I only wanted part time and I think you don't get priority - we were offered only part of what I wanted and not on the days we requested, even though we'd been on their list since I was 4 months pregnant. I've enrolled our wee girl in Polykids at the Polytech and she loves it (she started when she was 4.5 months). Its only an extra block to walk from uni. I really rate how they care for the little ones and they work with you with sleep routines and food. Polykids will actually let you go visit without signing up, which the uni wouldn't until you were finally offered a place (which for us was 2 weeks before I headed back to work). I would thoroughly recommend Polykids. Good luck. Its hard making the decision. If you stick with uni then keep on contacting them to make sure you hear before you are back at work. |
Posted By: kernowexile
Date Posted: 16 June 2012 at 3:19pm
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ooh bythesea2 - thanks for the info about Polykids. So you don't need to be staff or student of the Polytech to use it?? ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: LittleBug
Date Posted: 20 July 2012 at 11:18pm
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Kiddies Campus is great for babies. Both of mine went there from 3-4 months old and have loved it, and the carers are very caring and nurturing. ------------- Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years). |
Posted By: YvetteHendry117088
Date Posted: 20 May 2013 at 8:17pm
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Hi there I am a qualified teacher working for Footsteps poutama in Dunedin. Footsteps provides free home based education for children from birth to 6 years of age. Footsteps' qualified teachers work with caregivers who look after children for a minimum of 18 hours weekly. You may like to consider having your infant cared for in a home environment rather than in a large, early childhood center. Home based care and education offers a much higher level of support, especially for infants, and many parents find this setting is perferable as it is more intimate and not so busy, with more adult to child contact and care. Footsteps poutama welcomes you to view our website: www.footsteps.co.nz I look foward to chatting with you further if you require more information. My cel: 027 5710 322 |
Posted By: Guest1234146717
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 8:09pm
| City heights is definitely not a good place. I had to pull my child out unexpectedly because things got so bad there. I am certainly not alone in this and the manager actually agreed that the type of behavior that was going on had been happening for a while. I have not yet heard one good thing about this place and when you ask around other centres will actually tell you to stay away from it. I, and a few other parents attending at the same time as me, could only describe this place as a complete failure. |
Posted By: _Soda_
Date Posted: 17 June 2014 at 7:33am
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Im a qualified ece teacher working with infants, and even Id recommend home based care for under 1's, certainly under 6 months..you can have the best quality daycare but nothing beats being in a lovely home with just one primary caregiver so they build that great bond (just like staying at an auntys or grandparents) they can go to sleep in a nice quiet dark room without other noisy babies, and a home based carer can only have 4 kids at a time, and only 2 of then can be under 2 years old so you know baby will get the attention and time they need. Most carers dont even take on 4 kids so its even better! Just google "home based care wellington" and lots will pop up. Through a company you are entitled to the same subsidies as with daycare etc too and often is much cheaper or at least the same for more quality care.lots of teachers who leave work to have their own kids do it so you can end up with a qualified teacher too! Seriously look into it. Yes there are awesome childcare centres around but nothing beats being at home for the little ones :) ------------- My little miracle 6/1/2011 My angel in Heaven 9/5/14 http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Kiwium
Date Posted: 19 September 2014 at 9:08pm
| City Heights have a new manager and there have been some fresh and positive improvements recently. My son loves attending, he is exceeding in all his milestones and I have only had positive interactions with all his teachers. There are some lovely parents and staff and I would take the advice of the competition with a grain of salt as they are vying for enrolments. |