English Nursery

[Chloe...]

I am interested in starting an English Nursery, (outside Rome), providing day care, early education and a second language (English) to Italian children from the age of six months old to four years old. I would very much appreciate knowing someone who has already such a nursery up and running, or someone who is planning such a venture, or anyone who can offer advice, opinions etc...

[RomanGoddess]

Hi Chloe,

I have often thought of starting a nursery in Rome but in central Rome rather than outside Rome. I would only want to do it for children age 1 and up, as the regulations for infants are quite onerous, I think. I was keen on doing a Montessori nursery (and even almost signed up for the assistants-to-infancy Montessori course in Rome).

From what I learned before I dropped the idea:
- the legislation is pretty onerous. You basically need to rent a space for a year even before you can start registering kids, just to get government approval;
- public preschool in Italy starts at age three, so I would be surprised if there was any demand for kids age three and up; generally, the nido is for under-threes only.
- financially, you can get help from the government to set it up if you are Italian (not sure about eligibility if you are not italian);
- best to set it up as a non-lucrative association rather than as a profit-making venture.

That's about all that I know. Good luck. There sure is a lot of demand for English nurseries here.

[Chloe...]

Dear cmlp, thank you very much for this information. I have sent you a private email. Chloe