Is anybody at a school offeing the extended 15hr Nursery entitlement?

[MrsBauer]

Hi
Are there any Schools already offering this and how are you doing it?
We are supposed to be offering it from next term and are looking for ideas of how different people have done it.
If you start earlier, what happens to the siblings that start later in other parts of school and the same at the end of the day?
I have mixed Upper and Lower foundation stage, how have people sorted the different hours?

AAAAAHHHHH anyone??

[CarGirl]

I thought the government weren't funding it yet?

Presumably you drop your children at nursery first then the older ones so just the reverse of the way you did it before? Staff have shorter lunch break . Stop having mixed foundation stages?

[MrsBauer]

We are in a Patfinder area so we have the pleasure of trialing it. We are a school, so if we offered 8.30 - 11.30 the rest of school don't start till 9am so parents are not going to want to wait another 30 mins to drop off the older ones.

Numbers don't allow us to have seperate classes. If the staff have a shorter lunch break, so do the children.

[MrsBauer]

In order to stay with school hours we would have to run 9-12 then 12.15 -3.15

The staff would get NO break as the kids have never all gone on the dot.

[CarGirl]

8.45 or 8.50 start?

[CarGirl]

So school is 9-3.15?

[duckyfuzz]

some LAs are piloting it, I believe Sunderland is one of them

[duckyfuzz]

here p2 of the leaflet (p3 really) talks about the trial, was 0708 though

[MrsBauer]

It is just getting to a riduculous point where the youngest children are potentially at school the longest as the parents have the right to ask for the 15hrs to be taken over as little as 2.5 days.

[CarGirl]

So school is 9-3.15?

[MrsBauer]

sorry, yes it is

[CarGirl]

I would do 8.50-11.50 and 12.25-3.25. I agree though it is totally ridiculous. I have a friend on the Surrey steering committee and I have nightmares about what they are trying to bring in!

Hopefully it means the parents will all be there to collect on time? Also one of the pre-schools near us sends the dc out the door one at a time when parent is there so you could possibly start letting them leave at 3.15 once the parents are there.

[MrsBauer]

35 minutes is not enough for lunch. As you say with the best will in the world parents are never all on time, take at least 10 mins away. The area has to be set up again for afternoon children another 10 to 15 minutes off. Parents want to speak to the teacher before and end of the seesions, lunch would not exist!
Is 35 minute enough time to give the 3yr old who is staying all day a break and chance to eat their dinner?
If lunch is any longer though it means parents hanging around to drop off or collect children.

If we let them out early, surely we are defaeting the point?

[CarGirl]

Why can't you split the different academic years? Have you got the get out clause of having to offer x y & z only if you are able to?

Sorry I'm involved in a private pre-school so we have more freedom to do what we want!

[CarGirl]

If you let them out early it's because the parents have chosen to collect early, you are still technically offering a 3 hour session. I thought the 6 hours could run back to back and therefore include their lunch time?

[MrsBauer]

We can't split the year groups as we can't afford another teacher.
We can limit the flexibility by saying we have 3 full day places etc but can't change the 15 hrs.
Including the lunchtime seems like a good idea but I'm not sure if we are allowed or what level of supervision is required.

[MrsBauer]

I don't know how the "lunch" would run for the children that opt for mornings or afternoon rather than Full time?
every solution seems to cause more problems.

[CarGirl]

I would look and see if you can offer mornings 9.05-12.05 and then afternoons 12.05-3.05 but make it clear that 12.05-13.00 is lunch time. Can they take it in the school dining hall with limited cover and include other teaching/dinner staff in your ratios. We use part time staff to cover the lunch sessions plus we always have one additional staff member on compared to the minimum requirement.

I'm confused if it's a LEA nursery in a LEA school the head should be helping you find a solution?

[Littlefish]

Offer 3 days a week to each child, 9am - 2pm. All staff finish at 2.00pm (paid until 3.00pm if they are paid for lunchtimes). Have staggered short breaks for staff at lunchtime so they can get a quick drink/snack, but lunch break basically happens after the children have gone.

[MrsBauer]

Are you ready for this..... we are an LEA school with nursery class AND we have a Sure Start nursery in our grounds. I have no idea the implications for them or us with this. It seems ludicrous to have 2 providers offering the same thing in the same grounds! Our head is new and we have only found out today that we are supposedly piloting this next term. I was just seeing if the wisdom of Mumsnet had any solutions before we try and get our heads round it.

[MrsBauer]

Unfortunatley Littlefish we have to offer it over the 5 days for parents that still want mornings or afternoons.

[emy72]

Hi there,
most schools offer it here in Leeds already.
My daughter's nursery starts at 8:45 til 11:45 - the staff get half an hour before the other session starts at 12:15 til 3:15.
A lot of schools around here have been doing it for 2 years now so I guess they have it organised x

[katz]

we're in a trial area too, so the pre-school dd2 goes to have changed the sessions from 9-11.30, 12.45-3.15, (where we used to pay £1.50p to cover the lunch break) to 9-3 with no lunch break, i think the staff do a split shift to cover lunch, the sessions offically breakdown into 9-12 12-3. works as far as i cn see, we are also able to buy extra hours too at a cost of £3.80/hour.

[katz]

obviously to children do have lunch but its not seperate!

[CarGirl]

LittleFish 9-2 is only 5 hours.

It is madness.

All of this is to encourage parents to work, however what on earth are you supposed to do in the school holidays!

[MrsBauer]

Thanks Emy, thats the model the LEA told us to do but 30 mins for lunch is just not workable with parents late picking up and parents wishing to speak to the teachers before and after sessions and the setting up that needs doing between sessions the break would be about 10 mins in reality.

Katz- what happens with the children that are either morning or afternoon that dont want lunch? Do the lunch children just go out to eat and miss part of the session?