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Paying for a place, so it should be available?

5 replies

JumpJockey · 24/10/2011 08:42

dd2 has a place at the same nursery as her big sister, we've been paying since 1st Sept to secure the place even though I don't go back to work til December. She has started her settling in sessions now, and her key worker suggested doing little and often (they initially said 2 hours one week, 2 hours the next). So last week I said to the bookings lady I'd just like to let them know that she will be in on Mon Weds and Fri first thing in the morning to get used to daddy doing drop offs. Lady says Oh we can't do weds, not enough staff.

Now aibu to think that if she's on the roll, and we're paying for her place, they blimming well should have enough staff that I can drop her in whenever I like? I could understand if she was not yet on the roll and they needed to find extra people to cover while she was in the room, but she is one of the 12 on the list, surely they should have enough staff available for the max number of kids who might be in (allowing for if any kids are already booked off)? I don't see why I should have to give them a week's notice to find the right number of staff, what happens if someone is sick? They can't just turn away kids 9-12 to arrive because ratios won't be right, isn't it their job to ensure they have enough people on site?

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coccyx · 24/10/2011 08:48

YABU, they won't have staff in , just in case you and other 11 children decide they want to attend. You should have given them more notice .
2 hours a week hardly seems bothering with. They won't want to pay someone extra for 2 hours because your child has pushed up staff/child ratio

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JumpJockey · 24/10/2011 09:13

Hang on though - if a child is listed on the register isn't the default position that they will attend? Otherwise why do we bother paying them for five full days a week if I then have to give them a week's notice of actually wanting to use that time? I'm paying them £850 a month to cover the wages of that staff member!

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Akandra · 24/10/2011 09:18

If you are paying full time the place should be there whether you use it or not. You are paying for the staff to be there. Otherwise what they are doing is fraud (I.e. Making you pay for something that doesn't exist). I would be asking them this question and pointing that out.

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sevenbubbles · 24/10/2011 09:23

Yanbu. Also I don't understand why you have to pay for the place for the months you are not using it. I didn't have to do that with my daughter at either of the busy nurseries she has attended and haven't come across that with any of my friends either.

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JumpJockey · 24/10/2011 09:28

It's like that with all the nurseries here - place becomes available when they offer it, if you don't snap it up and cough up to reserve it they will give it to someone else. So that's why I was imagining that I could use the place whenever I wanted - I don't have to give them notice week on week that Dd1 will be there, they just assume she will and staff accordingly.

I guess their argument could be that if I didn't pay for the place but wanted it kept, they're losing money as they could have given that place to another child, and they're not able to do that temporarily until such time as I need it. All I can say is thank goodness she was born when she was, all the nursery places here come available in september so who knows what people do with babies born in the spring.

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