preschool - five free sessions

[lucyfer2000]

does anyone know if you can lump all this together?

I have seen a lovely nursery that I would love to send my DS to but they charge alot. I know that I am entitled to £9.28 a session from the government. I only want him to go for a couple of mornings a week (planning to get some sleep when new baby is born!!). would I be able to pay for the two sessions with 5x£9.28? making it basically free still? do you see what i mean? I'm confusing myself!

Too embarrased to ask the nursery for some strange reason - in case they look at me as if to suggest that if i can't pay the difference then i shouldn't be going there!!

[CarGirl]

You can run 2 sessions back to back but not 3. So you can 5 hours free in one day but it may depend on how they split their sessions.

[Plonker]

At the moment, you can only access a maximum of two session per day (these have to seperated by a 'care' session ie lunch). All 5 session can be taken over a minimum of 3 days.

What usually happens is that you get the morning session free, the afternoon session free and you pay for everything else. The way most day nurseries work this is that they give a set amount of what your 2.5hr session is worth and then deduct the 2 sessions from the cost of the full day, iyswim.

There are differences coming into effect. Some are piloting now and others will take effect from Sept 2010. Amongst these differences is a shift to view the Free Early Education Entitlement as hours as opposed to sessions. This means that you can access more free hours in one day. There is a 'but' though, lol - you are still only allowed to take the hours over a minimum of 3 days. LEA's will have flexibility over how many hours can be claimed in one day.

Don't be embarrased to speak to the nursery - I'm sure they will be more than willing to answer your questions ...and the whole thing is very confusing so I'm sure they're used to explaining things!

[lucyfer2000]

so does this mean that i can put DS in for one session in the morning (at a charge from the nursery of £18), but claim for two sessions from the government to cover the total cost (at £9 each)?

Sorry if i'm being dense!

[bigstripeytiger]

No, you cant do that.

If you put your DS in for 1 session then you will get funding for 1 session.

You get recompensed for the time used, rather than the money, IYSWIM.

[Clure]

I work 3 days and my DD goes to nursery for those 3 days (8-5ish) so thats 2 sessions per day which are funded 5, that leaves us to pay for one session plus the "breakfast" "lunch" and "afterschool care" sessions

[CarGirl]

In Surrey (possibly everywhere) you can include lunchtime as part of your 5 sessions. That may have only come in Sept 2008 and it didn't used to be the case, so you can run them back to back now.

[nappyaddict]

Sorry to bump this but if you run them back to back then does lunchtime count as a whole session?

[littleducks]

oh yes i need to know the back to back, my lea just started 3 hour sessions previously preschool was 9.15-11.45 a lunch club then afternoon session but now is 9-12 am, 12-3 afternoon and lunch only for children stayong all day (pick up has become a bit busy)

So if i send dd all day is it free or not due to no break thing?

[Plonker]

The way the Free Early Education Entitlement (Nursery Education Grant) is administered is changing.
At the moment, LA's are at varying stages of this, so there are no definitive answers to give you. You need to ring your LA and speak to the Early Years team who will be able to help.

In my borough, the majority of the settings are still only offering 12.5 hrs of funding per week and are still running on the old Code of Practice. The old Code of Practice allows you to access only two sessions per day, with a break for lunch (which isn't included in the funding).

There are, however, settings which are part of the pilot group offering 15 hrs per week.
The settings who are offering the 15 hrs per week are working within the new Code of Practice which says the settings have to be flexible and offer what best suits the parents, obviously within what is practicable for the setting.
These settings can offer between 2hrs and 10hrs of childcare per day (again this varies between LA's and depends on whether settings can accomodate) and does include lunch, therefore effectively you could send your dc all day for free.
The hours have to be taken over a minimum of 3 days though. That part is govt regulated and is the same for all boroughs.

hth

[nappyaddict]

So if CarGirl can include lunch in the back to back sessions that would mean where she is they do 3 hour sessions? Doh! I thought it meant they counted a session for the morning, a session for lunch and a session for the afternoon

[happyharry]

I have just spoken to a mum today. Her childs school are offering nursery children 5 4 hour sessions for free. Presumably as this new 15 hour rule is coming in. Although this exceeds that. My ds's school is still making us pay if we want 4 hours. Does anyone know when this 15 hour rule will start applying everywhere?

[nappyaddict]

I wonder why they are doing 4 hour sessions when they only need to be doing 3.

[happyharry]

It does seen strange I thought it might be because that would allow the children to have lunch. Our school operates a lunch club from 11.30 to 13.00.

[Plonker]

No idea about the 5 x 4hr sessions.

Every 3 and 4yo will be eligible for 15hrs free early education from Sept 2010.

hth

[ThingOne]

I'm now using my DS2's vouchers over three long mornings. A great improvement!

[happyharry]

Thank you plonker. Too late for my ds. He will be in reception than.