what to do instead of preschool?

[rocketupbum]

We live in an area overun with kids it would seem! We have been unable to get into any of the preschools attached to local schools and I now need a plan b.
I feel DS needs some more stimulation than I can give him at home at some point before reception.
He currently goes to nursery 1 day a week while I work and I could get some more sessions there possibly or should I just enjoy my last year of him all to myself?!
Any experience would be welcome - ta

[nancy75]

are there no private pre schools? where i live most of the pre schools are not attached to schools, they are in church halls ect. your local council will usually have a list of all those registered, or you can find them on the ofsted site.

[rocketupbum]

They are all pretty much full! There was some crazy babyboom the yr DS was born. I am starting to get mildly nervous re where he will get into for primary now.

[nancy75]

how old is your ds? i would put his name down at any/all of them and keep your fingers crossed! our area is very similar, i put dds name down when she was 5 months, for her to start at 2 1/2! its daft. remember if people are like me dd was on about 6 waiting lists, so once she got a place at one the list went down in all 6, i think the waiting lists move faster than you would imagine because of people hedging their bets.

[rocketupbum]

I have had a proper search around. Maybe I should set a preschool up! I agree with your point re waiting lists. I have made sure he is on as many as poss. Thanks for the tips anyway. DS is 3.5 by the way so I think I may have missed the boat.

[nancy75]

if he is already at nursery do they do half days? maybe he could just do an extra morning/afternoon?
i thought about starting a preschool when i put dd's name down, one of them told me i should have put her name down the day she was born to have any hope of a place, its insane. good luck{smile]

[misshardbroom]

The only problem with putting their names down on the day you come home from hospital is this.

So far as I can see, most preschools arrange their waiting list in birth order (in fact, the 'model' admissions policy available from the PLA states 'we will arrange our waiting list in birth order'). Therefore, as places become available, preschools look on the list to see who is the next child turning 3 and becoming eligible for their nursery education grant. This can mean that if your child isn't 3 until the summer, all the places for that year have already been allocated, even if you've had your name down for ages.

Preschools are aware that this is a problem, but preschool committees have a choice. They can either do it this way, or alternatively they can save places for children who had their name down first, but it means the place could be empty for half the year, not generating any income for the preschool.

Either way, the system is inherently flawed.

The only time I can see a real advantage to getting your child's name down early is in nurseries that have a single intake each year, e.g. they admit 25 children in September and take the first 25 that registered with them.

Good luck finding a place. I'm a preschool administrator and our waiting list certainly suggests that 2006 was a bumper year for babies. But I would definitely second what nancy75 said about people hedging their bets by being on half a dozen waiting lists.

[purepurple]

The nursery will be following the EYFS, same as the pre-school.
Why not increase his days at the nursery, or do half days?

[robberbutton]

I would say enjoy him

We didn't put my 3 1/2 year old into nursery - we do quite a lot of toddler / young children activities at church, and he has lots of play dates, but mostly we just do stuff together. He's really good company!

One of the most amazing things is that I'm seeing his learning process as he discovers letters and counting and adding and writing etc etc - all things I think I would miss out on (at least the majority of) if he was at nursery. It's fascinating.

Also, it's AMAZING not to have to worry about nursery places

[littlerach]

Misshardbrrom, we were talking about the very same thing on Wednesday.

it is such a PITA isn't it?
We also have a duty to take funded 3 year olds over 2 year olds.