Rejected from Scottish nursery - please help!

Unlikely; usually the only reason they are not full currently is because a space has been allocated to a child who hasn’t started yet e.g. January intake. The only time spaces might be kept is for the two year old funding or in certain nurture centres.

But people who pay private nurseries/childminders for childcare before 3 normally do it because they need to, not to reserve a funded place.
Councils can predict all they like but all it takes is for a family or 2 to move into the area or a parent or 2 to decide to defer entry until the following year and the planning is out the window. Councils can’t afford to have extra spaces just in case- private nurseries even less so.

Also private nurseries often offer better hours than LA nurseries from my understanding. Both you can use funded childcare for.

No one is saying to use nursery before you needed it and to pay eye watering fees before you wanted it, but people do join waiting lists for private nurseries in advance of needing them. I joined a waiting list to secure a nursery 1 year and 3 months before I needed it. I paid a deposit.

You are entitled to the 30 hours but the onus is on you to find this. Many primary school nurseries only offer mornings or afternoons and not the full 30 hours. Some providers offer the 30 hours over 3 days or some do normal school hours. This was a question for debate at the time - how will there be enough capacity when everyone is entitled to 30 hours. There just isn’t. Compulsory school age is the term of her 5th birthday if Scotland is the same as England. Ratios in nursery are 1:13.

Thanks but those stats are to 2018. The law changed in 2019.

They say they are full but they aren’t actually full they have spaces they are holding for when the council tells them to accept a child for whatever reasons. I would contact the local council and ask them to help you with this

It has increased significantly since the rules changed. Deferred entry to primary school: statistics - gov.scot

Sorry you feel you I’ve been given a hard time on this thread. You have. But in truth as a poster said above this is the kind of stuff that most people research when they are thinking of having children or are pregnant.

Also, the 30 hours funded is a bit of a misnomer. Most people couldn’t use what the local authority provide in School nurseries because it is school hours only, with no coverage in the holidays. There is one primary school near me that offers wraparound care for the nursery, but that’s a rarity.

This means school nurseries are largely useless for people who work in office jobs unless you can find childminders who will do the wraparound care. In our area that is almost impossible.

For this reason, even though I have one child in the primary school my younger child will not go to the nursery there because the logistics don’t work for us. This means I have to do two drop-offs and pick ups for an extra year but it is worth it to have the full working day covered.

Very few parents defer.

So there are people who expect the government to provide a place for every single child that people make a choice to have and may or might need

So where is the physical space and staff meant to come from and what is there is a change where some years there is more need than others are the staff going to still be paid or will lose their jobs?

There isn’t much the nursery can do they are full they could get into trouble if they allow more children than they are legally allowed to accommodate. They have told you they are full they aren’t lying to you. Nursery is optional you have a couple of choices apply to the nursery 10 miles away while your waiting for a space somewhere closer to you but I imagine you wouldn’t be the only person on the waiting list or see if you can get a childminder or a nanny while your waiting for a nursery place.

September start in Scotland? Surely August?

most people in Scotland register their child pre-birth with a private nursery, reserving a space at at least 1 private nursery. You then use the funded hours there.

It’s batshit to expect local authority nursery provision for all children, there is no where near enough capacity.

no point coming onto mums net to moan about it either as it is what it is 🤷‍♀️

if you didn’t want to drive 10 miles then surely you’d prioritise living somewhere with more nurseries around, or you’d have had her name on the wait list for the 1 private one in your area pre-birth as a back up in case you didn’t get her into the council one when you wanted to?

With all due respect....

I read up about nurseries when I was pregnant. Realised about waiting lists and them all being full. Registered our DC to attend when they'd be 1 year old when I was still only 6 months pregnant. And still had to pick a nursery 15 miles away as that was the only one I could get a space at, 18 months in advance.

Why don't you check nurseries on route or close to your work ? 10miles the opposite doesn't make sense but maybe one on route for you or your partner ?

Where I am in Scotland, the private nurseries in the small towns/villages in the suburbs are nicer than the ones in the city (more outdoor space etc). So people who live in the city do sometimes put their kids into these services instead. I don’t think there is much the nurseries can do about that, it’s first come first served.

A village has 3 nurseries?

I live in a town of 10 000 people and it has 3 nurseries. Our surrounding villages have one each

Op i think id take up the place 10miles away, then try to get her more locally for next year.

School is slightly different in that the LA must provide a space, and transport if over 2 miles for primary (lots of LAs will provide transport at 1 mile). The transport costs mean its in their interest to get children into local schools and will shoehorn kids in if they need too.

One of mine has been in a big class with 2 teachers because of numbers and no space for another class.

It sounds like you’ve had an education by fire on this thread. I’m sorry there’s no LA place for your child. But as an October birthday, if you really want your child at the local nursery for continuity moving to school, it’s definitely worth reapplying for August 2026 start (assuming it is Jan 2026 you missed out on?)

(Good) Nursery places, especially rurally, in Scotland are like gold dust. I’m sorry nobody made you aware earlier that you would need to secure/be on a waiting list for a private nursery place ahead of the funding kicking in, but that’s the reality of the current situation if you want one of your top choices.

Good luck in finding something for the meantime. Do you know of any other families from your village in a similar predicament? Maybe you could share drop offs and pick ups? Or as others have said, could you look into private nurseries near your work place?

But are there any near where you or your husband work that you could look into?

I am one of the posters who you may be saying posted an ‘I struggled so you should too’.
My point was more that it is a question of perspective. You are being offered a place ten miles away, albeit in the opposite of your work. This place gives you thirty hours of childcare a week, paid, if I understand correctly as this is what the government pays now. This is not a struggle. This is a godsend compared to many people and certainly compared to what I did. There are two of you to make this work. So I am sorry if you find comments like mine disheartening, but sometimes counting your blessings is warranted

Any additional charges on top of the funded hours are strictly voluntary. Nurseries aren't allowed to make mandatory charges. Also, it's far less common in Scotland to dictate how the hours can be used. Most of the time, if you want to use the 1140 hours as 30 hours a week during term time, that's what you'll get. Personally, we stretch ours because our school nursery opens 8am-5:45pm all year round but that's fairly unusual.

If you live rurally these are the sort of provision issues that can arise. Are you saying the nearest private nursery is @0 miles away?