Please tell me this can't be right!

Funded placements aren't child care no but they are a bloody bonus when you are on one or a low wage.
I was certainly glad to out mine towards my nursery bill.

I think you've lost trust in your cm. I didn't like one and found myself worrying about a lot of things she was doing. She didn't like me or dd much either... It tooka while for things to come to a head but once we'd parted company I was so relieved. Should have done it way sooner.

So I would think hard about whether she's the right cm for you. And check out other cms, to see if you can find one you prefer.

I agree with Tanith about the pointlessness of doing crafts just to have something to show Mummy and Daddy, though I also think you can address that to a certain extent by taking snaps of the littlies doing interesting stuff (though not to the point that they feel they are making a documentary! ...and obviously not if you have your hands full supervising whatever they are doing). I also think there are occasions when a little help doesn't harm - they may not have stuck every sequin on every card they ever made, but with a bit of help here and there - not just from the adults but from each other - they will get more and more capable and do more and more themselves. Sometimes doing things together is the point, not the collage or whatever.

Contrary to what some people think,we don't get 15 free hours whilst the little ones are at nursery.I drop off at nursery at 9.00. By the time I get home it's 9.30.I then have to leave at 11.30 to collect the child.So I only get 2 'free' hours.During that time,(as well as looking after other children),I am preparing activities/lunch/completing paperwork,learning journals,etc for the children in my care which includes the child at nursery.I can't fill those 2 hours with another child.I am also on hand if the child is ill and the space is also needed in holidays.Many minders don't offer 3 year funding because it's less than they actually charge per hour,but there's more paperwork involved.
I do believe that, for the year before a child starts school, a child needs to go to a nursery or pre school to help get them used to a group situation but if you don't want to use the free nursery place then you don't have to.That is your choice and I think she should respect that.
I actually think,after reading about our other issues with her,there is a bigger picture that you need to address.

Agree at the artwork the 'child did' and actually the adult did

And hate sunburnt kids / no need for it. See it a lot on holiday :(

We do a lot of activities here, but the children don't often have something to take home. That's because, in my opinion, it's the easiest thing in the world to stick paper and paints in front of a child so they have something to show Mummy (one of our preschools does it all the time!), but pretty boring and limited for the child.

Likewise, I can tell when the preschool has helped them do a craft, also to keep parents happy

Now us...

We do a lot of exploring and experimenting. I can't send home the dinner we cooked together, I can't send home the worm hunts, the water and pulley experiment, the gravity and slopes investigation. Google Teacher Tom to see what I mean.

Do parents honestly want us to interrupt this learning just so they have something to take home and prove we've done our jobs?

Sunburn is not good and needs to be brought up with the childminder so she can address that.

She can't charge you for a full day but refuse to have him for 3 hours!

If you want him to go to nursery then fine, but if you'd rather he stayed at the CM and you're paying for those hours, then you should be able to use them.

However, she doesn't sound great.

I would be spitting feathers if my child got sunburn whilst in the care of a CM! What did she say?

We have used a cm 2 days and nursery 2 days for some time when funding kicked in last yr we just use 12hrs of funding with the nursery it's just deducted off the bill doesn't save use a huge amount but saves some. Cm doesn't offer funded hrs many don't so we didn't use the remaining 3hrs.

Another little girl at cm doesn't use any funded hrs she attends full time and when her mum looked at nursery for couple days the funded hrs didn't save that much n childcare would have cost her more in a yr as cm cheaper than nursery n funded hrs only term time.

Then you are perfectly entitled not to use his nursery place.

As others have said, it's a standard charge.

You need to decide if you would prefer your son to get his school nursery hours or if he'd get more out of being with the childminder, as it is cost neutral for you.

What do you think?

My old childminder insisted that all children who were with them went to the local preschool. But they were very upfront about it - to the point that if you didn't want to, they wouldn't mind your child. However, they didn't charge for the hours that the children were at preschool.

My current CM charges half fees, which I'm more than happy with.

Lucky - some school nurseries take children full days and some even allow parents to pay for additional hours.

It's definitely standard practise to charge for the 3 hours if a parent chooses to use them at a nursery during their childminding hours however, I would go back to cm and ask her to confirm that if you decide not to bother with the funded place anymore that she is willing & able to have your child. If she's not then you absolutely shouldn't be paying for a place that isn't available & she's being extremely cheeky but ultimately if you don't like you may just have to look elsewhere for childcare.

Similarly to LuckyLou, I jumped through hoops to "qualify" in the eyes of our LA to offer funded places for three year olds. Since then, the council has frozen and later reduced the already low rate payable to childminders for this service, to the point that offering a place really does mean working for a pittance which barely covers expenses. Added to this, I would be paid for these hours several weeks in arrears, only be paid 38 weeks per year, and be expected to personally bear the risk that my claim for reimbursement might be turned down for reasons outside my control, including the parent not actually being eligible or fraudulently claiming too many hours. I am not prepared to offer places on those terms.

So, I would understand completely if your CM has decided not to offer the "free" hours. Free to parent means half paid by government and half paid by childminder!

I don't know this particular child, but I think a lot of parents are brainwashed into putting their children into preschool too early. I only put my own children into preschool to get to know some potential classmates for a single term, and that was plenty. Along with any CM worth their salt, I was capable of teaching them to read, write, count etc at home, and to give them plenty of opportunities for social interaction at groups and so on, as well as loads of outings and outdoor activity. I have done the same for minded children of likeminded parents. The ridiculous fiasco that is funded places makes it very difficult for parents to have this choice as it seems the government is intent on forcing children into schools, however badly that suits their individual needs or their families'.

The nursery the OP has enrolled her son at is the local school nursery, not a day nursery. There's no flexibility of hours at a local authority school nursery; the place is either morning five days a week or afternoon five days a week.

And they've always been free...

I think the hours provision for children has changed, and you can now take your 15 hours over 2 full days rather than spread out over 5 days. Could you look into that, then you could keep your childminder but for less days?

Or th nursery should accept the hours and deduct something off...

as others have said its perfectly normal for a cm to charge while at preschool as they are under 5 and therefore cant use the 3hr space to get another child as impossible to find someone who wants childcare 9-12

they are on call if your child is ill/bangs head etc

many cms dont accept the 15hrs as often it is a lower hourly rate so they will be out of pocket

obv she has no right to say you must use vouchers at the nursery, if you do want to, i would if the nursery is open all day use them for one/two days there and then cm for other days