Childcare after nursery

They are usually able to go to school nursery the September after they turn 3 but may be offered a place the term after they turn 3 if there are spaces so if your child is 3 in November they could potentially be offered a place from January of the nursery isn’t full. Not all school nurseries offer full days though some just do mornings or afternoons so you’d need to speak to the school to see what they offer. You’d have to speak to the school about what wrap around care they offer and if nursery children can access it, alternatively you’d have to find a local childminder who does collections/drop offs at the school and see if they have space for wrap around care. You’d also need to see if the childminder does school holiday cover if you have no alternative. The childminder/wrap around care you’d need to fund yourself but you can usually use the tax free childcare for it.

school nursery isn’t a ‘free’ nursery as such it’s just another way to use your 30 funded hours. So a full time term time place will use your 30 hours. Whereas at a private nursery full time then the hours will be longer days and usually 51 weeks a year so cover school holidays too but you’d likely only get 2 days funded as they tend to stretch the funding to year round instead of just term time then you’d need to pay for the other 3 days.

We kept our eldest at the private nursery until he started school at 4 (nearly 5 as he’s a November birthday) as it was easier than having to juggle school holidays and wrap around care before we actually needed to.

Are you in England OP? Here we have pre schools attatched to schools and the rules vary depending on what the school chooses to offer. But generally the issue with moving DC across to pre school is that they tend to offer school hours, term time only. So I kept my DD in her private nursery 2 days per week and sent her 2 days to pre school so that she had somewhere to go during the school holidays as holiday clubs tend to only take school age DC. The funding is 30 hours, term time only but some childcare providers will stretch the hours over the year. My DDs pre school charge for lunch time supervision so wasn't completely free if you choose to do full days. They do allow the pre schoolers into breakfast club and after school club for an additional charge.

There's no "state nursery" in England, some schools have attached pre schools (lots dont) they will each have their own rules/policies over when they take kids and for how long. Some take from aged 2, some take from 3. Most want them potty trained. They still cost money or use up your funded hours. Most run 9-3 and term time only, some also provide additionally paid for wraparound care, some don't. You just need to speak to them and ask about age, cost, additional care. If they don't provide it, you can use a childminder, or just stay in your existing nursery if they go up to school age, or choose any other childcare setting that works for you. The only state provision that's mandated for everyone is school the Sept after they turn 4 (which is free, 9-3 ish).
There's no point asking on here really, as they do vary a bit and only asking them directly and going for a look around will tell you.

I've never even heard of a school nursery. Only private nurseries, then kids start school in reception year at between 4 and 5 years old.

The 15 or 30 hours entitlement is taken using a childminder or aforementioned nurseries.

My little ones went to a school nursery that accepts from 2 years old but the afterschool club was available to kids above 3 and fully potty trained. Afterschool club in London is £16 15:30-18:30. You still need to pay but much cheaper than a private nursery. Some private nurseries in my area work with public schools and they pick up the kids from the school setting and get them to the private at 15:30 as an alternative.

There are an increasing number of school nurseries taking children from 2 years old.

Hi, I think I understand what your trying to ask.

My child is a similar age and would be in the same academic year as yours, currently almost 2. I am assuming you are in England, as thing are slightly different for Scotland and Wales.

My child currently attends a private day nursery that offers childcare for all year round 8am-6pm for children from babies until they start school. Like you we are using 30 hours funded hours (which you may be using as stretched or termly) and tax free childcare to help towards the costs of this.
From the September after they are 3 (September 2027) they would be considered preschoolers which is the last year in nursery, which typically becomes more structured and focused on preparing the children for starting school. This is the age they could potentially attend a school nursery. HOWEVER - not every school has a school nursery, some schools offer a school nursery at that runs 9-3, which would use your funding entitlement (or may have an additional charge) and some schools have a private preschool on site/next to the school which operates as a completely separate business. Some private preschools take children from the term after they are 2, some take them from 3, some offer wrap around care and some only offer 9-3 childcare, some also offer holiday clubs (wrap around and holiday clubs will come at additional costs) - you would have to see what is available in your area. These most likely have a waitlist and you will probably need to register your interest and wait for space to become available.

Your child will start primary school the September after their 4th birthday, which would be September 2028 and will start in Reception. They will most likely attend this school for 7 years (reception, then year 1-6) - unless their school is spilt into a juniors and senior school) before moving to high school, for years 7-11 and then 6th form or collage (years 12-13) finishing their education at aged 18 - unless they attend university.

Personally, with my eldest we kept them at private nursery until they started school age 4 - we benefited from the whole year and whole day childcare, and not having to find wrap around or holiday childcare. With my youngest (same age as yours) - we have a place at the private preschool next to the local primary school their sibling attends and they will be going there from January, they offer childcare termly from age 2, from 8-6 and holiday club as well ( which their sibling attends - so this move to make our logistics easier). We use childcare 3 days a week so there is only a daily substance charge to pay during term time and holiday club during the holidays. Their sibling attends wrap around care those days at school (but not every school has something like this available - and something to consider when choosing a school).

If you need full time, full day childcare - I would recommend that you find a facility that offers this. School nursery/preschool without wrap around childcare would be very difficult to manage as a single full time working parent - especially without access to wrap around care and holiday clubs.
If your not keen on how your current nursery handles the next stage of childcare then maybe consider what other options are available locally, such as other nurseries or preschools or childminders. Your child can attend more than 1 childcare establishment at once aka 3 days at nursery/preschool and 2 days with a childminder.

Hope that helps.

There is no free state nursery. When people talk about ‘free nursery’ they are referring to the free hours that will be used at any private nursery. The nursery take those free hours off your bill, then you pay for the rest of the hours that your child attends.

OP, can I just check whether or not you’re in England? That might be the source of the confusion!

In England, there’s no such thing as ‘free nursery’ or ‘free preschool’ or whatever you want to call it. You have to pay for children’s education up until they start primary school (I’ll explain when that will be for your child below) but you can use funded hours to assist with the cost.

Your eligibility for funded hours depends on your income. Assuming you don’t earn more than £100k, you should be entitled to 30 funded hours a week (in term time only).

If your child was born in November 2023 they will start school in September 2028 (ie the September after they are 4).

Between now and then, it’s up to you what you do for childcare while you’re working. You can keep your child in the current private nursery and use your funded hours there. Or you could move your child to a preschool setting but those tend just to be 9am to 3pm during term time only so aren’t great for working parents unless they also offer wraparound care (every preschool will be different). Preschools still charge an hourly rate for the hours a child attends there but as I say, you can use your funded hours to reduce the cost. Depending on the number of hours your child does a week, and the hourly cost charged by the nursery/preschool, for some people their funded hours covers the whole cost which is why you sometimes hear talk about free hours or free preschools. However, for lots of people the funded hours don’t cover the full cost and they will have to pay the extra.

I hope that helps clear up the misunderstandings.

You seem a bit confused. I am not sure it can be made any clearer in words. Find someone to explain it to you verbally.

Our primary school nursery (in England) takes children the September after they turn 3, so 1 year before they will start reception. The uptake is quite low surprisingly but the hours are limited to 9am - 3pm, though you can use the breakfast and after school clubs (paid for privately and with tax free childcare). I don’t think all schools have that and people I know made sure they had their wraparound sorted before they gave notice on the private nurseries they were attending before. It’s tricky with holiday care though as most holiday clubs won’t take under 5s, and as well as all the school holidays there is also loads of teacher training days. The settling in period for our school nursery lasted over 3 weeks (of just attending for an hour here, 1.5 hours there). It would have been very difficult without family support which is why we chose to stick with private nursery. But if you have that and can cover all the holidays you’d probably likely save a lot of money.

In England school nurseries/pre-schools take children from age 2 or 3, it varies depending on the setting. I know a number of pre-schools where the child would need to be fully toilet trained and even have dropped their naps by the time they start. They aren’t free as you would use your 15/30 hours funding to cover the cost (if you’re in England) or pay their fees if not eligible and provide your own snacks and lunch.
if you were wanting to move your child from private nursery to one, there may be childminders in the area who can do the drop off and pick ups, but as most have said they’re not always suitable for working parents..
you could reduce the days you do at a private nursery and do a few days at a school nursery instead. You can split funding between different settings.

The pre-school at the private nursery will still be following the same EYFS curriculum as they do at a school one.
both my children stayed in private nurseries until they started school, luckily the school had wraparound care too which isn’t the cheapest as it was from 7.30 - 6pm, you can still use Tax Free Childcare to pay for this.
I use most of my annual leave during the holidays and put my children into a local holiday club when needed. I can also work from home when needed, which is much easier when they get older.

We have 2 year olds at my school nursery in Scotland.

No, lots take from 2.

Have you not seen all the reason government campaigns about all the new school nurseries?

In Scotland every child is entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare as soon as they turn 3. This is only during term time though.

I work in Scottish nurserys. We don’t guarantee a place in your closest nursery but if applied for on time (usually a week in February/march) then your child will get a place somewhere.

I assume you are Scottish, you have to apply for nursery. They will go after their 4th birthday. You’ll likely apply through the council. In England, you apply direct to the nursery. Odd your current nursery only has one room, why on earth would you not go to another better nursery?

School nursery I've never seen a school nursery take younger than 3 surely that's a private nursery renting on school grounds?

Some do, lots take children from 2 or even babies now.

School nursery starts the term after they turn 3 years old so your child would start in the January. Our school nursery didn't do breakfast club for nursery and we had to use a private after-school club to pick the kids up.

I don’t think there’s any such thing as a free nursery? My daughter goes to a school one, which she started the term after she turned 2. We had to pay for her first term as she wasn’t entitled to funded hours then. After her first term, we were entitled to funded hours for working parents, so now we don’t pay anything. We would if we wanted her to have school dinners, but she has packed lunch.

the difference is that school nurseries are only open 9-3 term time. If she went to a private nursery, then we would have to pay something as they do charge for food, formula, nappies etc, and you only get funded hours for term time, so if you sent your child during school hols, then you would have to pay.

your posts are confusing as there is no such thing as a free ‘state’ nursery that your child attends when they get to a certain age. All nurseries charge whether they’re in a school or not. All ofstead registered nurseries do the funded hours.

Where are you based? We used private nursery until our children went to school as the hours suited our work more, especially covering holidays. Some people used school nursery from age 2.5 (that’s when our local one starts) as it was cheaper but they all had grandparents doing the wrap around care (and 10 years later still doing all drop offs and pick ups).

i’m based in England and most people I know who work full time and don’t have shit loads of family support use private nursery before school starts (age 4).

Not according to this www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5413907-rejected-from-scottish-nursery-please-help?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

This OP.

People are confused because what you're asking for doesn't exist. There's no such thing as "free state nursery" in the UK. The closest thing to that is a nursery class in a school but you may still have to pay to cover lunchtimes etc.

The term after your child turns 3 (or earlier depending on employment and benefit status) you will be entitled to at least 15 funded hours a week during term times at a setting of your choice. You can use it at a private nursery, a school, or a childminder. It's supposed to be "free" but the reality is that nurseries can't afford it so they charge for consumables (like nappies and meals and art supplies) and stretch the funding so your child will go all year at a slightly cheaper rate.

You're highly unlikely to find any completely free state-funded childcare anywhere.