Private nursery VS Preschool

[Littlelighthouse]

Hello all,
I'm just looking for lived experiences really. DD will be 3 next August but we have started looking at local preschools to get her name down. However, I'm just curious to hear of people's experiences of both. We're still trying to decide which will be best for her.
She will be attending 15 hours a week. Thank you 🙂

My DD and DS went to a normal private nursery but then we moved so I got them a place at a preschool linked to a primary school

The latter one the staff were properly trained so there was a difference learning wise

However I did prefer the private nursery because it was cosier and the DC and parents were more relatable to us

I did wish in hindsight I'd kept them there and drove the distance for a while

You never can tell really

Some nurseries are amazing and some are utter rubbish

Well you can tell by word of mouth so always go for the one with a better reputation but they usually have a massive waiting list so book early

I mean… what your are describing are potentially the same thing, just with different names.

My child attends a private nursery, but it’s also a preschool and calls itself that.

@MidnightPatrol sorry I might have not explained it properly. I'm meaning a private nursery compared to a preschool which is attached to a primary school 🙂

Thank you all for your replies

Also my DD went to a nursery which seemed to have a good reputation but she hated it

So I pulled her out and hound a place elsewhere luckily

She was only there for 1 month if that

Actually the annoying thing about a preschool attached to a school is that it's no use at all if you're working because it has normal school holidays

Whereas of course a private nursery is open all year round and opens much later so you can pick up after work

I understand exactly what you mean because mine went to both

The primary school nursery is likely to be closed in the school holidays vs private nursery is typically open all year round, albeit it will cost you as they charge for non term time. Would this work for you?

Where I live council nurseries have a reputation for being better for 3+. Most kids do private nursery then switch at 3. The staff pay and conditions in council are better so that’s where the good nursery workers end up.

Pre school most definitely if it works around your work hours. Mine both went to nursery, dd from a year to 4 years old and then straight to primary. She was behind the children who had been at the attached pre school and there were a lot of friendship groups already formed. Ds went to the pre school from age 3.

Meant to add- the staff at the pre school were qualified teachers and TA’s.

We did private nursery for both DC because we needed the longer hours and holiday cover. If we'd only needed 15 hours a week and could have covered the school holidays, I think we'd probably have moved them to preschool.

DC2 is currently in reception in a class of 20 and 15 of them were at the school's preschool.

Ours did both.

Private nursery FT from baby room (home substitute).

Preschool five mornings a week in the year before primary school as is standard here in NI (school substitute) with private nursery wraparound.

If you're only doing one, I would go with the preschool as better school prep - ours is run like a classroom with similar classroom rules to P1 so it's a great stepping stone. Especially if your DC will be going to the attached primary and so will meet plenty of friends early.

HOWEVER, they both follow the same curriculum, so it's more important to pick a good setting than an ok one regardless of their ethos, iykwim.

*Preschool

• Age Group: Usually serves children between 3 to 5 years old.
• Focus: Emphasizes school readiness with structured learning activities and social development.
• Hours: Often part-time, with shorter hours (morning or afternoon sessions).
• Curriculum: May follow an educational philosophy like Montessori, Reggio Emilia, or play-based learning. Focuses on skills like pre-literacy, numeracy, and communication.
• Staff: Typically trained educators with qualifications in early childhood education.
• Environment: More structured, classroom-like, preparing children for kindergarten or primary school.

Nursery

• Age Group: Usually serves a broader range of ages, from infants (6 weeks) to preschool age (4–5 years).
• Focus: Care-oriented, with a balance of play and basic learning. Often focuses on nurturing and meeting the child’s developmental needs rather than structured academics.
• Hours: Typically offers longer hours, often designed for working parents. May provide full-day care.
• Curriculum: Primarily play-based, though some nurseries may incorporate preschool elements for older children.
• Staff: Includes caregivers and educators, though qualifications may vary.

How to Choose

1. Age of Your Child: Younger children (under 3) might be better suited for a nursery.
2. Schedule Needs: Preschools typically offer shorter hours, while nurseries cater to working parents with extended care.
3. Educational Goals: If you’re aiming for school readiness*, I would definitely have a look at nurseries that offer the final year as more of a preschool set up or just go with a preschool linked to a school you would like to send your child to.

My little one is still at the same nursery he's been at since he was 15 months as there is a great preschool set up with the private nursery hours which suit me as I work full time and we don't have to adhere to school holidays either.

Hope this helps!

We use a private nursery as primary preschools operate on school hours with no after school childcare provision so no good if you work without child care support. Our private nursery follow a curriculum so yeah numbers, letters etc so I can't see it being much different tbh

Pre-school in my opinion is 100% the better option, but if you need a lot of wraparound care and care in the school holidays you might have to look at stretching their care across two different settings.

I had one child who went to private nursery and one who went to pre-school.
Both settings were good.

The private nursery was more geared up for covering the whole day (this was a bit piecemeal at pre-school).

The pre-school organised a number of settling in visits prior to starting school, and the majority of the children moved up from there, so it did make school transition easier. But I would say this only impacted the first 2-3 weeks.

DS was at a private Montessori nursery, the ratios were better than the local pre schools, they had a large garden and woodland area, forest school every afternoon, they also had Spanish lessons, sports coaching and dance classes with external tutors coming in. The keyworker knew him really well (he had the same one for two years) and 9-3 term time only didn't work for us, we needed care and year round and after 3pm on the days he was there. He is doing very well at school, he is confident, well rounded and achieving well academically. I absolutely believe it was the right choice for him.

My experience of pre-school was that their expectations of the child were more school-like, so they expected the child to sit and engage with activities, stories etc, were less tolerant of poor behaviour, expected good attendance and so on. Nursery felt more relaxed and flexible to me. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends a lot on your child I think.

Mine went to private nursery, but the final year was called pre-school and operated with more routine and structure than the younger years. They started them doing a bit of sitting around a desk in small groups, doing very basic phonics and maths work for a short time.

Ideally he would have gone to the pre-school attached to his primary school, but they aren't any use for working parents as they only cover school hours and term-time. It didn't make much difference though - might have made the first few weeks easier I guess, but now he's in Y1 I've no idea which kids went to the pre-school and which didn't.

Be aware a private nursery will charge differently to a school-based pre-school - with a private nursery open, say, 7am-6pm, you might still have to pay quite a lot even with 15 free hours. With a pre-school you might get away with just doing the 15 hours with a small top-up, if she's only doing a morning or afternoon per day.