Nursery waiting lists

[Eekbubble]

Hi all

We are just starting phase two of the adoption process and one of the questions recently posed to us is the quality of local nurseries/schools etc.

After a bit of research, most nurseries seem to have waiting list that stretch out to up to three years! Has anyone else had this experience before? Not sure how we are even supposed to put ourselves on a waiting list with no knowledge of if/when/how this will happen for us.

Advice appreciated!

Hi

you arent being asked to choose a nursery/school at this point, you are being asked about provision and quality
Its a long time ago for me but I said something along the lines of there are 3 primary schools within 10 minutes walking distance, ofsted rated xx, after school clubs etc, 2 more ‘academic’ , 1 less academic but very diverse, good experience with looked after children etc etc.
As this point as you say you know nothing about your potential child, nursery might not be a suitable childcare option for you, you might not return to work, lots of reasons why you can’t pick one now anyway.
I had a favoured school, but my eventual son was in special school so I had to think again.
good luck

You may also find variable terminology.
There are 'nurseries' which are childcare age a few months-5 and run 51 weeks a year.
There are also nursery / 'pre-schools' which run term time only and may be attached to schools. These may only start at 2y9mnth and have a different waiting system.

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate I’m not needing to pick a nursery now but what I’m more concerned about is getting to the point of having a child that is ready/able to have a child but there are no nursery places that don’t have really long waiting lists? What happens on the childcare front then?

The short answer to your question, is no, it's very unlikely a nursery would add you to a waiting list without even having a child in mind.

It's not a completely lost cause though, and it's helpful to know how nurseries operate. And by nurseries I'm talking about what are generally known as day nurseries, which take babies all the way up to when they are ready for school, and operate primarily as a means of childcare for working parents, so they are open year round, and hours something like 8-6. Yes, demand is high. They have to work with very strict ratios. They can only have a very small number of babies per staff member, and this is why it can seem like an impossible task for under 2s. It gets much easier as children get older. While waiting lists are definitely a thing, it will come down to whether they can legally add a child to the setting and still adhere to their ratios. If you need a place for a three year old, you won't be competing for a place with those who are returning to work after nine months of maternity. Keep in mind as well that those already on the waiting list may not even be interested in a place when they get to the top because they could have made alternative arrangements.

I agree it's too early to worry, but that it's a useful exercise that you've found out where the nurseries are and you've found out that you can't just get your first choice at short notice.

It's something you'll need to revisit at the point of matching, but unless you know what age child you'll have, and critically, when you want them to start, which could be a year after they are placed with you, I don't think you'd be able to secure a place. Even then, they probably wouldn't hold a place, and they may ask you to contact again nearer the time.

And yes, you can look at nurseries attached to schools who most likely register in the spring for the following September but may have spaces mid-year. You should also look at child minders, even if that's not your first choice of child care, just to see what's available.

Well to be honest there isnt a lot you can do about it at this point. And its no different to any other family in that respect - you just have to find a solution.

Its not worth worrying about something which may happen 2 or 3 years down the line or not at all.
By which I mean you could be matched with a school age child, nursery may not be suitable for your future child - depending on the needs of the child one of you may need to stay at home, both of you could go part time, a childminder might be a option.
Probably a good time to have a ponder on your thoughts about childcare in general.

I agree with @Ted27 in that having found out about local nursery provision it’s a good time to really think through different options. You might want to think about how your adoption leave will work, whether you’d want to access childcare while you’re on adoption leave, what your options are for work post adoption leave and having various permutations available depending on the needs of the child.

In my case my DS was 4 when placed, we deferred his school entry and he did go to nursery while I was on adoption leave (after a period of settling in) because he needed the routine and structure. He had half days at the nursery class attached to his school. We had planned various combinations of work - from both returning to work full time, variations on part time work and one of us stopping work altogether for a while, with associated childcare possibilities. As it stands neither of my two could cope with school and after care 5 days a week and my working choices have worked around what they can manage.

Its hard when you don’t have a specific child in mind, so the more open and flexible you are in your thinking the easier it will be to plan for “this” child specifically. You may decide on a nursery, a child minder or not using childcare and then find your decision changes in light of the child you are matched with.

OP there are often council run nurseries based at children's centres and these are usually very good quality and will give an adopted child priority in the same way as a school.

Thanks all! All responses are much appreciated.

Also your child may already be in a nursery when they come to you.i would look at school options and different activities as well as nurserys,check out forest school groups,toddler yoga,music groups,baby gym,library rythum and rhyme etcetc,so much fun research,and deal with the actual signing up to stuff in the future as actually doing it all is still far away,I think theyl just want you to really consider how early days will look like and the practicalities of it all?

OP we have just done stage one and on the training days, they informed us that adopted children in our LA are exempt from waiting lists and get first preference when you select your school, so you don't have to worry about your local catchment area having long waitlists because that expectation is unreasonable when adopting children.

I meant to add, ask if that's something you're LA does too! We had a lot of questions like that on the training days and it was all answered that it's a bit of a non issue because adopted children get out at the front of the queue for whichever school you chose