DS has just turned 3 and has been at a very large sure start nursery one day a week since he was 9 months. There have been a few wobbly moments along the way but on the whole the staff are very good and do listen and are very honest if mistakes are made etc.
Now one day a week I know is hard and he has never really settled. He doesn't ever run in to or talk about nursery positively. He often tells me its closed on our way there!
His room was an open plan 0-3 room which when he was under 1 I had concerns about, but now he is 3 he has really grown out of it and therefore is about to move next week to his new room. I should also add that his baby brother has also just started in the 0-3 room and is very happy, quite different to big brother.
So new room as of next week. Its a massive room made up of workshops and outside. Its free flow all day except 10 -15 mins group time (group of 10) each day. In this room there are 74 children and 20 adults.
On his visits to the new room he has struggled. He has even been running around shouting at people or 'found' crying or asked to go back.
Now he could well settle I just don't know. The teaching is outstanding, ofsted is outstanding but in my view the behavior of some children is very challenging, parents are often smoking outside the gate, you often hear bad language both inside and out. Now I hate to sound a snob but this is a true reflection. The staff are excellent, but there is a big difference in the new room in that they are teachers not stand in mummies. You pick this up from the way they are towards the children, its very hands off not many cuddles etc.
Personal social skills are apparently being worked on. But I think with 74 children this is REALLY hard.
So I have looked at other options. I have to be able to drop my youngest off and get to work so my options are a little narrow. But one very workable option is a pre-prep nursery 2mins from work. (I teach). I am considering sending my DS to my school but unless we are lucky we won't get him in and will have to wait for a place. I did think if he went to this pre-prep he could say until such time as a place at my school became available.
So the pre-prep nursery. Its totally different. The class has a maximum of 15 children. In Jan there will be 10. It?s very structured, lots of 'lessons.' When I arrived the children (5 of them) were having a singing lesson. We had a quick tour of the school and when we came back they were having a PE lesson. The range of resources is far more limited but they do have a swimming lesson and a dance lesson each week and spend lots of time outdoors on nature walks etc. They call the teachers Mrs etc no first names.
I just don't know what is best. Do 3 year olds need a big space, free flow, lots of free time. Do they equally need to be in a tiny group??
I think he will get a shock at the level of expectation in terms of following instructions for a large chunk of the day, but is this a bad thing??
The osfted for the pre-prep is satisfactory but I'm not sure 74 children is outstanding either!
Gosh this is too longer post, I'll stop. WWYD?