I lived in Belgium and my oldest son attended the maternelle class in the local state school from 2.5-4 years (2003-2005). All children had to be toilet trained when they started but took a spare set of clothes in case of accidents which were fairly frequent at first! He was in a class of 20-25 children of same age with one teacher and one helper. All the children stayed from 9-3.30pm and had a 3 course lunch and a nap after lunch. As the children got older there was less napping and more quiet play!
There was also the option of the Guarderie before and after school from approx 7.30am-6.30pm. We paid about 50 euros a month for school dinners and the Guarderie, whether you used it or not. The advantage was you did not need to book in, so if you were running late,your child was just taken to the Guarderie with all the other children not picked up. I also once left him for a day in half term which cost me 60 cents for the day. Obviously this must have been subsided but also paid for because all parents in the school paid it (justification was Guarderie staff looked after the children during the teachers' lunchbreak).
The emphasis was on developing fine and gross motor skills so my son painted fantastic pictures, made lovely crafts to bring home and danced, sang and plenty of outside play etc. He did not learn his numbers or letters or reading or writing but when we returned to the UK & he started in Reception he had the skills to pick these up quickly.
His teachers were lovely and professional, we lived opposite the school so they brought the whole class over to our garden a couple of times each year (without red tape and multiple permission slips!) My son remembers these days fondly although admits he found it hard as only French was spoken!
My middle son was born in Belgium and attended a private nursery from the age of 7 months (this was quite old, most babies went into nursery from 3-4 months). Although interestingly working mums often coincided their second maternity leave with the time the older child started school at 2.5 so they had time home with the baby and were able to ease the older one gently to school. I also noticed husbands and grandparents all took their turn picking up and dropping off which is not always the case here.
I do not remember the staff ratios for the nursery, I think it varied depending on the nursery and there were different options. We went for private because it was English speaking and probably more expensive with higher ratios. We also used the equivalent of a playgroup (morning sessions from 18mths to 2.5yrs) before my oldest son started school.
I never used, but was aware, of a number of different childcare options from child minders, state run creches and drop in centre that you could leave even young babies for a few hours eg if you had a dental appointment or needed to go shopping. I think the costs varied and there were creches that were more sought after and those less so, however my overall impression was child care was run by qualified professionals with some state control and a range of affordable options.
It was a shock returning to the UK and finding school's wrap around care was so expensive, the options for pre-schoolers was a full-time nursery or a morning playgroup session with nothing much in between. It was virtually impossible to work part-time so I took a career break and only returned to work when my third child started at school aged 4. Having experienced both systems I found the Belgian one much more flexible and affordable. However we were expats and living a comfortable life. I know some of the Belgium mum's found the pressure to return to work (because of cultural expectations and financial needs) hard when their children were young.
On balance however I felt the Belgian system offered more choice than the British and I think we should look for ways the British system can adapt good practice such as I was lucky enough to experience in Belgium. I am unsure whether the current proposals are aiming for this but from talking to friends who run nurseries, any proposals that cut red tape and recognise (financially) the professionalism of those who look after our children when we work should be welcomed.
Sorry for the long post....