AIBU to be asked if I use 'Reception class' as a childcare option?!

[PenguinBear]

Maybe I ABU but it really annoyed me to be asked (in a survey) whether or not I use 'Reception class' as a child care option!!!!

Clearly whoever created the quiz doesn't rate Reception class for being a valued education experience and it would appear they just see it as 'free childcare'.

AIBU to be annoyed by this? And before anyone asks, no I definitely haven't got my wires crossed, I have screen caps!

I did that survey as well I think, i was beginning to wonder if it was done by an American where reception is optional and you can do it at nursery rather than at a school (or at least where my family live in America), anyway YANBU, it was an odd question

Well that is just silly - children have to be in some form of education by 5 . And most parents are not in a position to home school.

Lots of people see school - any year- as a child care option.

Yabu really, it's just a question, they weren't accusing you personally.

Really?

Reception is compulsory.

I think they put it in as children do not need to be in school until the term after they are five. in my case both children did not need to be educated until they were old enough for year one.

i suspect tht it is a technicality.

exitpursuedbyabear reception isn't compulsory. You must provide an education from the term after a child is I've years old, but for an August born child that is the start of year one. However if you don't put your child into reception you probably lose your place at the school of your choice and for most (working) families reception is a must as it is free compared to massive child care bills.

Sorry. That was rhetorical

My sister uses reception as a childcare option I think (might be foundation though, I get confused).

Whatever one it is, the children can usually do a morning or an afternoon session (which is 3 hrs free??), but her and a few others do both sessions (paying for one).

I did that survey and was a bit about this.
It may not be legally compulsory until the term after you dc is 5 but for many many people reception from September is effectively compulsory in order to secure a place at a school as schools do not hold places open. (bitter wait list veteran)

If you have a 4yo they might well attend either nursery or a school depending on whether they are a September child who has just missed the school year cut off or have just turned 4 in August and their parents have decided to send them to reception (pretty much the default). Both nursery and reception offer education. It is splitting hairs to say that the September child is in childcare and the August one is education if they are doing similar child led play for much of the day, possibly for the same length day, just in a different location.

A wrap around care nursery from 8am to 6pm would probably be considered to be primarily "childcare" whereas a nursery offering sessions between 9-3 might be considered to be primarily providing "education". They should both offer the same educational opportunities, but the former is more likely to help working parents to fit their working hours in. However some working parents are able to fit their work around short nursery hours, so for some parents a short day nursery, which is considered more about education than childcare, can also provide the childcare they need.

So it is all a matter of semantics whether a nursery provides childcare or education. I don't see how it can dramatically change when you get to reception apart from the legal obligation (once 5) to ensure that your child is educated either in school or HE.

I haven't seen the survey, but isn't it really just asking if you rely on your child being at school while you are out fulfilling other commitments (work, volunteering etc) or whether you are on hand at home, so don't need to arrange alternative care eg on inset days or during school holidays?

Not quite Artesia, because only reception is stated as a child care option to tick, not school for older children. I was slightly surprised but it would be an odd thing to be cross about - it's just a survey, not an accusation.

I don't see it as anything other than a statement of fact. If you are working parent nursery/reception/school is part of your childcare arrangements and if your child wasn't at school you would have to make other arrangements for their care.

That doesn't mean that school should be a substitute for school or vice versa. School and child care are both extremely important. School or education should be important to all families; childcare for those families who need it. In today's world they cannot be mutually exclusive and for some people school isn't free childcare because actually some people chose to pay for school.

YANBU, given that the majority of us want our dc to start school when their peers do it hardly feels like an actual choice nth at and the hassle of primary places and so on.

I don't know what the cut off dates are for other areas, but here any child born after the 30th march could skip reception entirely, given that they don't have to be in full time education until the term after their 5th birthday, which would be the september. It doesn't just affect the so called 'summer born' which appears to be a common thought.

Seem a pretty stupid question given that most people don't view sending their reception age child to school as an option of any sort.

My children were at a nursery, which was a part of our plan for looking after them while we were at work, and then when they started school we had to completely rejig childcare so that they had after school care. I didn't see school as being childcare, just as school, but I suppose it could have been interpreted that way. Nursery was much easier!

I did that survey and was more about the fact that they asked if I used my partner as a childcare option.

Er, no. He is her dad. He has as much responsibility for looking after dd as I do!

Seriously? That's pretty offensive!

The survey sounds weird, what was it?

I work in reception and in my experience parents find it a pain in the arse as a childcare option because childminders don't always keep places free for after school care as they get paid for less hours, and you can't leave them there as late as you can at daycare nursery which many children have to leave so they can start school at the right time.

It's hardly childcare when there are few jobs where the hours are between 9 and 3.

The survey was apparently put together by an organisation called the Resolution Foundation - it's on a sticky in active threads at the moment.

A number of the questions seemed very poorly thought through.