To not take DD to pre-school

[Flippetyflip]

So we relocated a few months ago. Before we moved I was working and DD attended a private nursery on the days I worked. Since we moved I've not worked so DD has been enrolled in a local pre-school. I actually find it a bit of a hassle rather than helpful as it's only 2 hours per day and by the time I've got her there Im picking her up again. I've got 2 other young DC and it also impacts what we can do with our time. I think it's great for her socialisation etc and take her 99% of the time but sometimes I inform the pre-school in advance and don't take her. I can't work out how frowned upon this is. AIBU if I want to meet a friend or arrange an alternative play date and therefore take DD out with advance notice or is this seen as bad behaviour and she should attend. It's not a legal requirement and she's starting school in Sept so we'll be tied then so it seems good to take advantage of some flexibility now.

as long as you give them plenty of notice, so it doesn't mess up all their organising.

2 hours per day is not a great preparation for school when they have a much longer day. Couldn't you send her a couple of full days a week instead?

They only offer afternoon or mornings and no full days.

I don’t think 2 hours a day is any preparation for school. If she isn’t starting in September then I’d look elsewhere (though I imagine she probably is). I think the only thing would be if you are taking up a space and using funded hours for that that could be better used by someone else. If that’s the case, I’d pull her out altogether until you can commit.

As an ex preschool chair, the crux of the matter is how often you do it. After a certain % of sessions missed the payments the preschool are affected. And obviously they can't give those days to another child on short notice.

So I guess if you want to do it regularly it'd be fairer to just cut down her sessions.

the payments to the preschool....

I didn't know we could cut down her sessions. I thought it was all or nothing. I might see if I can take her out one day per week then till the end of the term. It would give us some flexibility but hopefully not annoy the pre-school.

It may depend on your individual preschool but all of those in my area allow flexibility in the number of sessions.

Ds's preschool is the same. Is really annoying as you feel like you're just hanging around waiting to go get him.
But I reckon the routine etc is good for him and it's part of the school he's going to in September so the children, playground, staff, uniform etc will all be familiar to him.
Would much rather have had a couple of full days and then we'd have some full days to ourself.

If it’s just occasional then I don’t see a problem with it. I work in this sector and at my preschool we don’t mind if it’s the odd day here or there but as a pp said the funding may be affected if it’s regular (e.g. once a week). Would maybe make more sense to cut her hours but having said that the preschool may have already claimed their funding for the term by now so it wouldn’t make any difference.

Having looked at their literature, I don't think we can cut her sessions back, there is no mention of this being an option. Their prospectus (if that's what you'd call it) says they are proud of their high attendance rate and just says they need to be informed in advance if a child is to miss a session. There are no rules stating how many sessions you can miss etc. We were really good to start with and rarely missed a session but then last month I had a hospital stay and lots going on at home due to this with grandparents etc - they were informed about this and fine. She has missed a day a week though in the last 3 weeks. DH feels that we don't need to explain our reasons to them as it's not a legal requirement for her to be there anyway. I don't want to do the 'wrong thing and cause problems for the school but I also feel that I should be able to take DD out of pre-school with advance notice if I need to.