About sending DD to nursery targeting deprived kids?

[EssentialHummus]

I sorted a nursery place for DD(2) literally years ago, but that nursery forgot to tell me that actually they no longer offer the morning only times I wanted, and are still dicking us around.

I SAH and work when DD sleeps. All I want is a couple of morning sessions at a nursery for her to do different things and get used to a setting, and for me to crack on with work and get a bit of headspace. Everywhere is full, long waiting lists, don't do half days etc.

Yesterday I took her to a stay and play session at a nursery we'd never been to. Staff were lovely and clearly experienced from how they interacted with the kids, setting was small but full of creative areas/toys etc, nice garden. I asked the manager if they had nursery places and they have two morning sessions free from September (they are otherwise full). I could have kissed her!

But:
We live in an area that's 50% £££££ houses and 50% acute social deprivation, and this nursery falls in the latter, and I have the impression that most of the kids are probably from deprived families. And deprived in our area doesn't mean "can't afford Boden", it means "can't afford breakfast".

Their stated aim is to "support new parents and families facing difficulty". Their website talks about their commitment to providing 1:1 family support and outreach. The fee is really low. So we're not the target audience, for lack of a better term.

I asked for feedback on the local FB group, and the two mums who replied with kids there are women I vaguely know and who I'm pretty sure have mild learning difficulties. (They're both nice, fwiw, and liked the nursery.)

Not sure what I'm asking really. I'm inclined to take the place - it's a great nursery, near home, lovely staff, cheap, and DD is bright and happy and doesn't need much from nursery other than the chance for a bit of independent play. I'm sure some smartass will come along shortly to say I'm worried about DD "catching poor" - I'm not, but sending her to a nursery that specifically targets families in difficulty? Would you? AIBU?

How long is the session for £12 ? My DS goes to a community run preschool, but we paid when he was 2. It was £18 for the session (3 hours) and 50p per session for snacks. It's totally different price to a morning at private day nursery.

3.5 hours purple. At a private nursery it'd be near £50 here (if they offered them... they tend not to as there's enough demand not to bother).

I chose to send my DD to a nursery attached to a school which has a very mixed intake as it was really good at supporting her speech delay. The school serves an intake which is about 1/3 very deprived, 1/3 EAL and 1/3 MC.

However the early years provision was heavily skewed towards to the ‘very deprived group’ as most of the MC parents were working and needed the flexibility of private /FT nursery. This was even more apparent when my DS started in the 2 year provision. We paid for his place ( along with one other family). It was an unusual decision but I wanted DS to go to the same setting as his sister and was not in a position to do 2 pick ups and drop offs etc).

The setting is/ was fabulous and I think it is valuable for all kids to mix together at an age when they don’t see the differences. IME there were always vacancies at the nursery for privately funded places (helped eeke out their budget) - so perhaps look into paying for your childs place at the nice nursery?

Are you saying everyone has to pay to go there? If so then all my other comments were irrelevant. I was referring to fully funded nurseries.

Haven’t rtft. Due to a (very expensive) nursery having to close and the alternative branch providing substandard care we had no choice but to put my daughter in a nursery in the most deprived postcode in my borough. It was fabulous. My kids didn’t come swearing, they got lots of grants so did amazing things and ultimately what I paid per hour for my kids was more than the government would have so the nursery got more money. Go for it.

Are you saying everyone has to pay to go there? If so then all my other comments were irrelevant. I was referring to fully funded nurseries.

No, not everyone has to pay to go there. Their wording is "paid places also available" but they talk a lot about the grants, funding, 2 year hours, 3 year hours etc that they have. We'd be paying, to whoever asked.

I guess they will be making big effort to enrich the environment given their objectives, which is probably why you got such a good impression!

My daughter goes to a place a little like this. I picked it because I think it's a great setting, with lovely staff and actually the kids that I encountered when I looked around were friendly, polite and confident....
As opposed the nursery I looked at that was twice the price with all shiny new toys...(which later spectacularly failed an ofsted)
Go with your gut, you've said it's a great setting, give it a go. If you're unhappy at any point you can always look for somewhere else.

£50 for a morning session DSs private nursery is £55 for the whole day in the SE and they take the 30 free hours funding...I feel very lucky!

The funding wasn’t reaching those who were most in need. This contributing to the services closing down so that other ways of using this funding more effectively and efficiently could be sought
Squandering it on Brexshit more like in this government's case.

Op you need certain nursery times, they have them available. If demand was that high they would have been fully booked.

You have been lucky to find the spots you need, I don't think your being unreasonable by taking the space. From what I have read I think you have considered the more needy, I'm sure they would have indicated if they had other more needy families.

Having your child socialise within this setting and comparing it to you environment could be a positive. They will learn more about the imbalance within society, appreciate what they have and be more aware of other peoples situations.

My child got a 2 year old place in a 'deprived area' nursery because of his speech delay. There are several chiodren there dropped off my social workers etc as well as having other issues. Its an amazing nursery. The staff are so experienced in working with all types of chikdren and there is so much support available thru the nursery in terms of support for learning, additional experiences for the kids etc. If it 'feels' right for your child, id go for it. I love my sons nursery and the care they give to each child.

It very difficult but I think I would keep looking for a nursery.