Pre school not allowing son to attend because he also goes to nursery?

[Zarara]

Son was meant to start pre school today. Has been attending both pre school and a local nursery (2 days each) since last Sept.

Pre school call me at 2pm yesterday to say son can no longer attend because they are not allowing children to attend if they also attend another setting. Nursery has no problem with dual settings.

I read the gov advice and it doesn’t say they can’t attend 2 settings, just says they should attend setting consistently.

I understand the point of the nursery but lots of clubs have opened now so lots of cross settings happening, football, swimming etc and other younger child will be attending nursery either way. Also we live in a village so not a massive city if that makes a difference.

Pre school and nursery knew about the arrangement prior to Covid and pre school only let us know this rule a day before.

Will have to pay for nursery if I put him in there full time. Will get the 30 hours if I put him in pre school but they don’t provide wraparound care so not ideal.

So who is being unreasonable? Pre school for leaving it so late to let us know and for not allowing him to attend both settings or me for expecting them to allow him to attend both given that the guidance doesn’t prohibit it?

I think if the pre-school is private they can probably do what they like. If they are attached to a state primary school I would go over their heads to the LEA and see what they say.

What i there reasoning? Is it a covid rule? if so I don,t think there is much you can do, but since they honoured it before ad you have not changed your pans ask them if they can still honour it? It is a very normal situation. Also check that there is enough room for your child to go to nursery fulltime. Or you may be able to use childminder??

Does the nursery really not offer the 30 hours free funding?

If that is their rules to keep children and staff safe YABU unfortunately OP.

Yes, some places have this rule. If they are private or the LA has advised it, then fair enough. They can do as they wish. I don't know if our nursery does (we only use one setting), but the holiday club that school age dc goes to will only take them if they are in one setting.

It's also an afterschool club (during term time), so I assume the same rules apply then too. Even with children who were in school at the end of last term (reception and Y1s who were allowed to come back), they had to take a 2 week break before starting holiday club to not mix school and holiday club bubbles. It's a small confined setting and they have little outdoor space, and I think it frankly makes good sense. We are all having to juggle childcare differently at the moment and make some compromises.

Could you adjust your hours so you can work flexibly, and assuming you have a partner, one of you can start early and the other work late to fit pre-school hours? Does your nursery not accept any funded hours? That seems very odd.

@RandomMess

Does the nursery really not offer the 30 hours free funding?

They just can’t afford it.

I worked for one when it was 15 hours and we were already subsiding low income families - and really needed to get in a higher % or full fee payers just to keep afloat.

The money we received for the ‘free’ 15 hours was a lot less than covered the actual cost of staff, heating, rent, insurance, etc. We had to charge for snacks and milk and any additional hours and people would complain so much (and sometimes get abusive and pretty nasty).

This was when they were suggesting the 30 hours and many of the local nurseries were planning to either close because they just couldn’t do it.

My DCs’ preschool currently has the same policy because of covid. It is what it is.

YABU. This is a rule they have chosen to keep the children safe, and they are absolutely entitled to make that rule.

This is really common where we are. Also can’t use the 30 hours, just 15 so childcare bill has rocketed. They should have let you know earlier, but everyone is feeling their way through this new situation so I’d give them a break really.

I think it bothers me because they told me the day before, so no chance to make alternative arrangements. I also don’t understand the logic so he could do an afternoon club everyday, visit soft play etc but can’t go to two child care settings.

Obviously if those are the rules then not much I can do...

@SerenityNowwwww yeah I know the whole farce of the funding not covering costs but the daycare nurseries just put their fees up accordingly but I live somewhere that most people have a long commute etc so use very long days even if only 3 days per week.

I think if you are going to complain to them about it the focus should be on the lack of notice. They clearly didn't make this rule just now so they could have given you more notice. Having said that I'm with you that it seems a bit much.

The lack of notice is totally unreasonable - I think attending two settings isn't unreasonable myself but I suppose places are allowed to make their own calls about that. But one day notice is not on, you have every right to complain!

Our preschool are doing this. DD isn’t allowed to attend wrap around care as she started reception today, but DS (1) is allowed to attend. It’s causing a lot of issues for many parents, but at least preschool gave us notice at the beginning of the summer holidays. I’d complain about the lack of notice, but as a PP has said, if it’s a private preschool there’s not a lot you can do

I had the same issue. DD went to preschool and a forest based nursery and we were asked to choose which setting to continue at. Again, it was the preschool who made the ruling as the nursery were fine with it.

In the end, I kept mine at preschool as it wasn't worth the argument to keep her at both.

[quote RandomMess]@SerenityNowwwww yeah I know the whole farce of the funding not covering costs but the daycare nurseries just put their fees up accordingly but I live somewhere that most people have a long commute etc so use very long days even if only 3 days per week.[/quote]
In my opinion there really ought to be free, local, decent quality care for all pre school kids (minimum for sahp, rising to full time/wraparound for working parents and those with additional needs). And care for the elderly too actually.

Our nursery (privately run) has instigated the same rule as of 1st September too - no dual settings. We only ever use nursery (DS 3) but I know other parents have done what you do and used a mixture of preschool and nursery.

Unfortunately it’s all down to Covid - our nursery are keeping children in bubbles (fortunately it’s a large nursery with 4 classrooms and lots of outside space) to avoid, as much as possible, the risk of infection, but if a child is attending another setting they’ve no way of knowing what rules are being followed at the other establishment and whether a child might be exposed.

It’s another side effect of the pandemic I’m afraid and, as others have said, a private establishment is entitled to instigate its own rules.