To not use the full 30 hours funding for preschool while I'm on maternity leave?

[Violet1988]

I have an almost three year old and also a newborn and a 5 year old. In April my three year old will be eligible for 30 hours of preschool for the year before reception and he gets an extra term because of when his birthday falls (February).
The preschool is at my older child's school. I'm on maternity leave until December 2022 and I'm at the stage of filling the forms in for DC2 and need to decide if I want him to attend 5 full school days or any combination of less hours e.g. 5 mornings 2 / 3 full days etc.
Obviously I'm home anyway but want him to go for some amount of time to benefit him just not sure on the optimum balance. Like most his age he's already missed out on a lot of opportunities to socialise due to covid. Also he's never been in nursery / to a childminder before, (was in paid for grandparent care).

YABU - he should go for 30 hours it's important for his education / development
YANBU - fewer hours would be better,you are home anyway.

Yep and tax-free childcare (if it's for a child who was receiving it already, not for the new one).

So your 3yo child will be doing a term and a bit this academic year and then another year of pre-school before reception?

I'd do PT to ease them in for a few months and FT from September.

I would advise to go for 3 full days - this is what I did with my DD when she was 3 and her brother was born. They need to build up tolerance for the full day, and will be more settled rather than just a few hours a day which will feel short for him and for you. You also need to factor in your needs - do you really want to get home from the baby group, then launch straight into entertaining your 3 year old in all weathers while trying to get the baby to nap, 5 days a week? On those 3 days you can chill out a bit when baby naps. Then on the 2 days you have both of them, you can have more energy and do more fun, engaging things. In the summer you can be out for whole days.

I'd go with the full days so you aren't running back and forwards to school all the time. Builds tolerance to full days and gives you better flexibility.

Its 30h purely to facilitate parents returning to work or training, also to encourage schools to start nursery classes from 9-3 as the termly funding fits their schedules and creates demand from parents.

At 3 I think children do best with a mix. 2 days or 4 half days of nursery, with some time at home with a primary caregiver.

Bear in mind that in a nursery setting with someone with qualified teacher status or early years teacher status or early years professional status, you can have 13 3 year olds with only one adult. Kids this age in nursery schools don't get a huge amount of adult attention, even in lower ratios, and imho they do need it for some chunks of time.

I'd go with full days as otherwise you will be doing morning, lunch and afternoon school runs so that's alot of time back and forth especially with a newborn. Obviously if you live really close to school that's a bit different!

We are entitled to 30 hours but currently only using 15 of them but have the option to increase when / if needed. I think maybe the year before school we might go up to 3 days.

Is it a school Nursery with a teacher?

Depends what they let you do. Full days get them used to the routine of lunch and activities in the afternoon.
With my eldest I did 5 mornings (didn’t take up full 30 hours) and youngest it was 3 full days and 2 mornings. I could see the difference in how settled my younger child was being there all day. It depended on work but if I’d been able to choose i would have chosen 3 mornings and 2 full days.

When I was in your position I did three full days. Less faffing about with multiple school runs if they were doing half days and also it replicated what they'd be doing when I went back to work (I went back three days per week.)

It brilliant that a schools nursery offers such flexibility. Where we live it pretty much mornings or afternoons. Will you need him in 5 days a week when you go back to work?

My daughter never went to nursery. She did 2 mornings a week at a preschool for less than 1 year because they were closed due to covid for part of the time. She started school in September and settled in with absolutely no problems.

Full time preschool absolutely is NOT necessary for development. If you want to send your kid or need to for work, feel free, but it is not a requirement whatsoever.

My DD old went 3 days a week whilst I was on maternity. Set her in good stead for when she started reception and allowed me some quality time with newborn DS.
Do whatever works best for you.

To answer a few questions:
When I go back to work in December I will be working three days a week. Still might want slightly more than three days nursery at this point as otherwise no 1:1 time with baby. So maybe at this point I would ideally like 3.5 or 4 days.
While I'm on maternity leave I initially had thought that 5 mornings would be best to ease him in gently and also I wouldn't have had the option to do his had I not been on maternity leave. But the six trips to the school/home a day would mean there would be very little time to do anything else with my days, so while it might suit him best it's not a great option for me or the baby who would probably have a lot of feeds interrupted. School is 15 minutes walk away at adult pace, with three year old walking, it's more like 25-30 minutes (though he is getting faster). Also like someone pointed out no option of doing things like days out etc with three year old and baby.
So 2 or 3 days is probably the best option I guess but I do need to make sure they are as flexible as they sounded to ensure I could increase later on.
Someone asked about when he would start reception. So he will have the april-september term 2021 and then the full academic year of preschool from September 21, the start reception September 22.
The setting is a preschool in the grounds of my child's primary school. I'm not sure if it's a teacher or early years professional in charge of the class. Full time hours is 9-3. Mornings are 9-11:30(or 12 if you want to pay for lunch), afternoon is 12:30-3 (or 12-3 paying for lunch).

It depends if you can easily increase it when the time comes that you need the extra hours . I'd probably start with 3 full days if that's what you'll need when you go back to work

Half days are a pain I think, back and forth. Doesn't give you much time inbetween drop off and pick up

I'd do whatever you want, but my older one had just started reception when I had the younger one. I really appreciated the full days we had together (like I had with her when she was a baby). The school day is short enough when you are factoring in naps and baby groups and running errands and cooking meals/doing washing. I wouldn't want to do half days, you'd spend the whole day on the school run going back and forth. I'd definitely do full days. How many is up to you. Having a new baby is full on and I definitely appreciated my older one having someone who could give her their full attention when I couldn't though.