Nursery attendance / absence. Is this the norm?

[Pollysforever]

My 3 year old and 2 year old go to a small nursery, both receive the 15 hours free funding so go for two full days each week.

As you'd expect with toddlers they're no strangers to picking up all sorts so have had some time off here and there on account of things like D&V, temperatures and coughs throughout the pandemic, awaiting test results etc. Nursery wouldn't accept them in with anything that could be covid understandably.

The nursery also has a policy of: snotty nose = stay at home (which is fine by me)

So a few weeks ago before half term it was my son's 3rd birthday and we booked to take him to shreks adventure. It had to be on a Monday as that's the only day dad was able to come with us. DS needs an adult ratio of 2:1 because he has special needs and trips out need to be planned with military precision. I wasn't going to deprive DD of the trip just to send her to nursery so ofc she came too.

When I told the nursery they wouldn't be in that day as we were taking them to see Shrek for DS birthday I got a bit of a lecture from the nursery manager about booking it on a nursery day and whether I could have chosen another day. I said no.

She mentioned there had been a few absences and we needed to get his attendance up next term.

I was a bit as nursery isn't compulsory but I was caught off guard so said right... ok then.

Since they've come home from nursery today they're clearly coming down with something. DS has puffy eyes and a cough, DD has a temperature of 39 and she's lethargic. I sent a text to let nursery know they won't be in tomorrow and why.

I'm just wondering is it the norm for nurseries to be on at parents about attendance?

DS starts school in September which is a different kettle of fish obviously.

Not sure about other councils but in our council they don't check what days the children attend until after.

When DD went to Nursery it just had to average out as 15 or 30 hours across all their settings for the whole term. So missing a day to go the cinema or beach or whatever was fine, our Nursery would try to make it up later in the term but could still claim the funding if not.

It's an SN nursery so I'm not going to comment on the no snotty nose policy as I have a DD with SN and can understand why they may have that rule.

[quote Endofdaysarehere]@SleepingStandingUp I think you’ve missed the bit where you see the OP has qualified for 2yr funding.
We’re not talking about universal funding, but the very very hard to get 2yr funding.
This is not given out because the government thinks it’s great that the child have a little extra socialisation, it’s given because the best place for the child, given the OP’s circumstances, is at nursery.[/quote]
Ad someone who's child also qualified for two year old funding because of additional needs I fully understand we got it because they thought he would benefit from additional educational support and peer input. It absolutely wasn't about school being SAFER THAN home.
I also live in quite a poor area. Lots of the kids get the funding because of income. The only difference in their home lives is who works and how much they earn, not whether they're unsafe in their homes.

Next time I would just lie
And Op isn't taking a space from anyone her children go it was one bloody day , there not going to put another child in for that day
If they have such a policy as no snotty noses absence must be quite high

When my son was at nursery we were told that he had to attend for at least half the 15 funded hours each week on a regular basis or we would lose our funded place. Where we live there is a shortage of funded places and all the nurseries have waiting lists. It's not fair for a child to have a funded place they hardly use when there are other children who would love to go to nursery and can't get a place.

However we were allowed to take our son out of nursery to go on holiday, visit Grandma, go to the zoo instead and this didn't go against his attendance as long as we told the nursery in writing (email) in advance so they had a written record on file that he had a genuine reason to be off. Same with sickness, he had to be called in sick everyday.

Are you giving the nursery advance notice of days off etc and following the correct calling in sick procedure? If you don't then your attendance will look erratic and give the impression you're not bothered about having the place.

OMG it was ONE DAY. ONE DAY! Do we really need the hand wringing about OP stealing a place for some unknown child, probably pressed with their nose against the nursery window in the cold.

The nursery manager is ridiculous, as is their sickness policy. Just tell them that they are teething next time.

I think it'll be to do with funding. When lockdown happened, my daughter was at nursery and they had to do the register via Teams where they wanted to physically see the child. If that didn't happen then they'd have to phone you. They said it was to do with funding (and probably safeguarding too). They needed to ensure the child was 'present' or they wouldn't have been paid.

It's probably slightly more vital to them when they have a 2 year old entitled to funding, as most aren't.

Thanks for the replies

I'll clarify again, DD got the 2 year funding because we're a low income family and receive universal credit. We're not destitute or living in abject poverty, we just happen to be under the threshold for having to pay.

I know alot of people who's 2yr olds go to nursery for 15 hours a week, Absolutely none of those families have SS involvement. It's either due to low income or SEN.

It's a bit shitty and judgemental that some people assume that because a 2yr old gets 15 free hours there must be some sort of safety concern. Those people must live privileged lives because the 2 year funding is extremely common among the working class families I know so I'm a bit at the implication that it's very hard to obtain.

All local families who have children around the age of 2 automatically get leaflets through the door from the local council advertising the 15 free hours at nursery for those who didn't know about it.

Safeguarding concerns and hard to obtain funding is absolutely not the experience of anybody I know.

It absolutely is shitty. I typed a few replies and deleted them, but I'm disgusted at comments that a family being in receipt of UC or even JSA apparently means that being at home is worse than being at nursery.

As your older child has an EHCP in place, I assume there are certain specifications around his needs and the nursery will have a plan in place to meet these needs. They could have planned certain activities / delegated certain staff to him etc.

Also given they only attend two days per week, I think the nursery were within their rights to ask why they were taken out on a nursery day.

However a do not attend with a snotty nose policy is insane for a nursery!

your posts are offensive and wrong, and show zero regard for the professionalism and integrity of Childcare Practitioners who are trying their best to bring children on. You actually sound really uneducated.

😆 Yeah. Uneducated. That’s me!

I know the value of a good nursery. I used one and it was excellent. But I also know the value of time with family for small children and OP is using her own judgement to find the right balance. As I did. It isn’t up to the nursery manager, nor some randoms on MN to decide her child is better off (or more distastefully “safer”) not going for a day out with her family.

So many of those children do need consistency and routine.

But, as you said yourself, that’s not the case for OP so the point is moot, and offensively made here.

I’d have loved the snotty nose policy. Far more annoying to have a "bring them in with anything bar D&V policy" that some parents seemed to love at the expense of the rest of us.

How fortunate you either don’t work or had an employer who was happy to let you have so much time off.

We’re not talking about universal funding, but the very very hard to get 2yr funding.
This is not given out because the government thinks it’s great that the child have a little extra socialisation, it’s given because the best place for the child, given the OP’s circumstances, is at nursery.

This also really misrepresents the situation. My daughter was eligible for the funding at 2 years old. But in order to get it from my local authority along with the additional support she needed, I would have had to move her from the private nursery she was in to the local authority facility that catered for “looked after” children, and others with SEN. I visited the place with the education psychologist who had been working with my daughter and it took her all of 10 minutes to say this was not the place for her. So, although we were entitled to the funding, she didn’t need to be in the facility that the local authority deemed suitable for the kids who were eligible for the funding in our local authority. Our request was only denied because our private nursery was in a different local authority.

She did very well part time where she was, and also managed to take time out to spend time with her family when we wanted to.

It is wholly wrong to suggest any child who has this funding MUST attend for every session or they will be damaged by it.

Also given they only attend two days per week, I think the nursery were within their rights to ask why they were taken out on a nursery day.

Nope. They aren’t.

It absolutely is shitty. I typed a few replies and deleted them, but I'm disgusted at comments that a family being in receipt of UC or even JSA apparently means that being at home is worse than being at nursery.

I agree. What a hideous implication.

Absolutely none of those families have SS involvement. It's either due to low income or SEN
Safeguarding concerns and hard to obtain funding is absolutely not the experience of anybody I know.

You are absolutely right that there are different reasons that families get 2 yr funding, but just because you personally are not aware of anyone, that doesn't negate the fact that 2 yr funding is often applied for, for families supported by social care.
I personally don't know anyone that earns more than £100K, but I know that there are people in the country who do

It is wholly wrong to suggest any child who has this funding MUST attend for every session or they will be damaged by it.

I don't think posters are saying that. People are replying to the suggestion that attendance doesn't matter. Of course there is no issue in this case, as reported by the OP, for her family to go on a special day out. It sounds like the manager was being over zealous / overstepping the mark. However, as threads do, the thread then moved on into a more general discussion about it not mattering if the child misses lots of time. and then the answers are valid.

I find that really odd. In fact at my nursery it seems to be the opposite - staff seem to be encouraging parents to take the kids out on holiday around Easter and Christmas time even though we'll still have to pay for nursery days as nursery is still open! I'd find that very strange but as a PP has said, it makes more sense if it's to do with funding, which I hadn't considered.

This is not given out because the government thinks it’s great that the child have a little extra socialisation, it’s given because the best place for the child, given the OP’s circumstances, is at nursery. the ops circumstances being... A working class parent in a low income job? , quick, call SS, The working classes are having babies!!!!

This thread is horrendous omg. Are people actually typing these words???