to wonder how true this is about private nurseries..

[FreddysTeddy]

..I was talking to a colleague yesterday who was telling me that his girlfriend works in a private nursery in London which is a kind of "feeder" nursery into some very exclusive private schools.

Anyway, it was in the context of a conversation we were having about how privatge education seems to prepare you for certain things that a state education doens't (we were talking more public school education than independent schools etc).

He said at his g/fs nursery they prepare the toddlers in things like public speaking - getting them to take turns to talk aloud to the class etc etc. He also said that at this nursery they try to divorce the children from their emotions - e.g. if a 3 yr old is crying because they miss their mother they will be told "what are you crying for? Pull yourself together."

I'm just not sure whether I believe this or not, but wondered if anyone had any experience to know whether or not this is the kind of thing that goes on.

I'm talking very exclusive private nurseries here, not suggesting this in any way goes on in your standard nursery.

i am planning to send my child to this nursery prep and then proceed to the exclusive school.i do so look forward to public speaking

LOL manky

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well... the public speaking bit (lol!!) - at DS's not very exclusive private nursery they do "show and tell" where they take turns in standing up and talking to the rest of the children... is this a less posh version !!

sorry, I',m going to chuckle about this all day....

and as for the missing your mummy thing, I think in a lesser way they do ti at DS's ursery, they play down the Mummy thing, because by the time you are talking pre-school age, they should be preparing for school.

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This guy sounds like an arse!

I was speaking to a girl a few weeks ago who was horrified when I told her my ds (4) wasn't able to read. Appartently "all" children in private nurseries can read before they go school....what a load of bollocks!!!!

Your mate is exaggerating for effect.

'Public Speaking' is just posh speak for 'show and tell' which does happen at my DS's pre-prep (from age 3). And though I try desperately to get him to take in stuff like photos of the birds in the garden that he feeds, the reality is that he (and his classmates) use this as an excuse to stand there with their favourite toy and say stuff like "this is a Ben10 Accelerate thingy. My mummy got it for me for Christmas and it is nicer than Johnny's Power Ranger because it is blue".

Emotional detachment. Doh. Any fule can tell you that the way that all teachers deal with kids wanting to go home is witha laugh and a "You'll see mummy at the end of school now go play in the sandpit" Because that works better than telling them off or lettign them wallow in despair.

And yes, DS does do yoga and music and theatre trips and goes to farmers markets to buy organic veggies to make into soup back in the classroom and similar poncy stuff, but then most of it sounds like fun to me.

And besides, all this poncification goes straight over his head: his favourite bit of school remains the chocolate puddings/banana cake/apple crumble.....

lol at cods "national service" .... and yer problem?!!

they should have citizen classes from 3 too....

Some children who will be almost 5 when they start school are starting to learn to read at DS's nursery. They are the same age now as some reception age children. Certainly not all children leave being able to read.

Depends what your defination of being able to read is. A child might have some sight words or they might even be able to read
some phonetic words by blending letters.

However a child who is able to read will be able to pick up book with no pictures, read it and understand what they are reading.

I doult that many privately educated children can do that by five, or else if they can something else has been left out of their education.