Rejected from Scottish nursery - please help!

[PartyRingaRosie]

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My DD has just been rejected from our local nursery (literally a 2 minute walk from home) due to capacity. I called to ask about alternatives and was told the 2 other nurseries in our village are also full. The only option the could offer was a nursery 10 miles away.

I’m really upset and worried about this. It’s not at all practical for us to be driving 10 miles each way before work every morning, and I’m also anxious that if she can’t get into a local nursery now, she may struggle to get into the local primary when the time comes.

Has anyone been in this situation? What did you do? Is there anything I can do to challenge this and push for a place locally?

Yabu. They full...they can't magic up a space. In the UK you have to put your baby down at birth to get a space.

100%

And also creating huge age gaps within the same year group, and making parents defer 'just in case'. With p1 and p2 being play based, I don't think we also need so many deferrals as a right. People are often deferring as they want their kid to have an advantage, not because the child 'isn't ready' for play based p1. I think there needs to be a clearcut cut off (e.g.5) and that's it, except in exceptional cases. Now we have kids not getting into nursery at the appropriate ages (like the OP)and some kids nearly 6 in early years, who will therefore be doing play based learning at nearly 8!

Have P1 and P2s all across Scotland become play based?

I agree - deferral used to be for children who needed it (developmental delays, missed lots of nursery due to illness, very young for year (Feb baby) etc), now I hear 'I wanted them to have a better chance', 'I wanted them to have a head start', 'I wanted them to be one of the oldest', alongside the more traditional reasons. It's not always the best option for many children.

In Scotland, the government pledges 1140 hours of funded ELC for all 3–4 year olds to support child development and parents’ ability to sustain work. Children are automatically zoned into their local catchment for school, and I assumed (reasonably I think, albeit incorrectly) that this applied to nursery too. I got myself upset thinking because DD had been rejected from a local nursery spot that it might also mean missing out on a local school spot, but I now understand that isn’t the case. Still, being offered a place 10 miles away, in the opposite direction of work, hardly supports working parents, one of the main aims of ELC.

Some have suggested I should have put her on a waiting list from birth. That might make sense if she had been in private nursery for childcare anyway, but she hasn’t. My husband and I have managed childcare between us up to now. The reason she is going at this stage is because she is entitled to ELC funding, and I believe she’s at an age where it will be developmentally beneficial, as the scheme intends, rather than just a form of childcare. There was nothing more I could have done to secure a nursery place other than apply during the opening window, which I did.

It feels unfair to call parents “entitled” for expecting local ELC. The government has pledged these hours, and local authorities are responsible for ensuring spaces exist. While nursery isn’t compulsory like school, the entitlement still stands. So how can housing developments keep being approved and ever increasing numbers of children deferring primary school, without new nurseries to meet demand? It seems unreasonable to claim LAs couldn’t foresee increased numbers when the village has been so heavily expanded.

It’s also disheartening to read comments suggesting “I struggled, so you should too.” The whole point of these pledges is to support families and make work more sustainable. Parents shouldn’t have to run themselves into the ground just to access something their children are entitled to.

OP, there's more bad news I'm afraid, the 30 hours you think are "free" are not in fact free at all, in my nurseries. Some stretch them, some charge a subsidy...

And you'll get, just not where you wanted. Look near work?

You will have local private nurseries that act as 'partmership nurseries' which means she can use her free hours there. My school nursery only offers mornings but I work 4 days a week so 3 days she goes to a private nursery and she has 2 mornings in school nursery.

10 miles?

Have you contacted any of the local private nurseries?

To clarify, there are no other local nurseries available. The village has two council nurseries and one private nursery, and all three are full. The next nearest council nursery is 10 miles away, and the nearest private nursery is 10+ miles away.

If you live rurally these are the sort of provision issues that can arise. Are you saying the nearest private nursery is @0 miles away?

Any additional charges on top of the funded hours are strictly voluntary. Nurseries aren't allowed to make mandatory charges. Also, it's far less common in Scotland to dictate how the hours can be used. Most of the time, if you want to use the 1140 hours as 30 hours a week during term time, that's what you'll get. Personally, we stretch ours because our school nursery opens 8am-5:45pm all year round but that's fairly unusual.

I am one of the posters who you may be saying posted an ‘I struggled so you should too’.
My point was more that it is a question of perspective. You are being offered a place ten miles away, albeit in the opposite of your work. This place gives you thirty hours of childcare a week, paid, if I understand correctly as this is what the government pays now. This is not a struggle. This is a godsend compared to many people and certainly compared to what I did. There are two of you to make this work. So I am sorry if you find comments like mine disheartening, but sometimes counting your blessings is warranted

But are there any near where you or your husband work that you could look into?

It sounds like you’ve had an education by fire on this thread. I’m sorry there’s no LA place for your child. But as an October birthday, if you really want your child at the local nursery for continuity moving to school, it’s definitely worth reapplying for August 2026 start (assuming it is Jan 2026 you missed out on?)

(Good) Nursery places, especially rurally, in Scotland are like gold dust. I’m sorry nobody made you aware earlier that you would need to secure/be on a waiting list for a private nursery place ahead of the funding kicking in, but that’s the reality of the current situation if you want one of your top choices.

Good luck in finding something for the meantime. Do you know of any other families from your village in a similar predicament? Maybe you could share drop offs and pick ups? Or as others have said, could you look into private nurseries near your work place?

Op i think id take up the place 10miles away, then try to get her more locally for next year.

School is slightly different in that the LA must provide a space, and transport if over 2 miles for primary (lots of LAs will provide transport at 1 mile). The transport costs mean its in their interest to get children into local schools and will shoehorn kids in if they need too.

One of mine has been in a big class with 2 teachers because of numbers and no space for another class.

A village has 3 nurseries?

I live in a town of 10 000 people and it has 3 nurseries. Our surrounding villages have one each

Where I am in Scotland, the private nurseries in the small towns/villages in the suburbs are nicer than the ones in the city (more outdoor space etc). So people who live in the city do sometimes put their kids into these services instead. I don’t think there is much the nurseries can do about that, it’s first come first served.

Why don't you check nurseries on route or close to your work ? 10miles the opposite doesn't make sense but maybe one on route for you or your partner ?

With all due respect....

I read up about nurseries when I was pregnant. Realised about waiting lists and them all being full. Registered our DC to attend when they'd be 1 year old when I was still only 6 months pregnant. And still had to pick a nursery 15 miles away as that was the only one I could get a space at, 18 months in advance.

most people in Scotland register their child pre-birth with a private nursery, reserving a space at at least 1 private nursery. You then use the funded hours there.

It’s batshit to expect local authority nursery provision for all children, there is no where near enough capacity.

no point coming onto mums net to moan about it either as it is what it is 🤷‍♀️

if you didn’t want to drive 10 miles then surely you’d prioritise living somewhere with more nurseries around, or you’d have had her name on the wait list for the 1 private one in your area pre-birth as a back up in case you didn’t get her into the council one when you wanted to?

September start in Scotland? Surely August?

There isn’t much the nursery can do they are full they could get into trouble if they allow more children than they are legally allowed to accommodate. They have told you they are full they aren’t lying to you. Nursery is optional you have a couple of choices apply to the nursery 10 miles away while your waiting for a space somewhere closer to you but I imagine you wouldn’t be the only person on the waiting list or see if you can get a childminder or a nanny while your waiting for a nursery place.

So there are people who expect the government to provide a place for every single child that people make a choice to have and may or might need

So where is the physical space and staff meant to come from and what is there is a change where some years there is more need than others are the staff going to still be paid or will lose their jobs?