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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Pre reception class can’t work for working parents

70 replies

Onemorecrisp · 17/09/2019 18:20

How do you access pre school as working parents ?
Sessions are 9-3 no wrap around available. They don’t even do pre or after pre school club/ breakfast club.
School says it’s important for transition.

Will have to be straight from private nursery to reception... not fair ??? Does it matter?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

MileyWiley · 17/09/2019 18:48

Private nursery absolutely isn't the same as a school based nursery - not even close. You use a childminder to do pick up and drop off, or find a preschool/ school nursery which does have an after school club/ breakfast club.

Clickncollect · 17/09/2019 18:50

My DS will be going from private nursery to starting reception in Sept 2020 as we both work full time so pre-school with its 9-3 hours and term time only wouldn’t work for us at all.
And our preferred primary school doesn’t actually have a pre-school so he won’t be missing out there either.
It is what it is

Original poster

Onemorecrisp · 17/09/2019 18:52

Thank you, I honestly despair about how difficult it is for working parents !
Really sounds like it’s not worth bothering at all.

OP posts:

Original poster

Onemorecrisp · 17/09/2019 18:53

Adding in a childminder to do pick up and drop off sounds ridiculous as adds in another step.

OP posts:

Original poster

Onemorecrisp · 17/09/2019 18:53

(Compared to sticking just with private nursery)

OP posts:

Streamingbannersofdawn · 17/09/2019 18:55

MileyWiley - the child's day in that scenario will have a huge amount of transitions though. Parent to child minder, child minder to pre-school, pre-school to child minder, child minder to parent.

Its up to parents obviously but I personally don't think it's worth putting them through that when a good nursery will get them school ready perfectly well.

FlamingoQueen · 17/09/2019 18:55

Schools sometimes run transition periods in June/July for little ones starting school in the Sept. If your little one is due to start school they should contact you with details of these sessions so you could attend them. It’s usually an hour a week for a few weeks. Then they can meet their new friends.

pigeononthegate · 17/09/2019 18:57

Being school ready is about developing independence and confidence. Sitting and concentrating for longer periods, following instructions and social skills. Plus developing a good pen grip, recognising numbers and some letters and other things like that

As an Early Years teacher my eyes are rolling so hard they may actually fall out.

OP I would look at getting a childminder to drop off/pick up. Private childcare is in no respect the same as a school nursery/preschool setting.

AllFourOfThem · 17/09/2019 18:58

Local nurseries here call their oldest age group “preschool” and cover the same itinerary but have longer hours.

resipsa · 17/09/2019 19:01

I've got two in primary. One went straight to reception from a private nursery. The other went to the pre-school as we were stuck with school holidays etc anyway by then. Both are fine 😁. Do what works best for you.

Passthecherrycoke · 17/09/2019 19:03

What’s the difference between a school pre school and a nursery preschool then? I mean I know they’re all different (round here school pre schools are crap) but what Is the generalised difference?

Squirrelonwheels · 17/09/2019 19:03

@pigeononthegate can you expand on what you mean? What do you think pre-schools attached to a school can offer that private nurseries with pre-schools can’t? Not being goady, just interested in your opinion.

pigeononthegate · 17/09/2019 19:06

Qualified teaching staff and pedagogical knowledge. One is about education and the other is a childcare business - worlds apart.

Passthecherrycoke · 17/09/2019 19:09

Oh right, our nursery does have a qualified early years teacher. Not sure that’s that unusual as it’s not a difficult qualification to gain, our nursery is graduate led anyway

Newhomenewarea · 17/09/2019 19:10

It honestly doesn't matter. Might make you feel better if you get to know some local mums whose children yours will go to school with, our local primary has a year WhatsApp group and they organise meet ups over summer before they start reception so everyone gets to know each other.

Also look at wrap around care as early as possible. Our school has 90 kids per year group in primary and only a total of 30 spaces at before and after school club so you may need to have some alternatives in mind

Figgygal · 17/09/2019 19:10

This really winds me up it's completely incompatible with working parents and school should not be making you feel like your failing in some way by not being able to do it

pigeononthegate · 17/09/2019 19:12

Your private daycare has a full-time qualified teacher, and you have no respect for their qualifications because they're easy to obtain...pull the other one!

Aragog · 17/09/2019 19:13

Dd went straight from private nursery to full time school. No issues. Many years back now.

I work in an infant school and we don't have a preschool/nursery attached. Most of our children come straight from private day nurseries. Some have never been to any form of childcare.

BendydickCuminsnatch · 17/09/2019 19:14

Will have to be straight from private nursery to reception... not fair ??? Does it matter?

How do you even know which school your child is going to get into at this point?

DS1 has just started reception and didn’t know a single child at the school. It’s honestly fine. He’s made some friends already.

He went to a ‘private nursery’ (I guess? Not attached to a school) and they did loads of school prep, role play etc. Reception teacher came to our house and 2 settling sessions at school before summer holidays, then a week of just mornings at school last week. That’s plenty of help with the transition IMO.

YANBU though, I have no idea how working parents would manage that!

Passthecherrycoke · 17/09/2019 19:14

They’re graduate led, so each room has a graduate lead. It’s an early years teacher, I don’t know why you’re so shocked. They tend to work in early years settings 😭 it’s not like they’ve hired a geography teacher or something

Rinceoir · 17/09/2019 19:21

My daughter went straight from private nursery to reception. Not sure what other options I had if I wanted to keep working. School wrap around care is available from reception on but not for preschool. She’s not been obviously harmed by this- in year 1 now and is reading chapter books independently, has lots of friends and generally seems to love school.

Rinceoir · 17/09/2019 19:23

Also I’m not being goady but I’m not convinced 3-4 year olds need formal education- they do need care so was quite happy that was provided by her private nursery.

hazeyjane · 17/09/2019 19:25

Many nurseries and preschools (as opposed to school nurseries) have qualified EY teacher's, and staff qualified as early years practitioners. They should all be following the EYFS, and supporting children in transition to school when that time comes.
Up until school start, the focus should be learning across all the areas of development, through play, in a caring setting and in an enriching environment.

Obviously all settings differ, but the school nurseries I have seen have been more formal in nature and have higher ratios of children to adult (e.g. 26 children to 2 adults).

If your child is happy and doing well at nursery, I would stick with them.

QforCucumber · 17/09/2019 19:25

Both school nurseries and private nurseries have to follow the same curriculum, have the same OFSTED rules to follow. Ds will remain in private nursery as 3 x 10 hour days are what he has done since he was 9 months old and we dont know which primary he will go to so uprooting him now to preschool then again in 12 months for primary seems like a pointless change for him.

Justgivemesomepeace · 17/09/2019 19:26

This is just how it is with preschool/school nurseries. Mine stayed in her private nursery until reception. It was fine. Nursery prepared her and we still went on visits to the school.

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