Nursery/pre-school dilemma - this all seems so complicated!

[Moomin]

On another thread I've been contemplating taking dd out or her present nursery and changing to another one. At the moment, I work 3 days a week. One day a week she goes to a childminder and the other 2 days she goes to nursery.

If I do change her nursery she'll still go to her childminder, so for another year, things will remain fairly stable for her (providing she likes the new nursery).

Next Sept she is due to start her pre-school which is attached to the primary school she's down for. This will then be every day for half day sessions. On the days that I work I'm planning to ask her childminder if she'll have dd for the rest of the day. The following year she'll start reception.

Is this too much change for dd? She is very sociable but I'd say she doesn't have any best friends as yet, as I don't think her 2 days at nursry allow for too much attachment. Do you think it's madness to change 2 days of her little life and then change it again in a year? Someone on the other thread said that a headteacher had told her that one move before 5 is ok for most children but 2 or more can have a negative effect. Does anyone have any experience of a situation like this? BTW, her present nursery is fine in loads of ways but has p*ed me off with their attitude about a concern of mine. Dd likes it there.

My Dd1 was in playgroup for one term, then nursery/pre school for a year, and has now moved into reception (with the same group of children from pre school). She hated playgroup for a couple of weeks - was only 2 yrs 9 months , but settled very well into pre school then reception. She is the youngest in her year (August birtdaY) which is why she had so many changes in a short time. I think if the child is 'grounded' and happy at home, they shoud be fine - they are more adaptable than us.

Moomin, it might be worth checking to see if there is an afterschool program at your dd's pre-school. My ds has started his pre-school at his local primary. He has an afternoon place and then goes straight to the afterschool program which is at the school. He is by far the youngest child in the afterschool program, but he LOVES it and particularly likes having the older kids to play with. And it means that although he's moving from one classroom to another, he still is "at school" in one place all afternoon.
Anyway, I don't think that there is any evidence at all that a child with a stable happy family will be harmed by changing schools. And don't worry about the making friends thing, she's still a little young for making best friends.

Thanks for the replies. Dd's place will be a morning one because of her age - they only do afternoon places for those starting after Easter, so she's booked into the morning sessions from next sept.

Why are you planning to change nursery? Why not just take her to childminder for all 3 days now, and then she'd start preschool in Sept?

I'm having trouble following... just that I know my DD takes change badly so I would probably go all CM now, if poss.

i've had a falling out with nursery over their food and the way the owner dealt with my concerns (very dismissive and rude). i like her going to nursery for the socialisation side of things and also the structure. Our CM is very structured too but obviously has only 1 or 2 kids there. We kept her on when dd started nursery last year because we rate her and also I thought it would be good to keep in with her for when dd started pre-school.

dd has coped well with any changes we've introduced in her routines so far and i don't honestly think she'll react badly. e.g. she had a nursery worker that she adored at her present nursery, who left to retrain as a 2ndary teacher. we thought it would be a real wrench for dd but she handled it very well and was very matter of fact about this worker leaving.

dh and i have more or less decided to change to the other nursery having spoken about it at length this weekend. kids have lots of change to cope with in their lives so it's no good pretending these things don't happen. best to prepare her by making sure she always feels secure at home whatever else is happening outside.