company funded nursery - are these normally okay for education 'till school - OR should i swap DS at, say, 2?

[DearBeatrice]

clueless, me.. should i be thinking of a pre-school at local primary- do they typically do more than a nursery .. or is it better for DS to be in the same nursery till he starts school (he's 3 months now and I think I'm going back to work when he'll be 7 months sadly)

Children don't start pre-school untill at least 2 and don't go into nursery class untill the year before starting reception, so you still have plenty of time! My ds stayed at a private nursery untll he started reception and had no problems starting school. Other mums I know swapped at nursery class age (3 1/2) and then got childmindres to pick up in the afternoons (sessions usually just 1/2 day.

Hello DB . Nice to see you as was not sure what happened to you. So glad to read you have a 3-month old DS!

Without wanting to contradict Kammy, of course your DS can start nursery sooner than 2 years (I have put my twins in one day a week at nursery since 3 months). It has to be a "day" nursery rather than the other type (not sure what they are called) as they start from an earlier age, and also are open usually 8am to 6pm.

In answer to your actual question, not sure about pre-schools and whether they do more than a nursery, but I think Kammy is right that a pre-school is for when they get older.

Hope this makes some sense!

There are also the advantages of the staffing at day nurseries something like at least one nursery nurse (or whatever they are called now) to every eight children at a nursery (usually more as they have assistants plus students) while at the state nurseries attached to schools it is one teacher and one nursery nurse for a class of up to thirty. The teacher may not necessarily be "better" as could have been teaching year 6 the year before so may not have the experience of the nursery nurses when dealing with tinies.
There is also the effect of hours, the school nursery will only be open school hour sessions and term times and will often only offer half day so you will need care outside this so if you are working you will need other child care and this can be disruptive.
Our school does not have a nursery at all and the children settle into reception well, if you are concerned about friendship groups, well they are so fluid at this age best friends one week and enemies the next.