Should my son do 30 nursery hours before starting reception?

[MCMP13]

He has been going to school nursery on a morning since September 2025. All the children in his class, except him and one other will move to reception this September 2026 and my son will stay in nursery for another full year until they start reception in 2027. My son is ready for nursery the teacher has said and has asked if we want him to do 30 hours in September instead of just mornings.

I’m wondering the benefits of this to be honest. I don’t need it for childcare as he spends time with grandparents on an afternoon when we are at work. What have others done in this situation? I’m torn, part of me thinks just keep him doing mornings and not putting him in school full time pretty much until he has too next year. What are others opinions?

**there is no middle option, it is either 15 or 30 hours

I think the biggest question is what do the grandparents who are doing the childcare want? If it was you looking after them and you were happy I’d just say carry on as you are. You wont get this time back again. Both our kids only did 15 hrs a week in preschool and we really enjoyed having that 1:1 time to follow their own interests and take them to activites and they settled into school no problem.

Nurseries don’t get marked on attendance rates like schools do so I’m sure they would be ok with you saying yes to 30 but actually still having him picked up at lunch time a couple of days a week or only sending him in for 4 days.

What does your son do while with his grandparents? Are they out and about/reading/doing crafts etc, or is he just stuck in front of the TV?

Does he like being with them? Does he enjoy nursery?

I would keep him with grandparents, more from the point of getting bored with nursery plus relationships with extended family being so valuable. He's got plenty of time to be full time when he goes to school.

It depends on your kid. Annoying they can’t be flexible with the hours.

We do 3 full days and that’s perfect imo. I could have him off so it is not necessary logistically but we decided for ours it is worth mimicking the actual school day in advance. He starts in Sept and though young in the year he’s now completely ready. And he wouldn’t have been imo if we hadn’t put him in. But that’s just him.