What do I need to know about starting LO in nursery/primary school?

[Paranoid1stTimer]

I know this is a hugely general question and lots of people seem to automatically know what to do but I don't really know a lot of other mums in RL and am looking for advice. Girls I do know have had their LO's in nursery since they were months old and say they have kind of been guided through it all by the nurseries so they have not really had to think too much about it all so I need help here.

I am SAHM and LO is 2. He is not in nursery but I enrolled him about 6 months ago to see if he could get in before 3/3.5 yrs. Thing is, I have realised I don't know anything about when to enrol him for govt funded places, what primary school he should go to and when he is enrolled for primary school?

Am in a bit of a panic over it all now since I have overthought it.

I guess I am wondering when do you enrol them for nursery, do you get to sit with them for the first week or let them settle in or do they just start nursery and you leave them straight away?

Thanks for any advice...

Depends on the nursery and the child re settling in, sometimes parents stay for a while and play with the child. Some nurseries have open days - I went to one last week and mindee just ran off and played Once they are in nursery then their are often signs up telling you when to enrol for the feeder primary schools. Do you know which nursery and primary your lo will go to or are you deciding?

For Toms govt funded place, we applied when he was 2, and we found out her got in the time last year, when he was 3. I just went for the same nursery my pals were sending their kids to. You can look on your local council site and it does tell you all Early Education Centres, so just pop along and ask for a form like I did. You can also phone the council and ask where your catchment school is. Here, you have to apply for catchment school and put in a placing request if you want another school.

they get funded at nursery from teh term after their third birthday. so if your child is 3 on 8th january they will be funded from easter

funding only covers 190 days per year at 2.5 hours per day. some nurseries offer extra time/days or lunch but you will have to pay.

if you look on your council website you can see what catchment area you are in for schools. you might have a choice between non denominational and denominational ( = roman catholic). You can also choose to put in a placement request to another school. there will be info on the Councils website about this too

you enrol your son in school about 18 january in the year you want him to start. the exact dates are advertised. your son must be at least 4 by 29 Feb to start that year. you can start him later if you want - there are procedures for this so check website again

you need to take certain documents with you to enrol him eg birth certificate, proof of home address, child benefit letter etc, the school will advise

HTH

Wow Krisina - you really know your stuff

Ds started full time in nursery 4 weeks ago, as I started back at work. We had a couple of weeks of tears, but he really loves it now.

The best thing for me is that although its a private nursery, (so they are open 50 weeks a year), they only take them from 2 1/2, so no littlies. Also the one ds goes to is staffed entirely by over 30's which is fab. Visited a couple that were more like youth clubs.

A full-time place costs us £145 a week, and we provide packed lunches. Come August, when he gets his funded place then it will drop by £100 a month.

The best thing to do is go and see as many as you can. You need to decide whether you want a private nursery which means you can pay for care 7.30-5.30 50 weeks a year, or state school nursery which is 5 "sessions" usually 9-12 or 1-3 term time only.