Nursery/pre-school - what's the difference?

[bessie26]

DD1 (2.5) has been going to her nursery since she was a year old & loves it. One of her friends has just started going to "pre-school" - how is that different?

We chose the nursery because we liked the feel of the nursery, not because of any tie-ins with the local schools - am wondering now if I should have chosen a nursery closer to the school she's likely to go to?

It seems to vary from place to place in terms of what a pre-school is. Around here, pre-schools are open approx 9:15 to 3pm only ie. slightly shorter than the school day to allow mums/dads to drop off before/after other children who are at school.

They tend to offer am or pm slots which are 2.5 or 3 hours long. Each slot corresponds to one of the sessions of free childcare they get from age 3 (although I think it is now in hours not sessions). Or you can have an all day session where they are booked for the am + pm and you pay for the lunch hour on top.

Nurseries are usually open 8am - 6pm and cater for working parents so fees are higher due to the longer hours and although they will deduct the 15 hours free childcare you still end up having to pay extra usually.

I think it is best to keep an open mind and just go and visit everywhere that is local and see what you like best.

The staff in each setting would be able to tell you which schools the children usually go on to. I think it helps some children to go up to school with a couple of friends, but others are not bothered.

Hope that helps :)

The difference is preschool is for children in the year up to they are going to school and are generally term time based as well as the hours they offer and if they are attatched to the school they may only offer certain hours they are open for either mornings or afternoons

School nurseries usually have a qualified teacher and one level 3 member of staff with a ratio 1:13 and usually accept no more than 26 children

Nurseries are open longer some from 7-7 and offer the 15 hours FREE only sessions as well and are not aloud to charge any top ups for these hours if you choose to just do they they are also open longer through the year and generally offer more flexability in when these hours can be used

Nurseries have a ration of under 2 1:3 2-3 1:4 and 3-5 1:8

Both use the same early years foundation stage framework however preschools attatched to schools tend to use more of the national curriculum.

Hope this helps

That's brilliant, many thanks for the explanation!

I was getting a bit worried yesterday that we'd need to move DD1, but her current nursery has a "pre-school" class & it's not the end of the world if she ends up going to a different school to her nursery friends (we live in-between 2 schools so I don't know which one she will go to) Perhaps nearer the time I'll get her going to some sessions at the appropriate pre-school so she can make some new friends, but I'll worry about that another day!

Both types are the same and both receive inspection and judgements from ofsted upon the same criteria. No other difference!

I think also most places that call themselves "pre-schools" take only from the age of 2. At least, that's what I'm finding as I look for somewhere for my 21mo! The "nursery" I visited today is 2+ and 8.30am-3pm, and the manager said they were considering renaming themselves as a pre-school... so technically no difference, just expectations/common usage, it seems.