What happens to children doing both morning and afternoon session? Isn't it sad?!

[Mummyteachmummy]

I've found a nursery I quite like the look of for DD (2yo), but it's the sort that runs two separate sessions a day, morning and afternoon. Because of my working hours DD would have to attend both. My concern is that I get the impression most children will be only attending one of the two sessions, so what happens to DD at their collection time?! Is she around all the excited chatter about 'your mummy's here to collect you!'/ see them all running off home one at a time, but not her?! And then what does she do during the gap in sessions? I can obviously ask the particular nursery if we go to visit, but just wondering about other people's experiences in the meantime?

Would I be better to send her to the sort of nursery that opens all day? (Btw is their a different name for these two different 'sorts' of nurseries? Is it like one's a crèche and the other's a preschool? Very new to all of this!

I would ask the nursery staff - how would we know? They all operate differently. FWIW at my DCs preschool there's 9-12 and 12-3; nothing in between. If your child is staying they are kept in another room to eat lunch.

Oops I missed that comment where you said you would! Sorry I'm no help; you'll have to wait for someone that has experienced something similar.

Not sure what you mean, how do you know about the sessions being separate? Is it just because it states per session on the price list?

All nurseries offer half-day sessions I think, because that's what some people need, and because that's how the free hours are paid for after 3 years old.
It doesn't mean there is a break, they just have lunch and carry on. At our nursery some kids go at lunch, some arrive at lunch and others stay all day. I've never thought either child to be worried by that, they know I will be there after tea.

What we did is, we all had a story, then the full day children went off to dinner, and the morning session children stayed in class, had another story, or a Lego session on the carpet, and got picked up.

Every nursery has a morning session and an afternoon session whatever they are called - even schools have a morning session and an afternoon one.
In my nursery the children usualyy go out to play after lunch while the room is cleaned after lunch and the sleepers are settled to sleep
More children stay all day than go home after lunch
Whatever sessions she does there will always be parents picking up
The children in my nursery don't spend all day looking at the door waiting for their parents to collect them. They are far top busy enjoying themselves.
In fact many don't even want to go home! Many a time a parent has come, swtimes early, only to be told by their child to come back later

"My concern is that I get the impression most children will be only attending one of the two sessions, so what happens to DD at their collection time?!"

Have you actually asked the nursery?

Ok, the numbers doing either/both sessions will vary over time, but I'd be quite surprised if there were only a few doing both.

And what happens at collection time will be readily answered, as they do it every day.

Oh, also in my nursery we had key workers, so my children stayed all day, other teacher had the morning lot then the afternoon lot, so all their 'friends' on their group carpet went home together

Are you looking at pre-school or nurseries? The former run from 9.00 - 3.30 ish term time only; the latter are open from 8.00-6.00 & only close for a few days around Christmas.
If you & your DP need childcare to cover working hours then, unless you have grandparents involved or a nanny, you will usually use a nursery in which case most of the other children will have working out of the house parents & will be there for the whole day so it is not an issue.
A pre-school is, IME, used by SAHP, those using family, childminders or a nanny and will, depending on the set up, will either have children there just mornings, just afternoons or a mixture. If your child is going to attend one of these settings, I'd just check how many other children are going to be there all day. Not only do you not want your child to be one of the very few staying all day but you don't want them to repeat the activities in the afternoon that they did in the morning.
A key difference may also be the approach to nap/quiet time. At DD'S nursery, even at 4.10, they have quiet time after lunch when they each lie on a mat with a blanket. In her room, It is just 30mins or so & there are story C'S to listen to. In 2yo DS' room it is 90 mins and most of them sleep. A pre-school probably won't offer this although may have a 'cosy corner' where a child can go & curl up if it wants to.

Is it a day nursery? Yes so between morning and afternoon sessions the all day children have lunch, a nap if in baby room. And play basically :) it's not sad at all honistly it's actually a nice time for some one to one for the children.

Dh sometimes picks ds2 up after the morning session as he works a half day and often finishes in time to do so.

Ds2 often asks in the morning that "dont pick me up early today daddy I want to play with xxxx"

So certainly doesnt seem that sad to me.

In the nursery where I work, all the children have a story. Then, those who are going home are helped to put coats on, and those who are staying go to the loo, get lunch boxes etc. Then, we take the leavers outside to their parents, and take the stayers in to lunch.

It's very rare that a child gets upset as the majority of children stay all day, and just a few leave. In fact, it's more often the leavers who are disappointed not to be staying!

You're assuming your dd would rather be at home than nursery. By the time he was 3, ds would far rather have been at nursery ungrateful sod

At DS's nursery, at the end of the morning session they had a circle time and some children went home, some went to lunch.

Ah, thank you lovely ladies - love the possibility of her loving it so much she doesn't want to leave (though I can imagine in reality that might be a tad on the bitter-sweet side, ha!)

To answer the questions about the type of provision, the two sessions on offer are 9-12.15 and 1-3.30. And it runs term time only (I'm a teacher, so ideal in this regard). So from above this must mean it's a preschool, so probably no naptime...? Eeek! Could DD survive sans nap, I wonder... Presumably preschool for a two year old isn't anymore 'grown up' in any other way than a day nursery is it? Just might be a very long day without a nap...

They have to have somewhere to nap.
They have to ask you about her routine and do their best to acommpdate it
If she needs a nap make sure to tell them

Are they open through the lunch hour, or are they completely separate sessions? If they're open, I guess she'll be busy having lunch.

My DD's nursery had 'all day' or 'lunch' children, as well as the 2 separate sessions. There will be lots of others in the same position, and likely to be kept in the same group(s) as well. My DD stayed for lunch 3 days as my childminder couldn't collect her until after lunch so stayed but left at the start of the 2nd session. She was fine, and a big plus for me was eating with lots of other children & trying new food that I couldn't get her to try. The children love it, I never saw any that were sad or unhappy not to leave after the 1st session (I volunteered 2 days a week there too so saw a lot of what happened after parents left).

We have a few children (aged 3 and 4) who nap occasionally. We have a very cosy book corner, filled with cushions and blankets where we snuggle them down with a teddy and a cuddle. We don't have a dedicated sleeping area, but the rest of the children are very good about staying out of the book corner if we ask them to. However, I have to say that even those who nap regularly on non-nursery days seem to be too busy to nap at nursery, even when we offer them the option, and sit with them in the cosy corner.

Ok, that sounds good - and yes Littlefish, she'll only be going two days a week, so I was thinking maybe 5 naps a week (when at home with me) might cover it.

Tension, that's so reassuring that you've seen they really are all ok when the parents have left. I can't believe how scary this is. Need to find a way of switching off my too active imagination - thoughts of her sitting sad and quiet in the corner! Arghh!

If she was sitting sad and quiet in the corner, which she probably won't be then someone would notice and ask what was wrong and comfort her.