Private nursery pre-school

[Itscurtainsforyou]

My LO has been going to the same private nursery since he was 6 months old. He's just turned 4 (one of the oldest in the year) and in his 2nd year in the nursery pre-school class (they go up at 3).

This time last year I asked the manager how it would work, having 2 years in the same class and voiced my concerns that he might not get much out of the second year. I was assured that the staff are very capable and practiced in tailoring activities to meet the need of a wide range of ages (up to 18 months in age difference in some cases).

So, we're now a year on. Both full time members of staff in the pre-school room have moved on (at the beginning of the year). The deputy manager was in charge for a while, but now she's also moved on. The new room manager doesn't seem interested in the children, or equipped to deal with that age group (formerly in the 1-2 age group) - this may be unfair, but it's the impression I get. The staff in the pre-school room don't seem to be constant and, with a few exceptions, there don't seem to be many planned activities. I was expecting there to be more preparation for school activities, like writing, numbers, reading, etc etc - but I've seen very little over the last 9 months.

Behaviour doesn't seem great - I mentioned something to the room manager about arriving to find my child in tears after another child had been unpleasant (the staff didn't seem interested at the time) and the response was "well your child tried to bite another yesterday". Now, my child is no angel, but I expect them to deal with behaviour as it happens (and tell us if necessary), rather than use it as a defence when I expressed concern about something else. I'm also concerned that poor behaviour can be linked to boredom, so the above concerns can be making it worse.

He's now started to say that he doesn't want to go to nursery, when he's generally been happy there previously.

So what do I do?

I'm going to talk to the manager about all of the above, but I'm not sure that she'll be able to reassure me (she did last year, but not after the past 9 months).

I've look into school nurseries but none of them offer full-time places (which we'd need 3 days a week) - could use a child minder, but I'm not keen

I've thought about other private nurseries, but have no guarantees that the same situation won't also exist there

So I'm feeling a bit stuck - any advice?

Your proposed conversation with the manager is a good starting point. Will his key worker be there too?

Thanks. I could suggest it, although she was one of the staff members who didn't seem bothered about him being in tears last week (no harm in giving her the right to reply though).

I think the biggest issue is in the planning and overseeing of the room activities and making things happen and are pitched at the right/different levels. His key worker doesn't seem to be doing much on this (although obviously I could be doing her a disservice).

That doesn't sound great. You should definitely arrange a meeting with your child's key person/room leader (as well as the manager) to discuss how they will be preparing the children for going to school in September. If they cannot give you clear answers about how they will be getting the children ready for school (and preventing them from getting bored) then I would have serious concerns.

The response to your child being upset sounds very inappropriate and I wouldn't be happy about being fobbed off like that. Do you know exactly WHY your child was crying? It is not uncommon to ignore small squabbles/tale telling between children, perhaps it was something very minor that didn't require adult intervention?

Hope you get things sorted, sounds like they need to pull their fingers out. It might be worth visiting the other nurseries if you have time and chatting to them specifically about what they do to prepare the children for school, high staff turn over can be an issue in private nurseries but management should have strategies in place to ensure that the impact on the children is minimized.

Thanks - I think you're right about how they're going to prepare him for school. I suppose in the back of my mind I know that they can promise all sorts and not deliver (but that's an argument to have later I suppose).

I do have sympathy re staff turnover and don't think it's directly related to the nursery itself - a couple of staff have gone to work abroad, two went on maternity, so it's not necessarily something they could prevent - but I'm just concerned that I want the best for my LO...

You say you were expecting reading, writing, numbers etc - with a private nursery they are involved in day care of children & unless they employ an actual nursery teacher there is unlikely to be any formal teaching.

A school nursery obviously has at least a part time qualified nursery teacher working with the nursery staff.

Doesn't help with your other worries though & I agree boredom will breed bad behaviour.

Inkie is wrong
All nurseries and preschools follow the same eyfs and lots of private nurseries have very well qualified staff with degrees and teaching qualifications
There is no longer a care/education divide
In fact some school nurseries are failing children as they employ qualified teachers who have had no training in child development and they do not meet children's emotional needs as they only focus on the race to teach them to read and write

Agreed insancerre. Many highly qualified nursery, pre school and childminder workers. Doesn't have to be a school nursery. I have a degree in Early Years. Hopefully I would be better for small children than a school teacher with a degree in Chemistry (for example - nothing against Chemistry degrees).

It looks like a staff issue, so a different private nursery with a good preschool leader and staff could be much better. Also after being in the same nursery for so long and in the same room for a year, your ds might like a change even if there weren't anything wrong with the setting.

My ds ended up doing two years in preschool (Sept birthday) and for the second year when he was really ready for school for half of it, it worked out well that the teacher went on mat leave, so he had different staff doing different activities, and then he and other kids went to another nursery over the summer with their staff while his nursery was refurbished. The later staff weren't qualified teachers but he learnt loads about animals, weather, assertiveness etc during that year, and maintained the bits of phonics and numeracy that he'd picked up already.

Inkie - where on earth have you got that idea from? A good private nursery provides both care and teaching. Dd's nursery does basic letters, phonics and numbers for 2-3 yr olds. From 3yrs the 'pre-school' part of the nursrey provides both care and teaching, with fully qualified staff, in accordance with the EYF.

And unlike some pre-schools they don't kick toddlers out for not being fully toilet trained or having a few accidents. It's the right combination of care and teaching with the resources to support it.