To swap nurseries or not?

[jugglingmonkey]

DS is 19 months, very independent, feeds himself, walking since last year etc... Nursery is full though and no space in the class above. He's still in with the babies.

Should I look for an alternative nursery? Current place (while wonderful), can't say when there will be space for him in the toddler room.

Opinions?

I'd look around - nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. You don't want to hold back his progress just because this nursery cannot accommodate his needs. Put him first and be unapologetic about that.

That's what I thought, but then wondered if it'd be harder on him to settle in a new place? But yes, ultimately his development has to come first, do you think being in the babies class will be holding him back?

Telling them you are thinking of moving him might focus their attention a bit! Surely children already enrolled should have priority for places in the toddler room. It should not have come as a surprise to them that he needs to move up.

I would hang on a few months OP, there's always a few spaces that come up over the summer holidays and then again in September when older ones move up to school etc. Just make sure you are on the waiting list.

At my last nursery the 'baby' room was for ages 0-2, toddler room 2-3 and preschool 3-5, and they were all very bright children and early talkers so I don't think there's any risk of lack of development, I'm sure the staff will be able to give him more challenging activities as they see fit.

I think children do find it tricky to move around and find new caregivers, we had to move DD a couple of times and we always had upset for a while.

Speak to the nursery about your concerns?

This is the main problem, they've been telling us he's ready to move since Feb, always 'next month'... Now they're becoming evasive about it. I've never pushed it until now.

One of his classmates just moved up (same age, same days, and we've been there longer), so it's starting to annoy me now.

I wouldn't move a child for this reason alone, if you are otherwise happy with everything else. But yes, speak to the nursery. At the nursery we used, children were sometimes able to 'visit' the older rooms at quieter times of day.

Maybe if one of his friends moved up, ask if he can visit?
But I don't think being in the baby room will be doing any real harm.

So he does visit, they sometimes leave the doors open so he can go between both rooms.

I'll have a look at some others, but I'm getting a bit concerned by total lack of outdoor space too. He's an energetic boy to say the least and loves playing outside, with summer coming I'd like to see if I can find somewhere with more outdoor areas too...

Lack of outdoor space would be a deal-breaker for me.

It's good he can move between rooms, that means he's probably not losing out by being in the 'little' room.