Pre-school at a nursery vs attached to a school?

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I'm not sure what to do, anyone else with a child at nursery debating changing them to the pre-school attached to the school they will probably go to?

The pre-school at the nursery will be great and my ds loves it there, has just turned three and seems to now have a set group of friends he plays with. The school pre-school seems great too, rated outstanding and a bit smaller and as I imagined a pre-school to be. His nursery is a big one, which means more opportunities and fun trips etc, but it can be a bit hectic.

Problem is the hours and term time at school pre-school. I work 4 days a week, DH full time. What do I do in holiday time? They said they may do an after school club if there is demand but that is only 30 more mins?

I suppose sending him a few days to both then being able to book extra days at nursery as he is still on the books could work, but is that very disruptive, or fun and double the friends and experiences?

Id leave him where he is unless you feel it will prejudice his application. Hard enough to juggle school hours when school actually starts.

Yes having typed out my thoughts I can see it will be hard. They get some time with a teacher each day at nursery, but I suppose a school pre school has teachers all day? Would it matter do you think?

Maybe suss out the childcare situation and then make a decision? Can you find a local childminder who will do pick ups and have him in the holidays? Perhaps one who has children in the same school too?

That's a good idea, do childminders do that though? Wouldn't they rather have children who were there all day/year financially?

DS2 is about to start at reception. He has done his 15 hrs at the local primary. We have been fortunate enough to have a place wed pm, then all day Thurs and Fri. Nursery do the school runs when they fit with normal school hours, so I only need to do Wednesday lunchtime.

Both the school and nursery should follow the same early years curriculum. School has brought both of mine on, but they could well have developed exactly the same if they had stayed at nursery!

I chose a dedicated pre-school that had had years of experience with the age group. If you have a qualified teacher it can end up being more "school like" as the teacher may well be experienced/qualified with older children and just moved to foundation. Preschool leaders have trained/qualified in preschool only.

Also teachers can have a higher ratio of kids to teacher, so you would get more adult-child time if you dont have a teacher.

I'm a qualified teacher and am v. pleased I chose a proper preschool! I think 4 is young enough (too young) to start school, never mind 3. However it will vary very much by area, each individual provision. If you're happy where you are and it doesnt make any difference to admission Id stick with it.

Teacup - I'm a qualified teacher in a school nursery. I have 7 years experience in nursery and 6 years in reception. In our nursery, although I am there as a qualified teacher, we choose to work to the 1:8 ratio which is the requirement for settings without a qualified teacher. Our setting is extremely child-centred and informal.

I suppose what I'm saying is that it absolutely depends on the setting as to whether it is more "school like", and what the child/adult ratio is and it is unwise to say that school nurseries are xx and pre-schools are Yy.

I did say it would vary by area, and your setting I'm sure is lovely! I've seen posts on here by teachers who have just been moved to foundation with no experience, and similarly its an NQT in one near me - where as the pre-school leaders have had years of experience. The nursery room at the one near me very much looks like a classroom rather than a playroom, they have stricter/more formal routines etc. I completely realise it must vary by area.

It's great your setting has chosen to have the 1:8 ratio too :) I guess my leaning would be for a proper pre-school setting but I'd still check out the options. In the OPs case they already have a pre-school and it would be a hastle to change to a school pre-school, so there would have to be a compelling reason.

Speak to childminders locally. Some will do opposite term time places. When I worked in schools I didn't use my childminder in the holidays which meant she took another child on an opposite placement to mine.