Oh crap! Should i have applied for nursery by now??

[LMonkey]

DS will be 3 in December and I gather will be entitled to 15 free hours at nursery/preschool/whatever (as you can tell I don't know much about this!). Obviously very important as I want him to start mixing with more children, learning more things etc as he doesn't currently attend any kind of childcare as me and dp are luckily able to share between the two of us due to our different working hours. Should I have applied by now for him to start in the January term? I was about to start enquiring any time now. Also, do I go straight to chosen nurseries to apply? I think i saw that there was a form online to fill out and return to local authority or something?? So do I just fill it out and they come back with whatever's available? Do all nurseries offer the 15 free hour thing? DS attended a nursery for 2 months when he was a baby and I'd quite like him to go back there. Am I a complete numpty for not sorting this out sooner?!

It may vary between areas. Where I live, you apply directly to the nursery / pre-school. The council website just says to apply to the free early years providers directly, and has a link where you can search for free early years providers, so you don't apply for nursery places via the council here. There's no guidelines on how nursery admissions work on the council website, so I guess each nursery can set their own admissions criteria.

The nursery we use is essentially first come first served, so the earlier you apply, the better the chances of getting the sessions you want (or a place at all). Whether you not having applied yet is a problem will depend on how much demand there is for your local nurseries.

I'd start making enquiries now to try and get something in place for January, as he'll be entitled to the 15 free hours from the January term. Good luck.

I have no idea op it depends on the area. Start making calls!

What ShadowStar said.

Most nurseries will have spaces in September where children have gone off to school, so they might get filled up. Would you want to pay for a term from September to December?

It varies from area to area - the nursery he went to as a baby is likely to be a year round one so they are a bit hit and miss about accepting funding but they should be contactable now rather than waiting for September rather than asking.

I don't know what I mean by 'rather than asking' - ignore that bit.

Just contact places and ask to go and see them, most places you can just turn up and they'll show you around, and ask what their policy is on using the free hours. There will be nurseries (which might be more expensive even with free hours) and are likely to want you to take a year round place and there will probably be preschools which will be term time only. They can be quite different, the only way to tell is to go and see.

You might want to consider where your child will go to school, and which settings 'feed' the school so your dc has some familiar faces when they go to school.

You may or may not have left it too late, here you would be ok for all but the most popular places so long as you would take left over sessions and not specify certain days.

You might apply via the local authority if you wanted a place in a nursery attached to a school? That's a further option.

Most Nurseries have children starting and leaving all the time. Since the 3yr funding was introduced, most have an influx at the beginning of each term.
Some close down over the school Summer holidays, and others will be very quiet not, so, as you've not already done it, I'd wait until the end of September now to go and look around a few and see what you like / who has space from after Christmas - it will give you a much better picture than going now.
He won't be at school until Sept 17, so even if he didn't get a place after Christmas, it's not crucial, as he'll have another whole year and a half from then to start a Nursery place.

Depends on if you want private or Local Authority (attached to a School), If private, just ring round see if spaces are available & enquire about fees & 15hours!! If Local Authority nursery you normally apply online, when schools admissions start......check out your borough gov.uk website, it'll have all the info you need, and will help make your options clear!! x