Help! Moving to UK and have no idea about schools

[DSMEZ]

Please help--I'm a clueless American moving back to London. My husband and I have no idea how the process works to get our 2 year old dd into a nursery for this coming September (by which time she will be 3). Can anyone tell me how things work? I'm coming from Washington DC where it was pretty difficult and the application time is now. Is this the same in London? Thanks for any help.

When is your dd's birthday? Children who will be three before 31st August 2007 will probably already have applied for places at nurseries attached to schools - and should be hearing shortly. You may still be able to get a place though - especially if you are prepared to accept an afternoon session as they tend to be less popular. Private nurseries generally tend to qualify for governement funding also from the term after the child is three (but there is sometimes a top-up fee) - you would have to contact the nursery directly to see if they have vacancies. HTH

It varies.

If its attached to a school, you probably wouldn't start your child until September, and applications are normally Jan / MArch sort of time

On the other hand private pre-schools can have quite a waiting list

Can you find any on the net? Quite a lot are now! And also you can e-mail the LEA where you will be living from America- they will be able to tell you

expatparent has some info that may help

Hi DSMEZ - where abouts in London are you moving to?