Nursery Waitinglists

[Eylem]

How cloudy nursery waitinglists are?
We are on two nursery waitinglists for 2-3 mornings sessions pw. Our little one has already started one but going one afternoon and one morning sessions. I have been trying to swap the afternoon session to the morning one for 4 months now, but whenever I ask there is no other morning available. I asked about the waitinglist and where we are etc. No clear answer there at all. How do I know that they don't offer mornings to new clients while they say no to me? I don't know. I can never know. The waitinglists in the UK has to be visible for parents. At the moment this system isn't working. Nursery can do whatever they want while we keep waiting...

If there are no places, places will only become available if a child leaves. I'm guessing that hardly any children will leave, but on the rare occasion they do, they probably attended for quite a few sessions. The nursery is a business at the end of the day and they're far more likely to get a child wanting a number of slots than just the odd one here and there - so the nursery wants to keep a bank of slots rather than give say 1 or 2 to you, as they're less likely to fill the other vacant spots.

There will probably be more slots in September when children leave for school. Otherwise you're waiting for someone to leave, or reduce their hours.

Nurseries are businesses. Of course they can do whatever they want and give places to whoever fits their business needs most. The places should open up more in September.

I agree with previous posts.

Also, be aware that nurseries do not necessarily run waiting lists on a first come first served basis. Nor should they. Such a system would inevitably leave to the places becoming fragmented down to lots of half days, making it difficult for parents seeking full time arrangements. And, while it’s easy for a nursery to break the week up, it can be far harder to put it back together again as the demand for 'bits and bobs here and there' won’t always match what becomes available.

Slots will only become available as children leave or move up into the next group.

Also, they're much more likely going to give the slots to someone who wants 4-5 full days a week rather than 2 mornings so you could be waiting a while in that respect too.

Depends where, there's a shortage of places sometimes and they will take full time over part time as they are businesses. A sessional nursery is a better bet for part time but they tend to only have places in September when the last year group goes to school.

I doubt there will be a huge rush to grab your afternoon session! As pp have said, they want to operate at capacity and won’t just offer the first morning space to you. A lot of nurseries don’t even offer half days for this reason.

Just get a friend to call up and ask.

If they've got one, just go in and say that you'd like to drop the afternoon session as your LO is too tired and I suspect they'll offer you the available morning slot.

The waiting lists in the U.K. has to be visible for parents.

Well, no, currently it doesn’t. I’m not at all sure what you mean by this.

Are you asserting that everyone should have a right to inspect waiting lists? Why do you think such information should be in the public sphere? Why should nurseries do this, and whatsort of parent do you think wants it (aside from the obvious legalities) ?

Are you suggesting all nurseries should follow a single, rigid set of criteria for handling waiting lists? How would that work?

Waiting lists are not open for inspection
It’s not first come first served either
It’s normally full time that take priority and siblings

I agree with everyone else.

Nurseries accept new children, or change sessions according to a lot of different criteria. For instance, if moving your child to a morning session means that they no longer have a whole day to offer to someone else, then they might be reluctant to switch you.

If you're not happy with the sessions you've got then your options are to wait until something becomes available, or move to another nursery.

I understand that there are many different criteria on how nursery waiting lists work. All businesses have their own challenges.

I do understand the sibling priority and I think it's necessary. I don't understand why first come first served isn't in use. Every parent who makes a request has an equal opportunity.

My perspective is about fairness and being transparent. It can be done without giving any details of any kids&families. For example, room 1; capacity = X, Currently = Y, and it can give individual dates to show what number of kids will be leaving and space available. How many people on the WList, what number I'm, etc.

Yes, nurseries are businesses and they want to make money. We are the customers. We all have kids and we all want the best for our kids.

My LO needs two half day today but he will need more and more when he grows older. And he will be needing full time soon. How I can schedule my LO's days around those odd nursery sessions today, I'm sure someone who wants FT will have to schedule their schedule if they don't get their FT because of my odd one Monday morning. We should all be equal.

This isn't about if I'm not happy I should go somewhere else. I'm very happy with the nursery. Caretakers are doing great with our LOs. And I'm taking what is available at the moment and trying to change to smth which would be more beneficial for my LO.

This is about should I accept what I'm given because this is the way it's and this is the system..

You might have more luck if you ask for two whole days.

No one wants odd afternoons so if they give you a morning, they might have empty places left for the afternoon. If another family wants a full day it makes better sense to offer it to them.

That sort of list would be a nightmare to maintain and update to keep it current
And as a nursey manager, I’ve got much more important things to do
Unfortunately, all parents are not equal, full timers will obviously get preference

Childcare providers try to deal with vacancies on a 'best fit' principle, as it means juggling many considerations. There are many reasons why 'first come, first served' is problematical.

Let’s say Bobby Brown leaves, giving me a full time. I offer it to Susie Smith, who is at the top of the waiting list, first come, first served. She takes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Julie Jones is next on the list but is very disappointed because she wanted full time, which I can no longer offer.

Next up is Gary Green. He just wants Thursday, so he's happy.

Then I'm stuck because nobody wants the Friday. But what’s worse is that I've broken up a full time slot that I cannot possible piece together again unless the right three families all leave at the same time.

What is more, I have sacrificed the earning potential of that Friday slot, but my running costs are still the same. So I either lose money (50% of nurseries are already financially unviable in the long-term) or put my fees up, which parents won’t like.

The final straw...... Next day, the mother of Wendy White (a valued client) gives me notice because she's expecting again and can see that I clearly won’t be able to hold a place for her forthcoming baby because of how my waiting list system works. There's no point in her using two different childcare providers and I clearly don’t value her loyalty, prompt payments, etc. So she’s off to another nursery with Wendy plus the impending baby.

And that’s the simple version. Phew!