Can private nurseries allow reception children?

[coffeeforone]

In theory, could my 4 year old who is due to start school in September continue full time at his current nursery setting? Would the 30 hours cease?

I'm just thinking of the options for childcare once he joins school in September. At the moment the school obviously can't guarantee full time with full wraparound so wondering if staying in full time nursery is any possibility?

My DN private nursery takes existing pupils until 5 if there are spaces available.

My DC’s attended a private nursery that took children of reception age. They had a specific curriculum for them and they were separate from the younger ones but there’s no reason why not, same as private schools sometimes mix age groups according to ability rather than birth date.

Yes the free hours would cease except in the case of an authorised deferal although im not sure if that only scotland. No reason you couldn't pay yourself though!

Good to know! Something to look into / consider. I assume deferral is too late if we have accepted a place for september? He is a summer born though and has just turned 4.

As far as I know, it's not too late to defer. There's an excellent Facebook group called Flexible Admissions for Summer Borns which is a wealth of information.

I worked in a pre-school and we had children who could have gone to reception, they both had summer birthdays though so were four for most of the time.

It depends on your nursery's registration. Some are only able to take children up to 5, so it would depend on when his birthday is.
Also, I'm pretty sure the funding would only be available on a term by term basis. You couldn't have the funding for a couple of weeks until schools started back full time then switch to school.

Not the case in England that you need an authorised deferral for funding at nursery.

I just had this request at my childcare setting. I contacted the Local authority who confirmed the child could stay until they turned 5. They said the free 15 hours funding would continue. The child in question is being home schooled though.

Your nursery should take up until a child's fifth birthday and contact LA re funding.

I deferred my summer born til the spring term, so she stayed at nursery an extra term then went into her year group at school. They did staggered entry for all of mine but had changed it to whole year entry for my last. I felt she wasn’t quite ready for the full week at school. Staying at nursery the extra term worked out well. I think you can get 30hr funding up til age 5 but I’m not completely sure.

You can get the ELG funding for the number of terms, so depending on when your DC's birthday falls, this can include a term or more of reception.

I'm not sure about the other 15 hours - I thought it came in on the same timelines as ELG but I have never checked

Remember to defer DC's place from September to January (or April) as soon as you decide what you are doing, so the school can plan accordingly. He will need to start by April - you cannot hold over a place to a new academic year