advice needed about pre-school nursery and days off please!!!!

[olsmum]

hi,
dd goes to pre-school nursery at local primary school, do any of you know if its ok to keep her at home say for her birthday (which falls on a monday this year) or to go away for the day (christmas shopping), obviously if she was in p1 i wouldnt but not sure if the school operates the same policies for their nursery. she hasnt had a day off since she started.
i would be interested to hear your thoughts so advice please!!!

I dont think they are as strict as it is not the law that they have to be there. However DS loved going in on his birthday as they all sang and he took in a cake.

eh? you don't have to send him at all! Attendance is entirely optional

i did think about that, she would probably love to see her friends etc. it was purely selfish on my part so i could spend the day with her!

god it is not selfish to want to spend the day with your dd! There is no way I would send ds on his birthday if I didn't have to be at work or whatever

not selfish I agree, I asked DS what he wanted to do and he wanted to go to school with a badge on and take cake.

If the nursery is part of the primary school they probably have the same policy on attendance as the school. I kept dd off for a day and I got a letter demanding to know why she had an unauthorised absence! And I had let the school know in advance that she wasn't going to be there. I have now been given a special attendance line to ring if she is absent through illness and I have to put in a request form if I want to take holiday in term time!!

i bet you felt like a naughty girl getting told off from the school! like i said her birthday is a monday and i will be off work but i will be working on the tuesday, i will have to ask the teacher on monday what their policy is.

I did . But a little p**d off too!

How long is her session at pre-school? Would it make that much difference to her day and the amount of time you get to spend with her if she doesn't go in?

I only ask because my DS's nursery hours are 9.00am to 11.30am. I wouldn't (and didn't) keep him at home on his special day because I still had plenty of time with him after nursery. No cake at our nursery, but all his little mates sang Happy Birthday and he got a special sticker saying "I Am 4". He was thrilled.

OTH, if you've got a trip or something extra special planned then I'd let her take the day off.

blimey
dd1 is at preschool and I take days off for lots of reasons! she is taking the day off on Tuesday for her sister's birthday, because we are all going out for the day.
until she's at school, you don't have to send her.

its understandable, like frannyandzooey said, at the end of the day attendance is optional. at risk of sounding like my mum now but when i was that age there wasnt any of this ante-preschool and pre-school nurseries! and im only 24! i know its for her own good though because she has really come out her shell since going, she is very shy. it can be a right pain in the arse though if i want to go away for the day etc.

No you don't and at the private pre-school dd was at previously they were very relaxed about it. But I think its difficult for a school to have a different policy from its own nursery. And they can get funny and say things like 'your child's place will be at risk if they don't attend regularly'. Better just to ask for their policy.

I think you are well within your rights to tell them to take their letter demanding reasons for an 'unauthorised absence' and ...

..tell them it was an authorised absence. You authorised it.

yes - well was going to tell them where to stick their letter! BUT - am in process of applying for dd's primary school place there so thought best to keep relations sweet for now