Can't find a 1 day a week 3yo place for September - what should I do next?

[PerspicaciousGreen]

I'm due with baby #3 in November and our eldest who is three becomes eligible for 15 free hours this September. I wanted to just send him one day a week to give me some respite from having all of them at once and to give him the chance to make friends and play with a bigger group of children.

I've contacted four local nurseries early this year
They all have extra charges (meals, consumables, etc) that we would struggle to afford. I wanted time to look for somewhere cheaper, even if we couldn't find actually free. I've had a lot of illness this pregnancy and time slipped by. DH and I talked and decided we'd find the money somehow, but now they're all booked up and onto waiting lists.

Other nurseries are available but they're much further away and would be a bus ride or long walk, which isn't going to be much respite for me if I spend half my day hauling three children back and forth! And I just dread the endless emails asking about places and extra charges and so on when even being out of bed all day is a mission for me right now.

Is there an option that isn't contacting every nursery in increasing concentric circles around my house and being put on nine million waiting lists to possibly not even end up with a place? Is there somewhere that nurseries with current places advertise? I would prefer a nursery to a childminder, as I think DS will do better in that structured setting, but I'm getting desperate. But childminders seem even harder to deal with, finding out who exists and where they're based and what the deal is with funded places...

I feel like I must be doing this wrong. What am I supposed to be doing?

Do you have a nursery a short walk from your home? Or one attached to the closest primary school? They may be more agreeable to 5x mornings or 2x full days.

School ones round my way dont charge for extras but only offer 9-3 term time.

Some private nurseries only offer 2 days or more (1 is hard to settle into).

Lots of private nurseries charge for meals etc as the finding from govt isnt meant to cover food.

Do you have a pre school/play group around yours? Tend to be within a church, some attached to school. Half days £10 round my area.

Hi, if you look on childcare.co.uk all your local childminders will be on there and what spaces they have available. Too be honest it will be very hard to find any provider who offers the funded hours completely free as it’s completely underfunded by the government and if they don’t charge for extras they can’t afford to offer the funding. I have just left childminding but I charged £1 per funded hour the family used with me this covered all arts, trips m groups etc. They provided there own meals.i charged as I lost just over a£1 per hour on funding

I'd be looking at preschools in your position.

You can call the early years team or family information service at your local council and they can help.

If you need free I would be looking at school nurseries or community/charity pre-schools rather than private day nurseries.

My son goes to a preschool/playgroup that uses his funding. I don’t pay any top up at all (he takes packed lunch, snacks are provided). Hasn’t cost me a penny.

My daughter is about to start but isn’t funded yet. They are charging me £3.60 an hour for her.

@DarcyLewis

You can call the early years team or family information service at your local council and they can help.

If you need free I would be looking at school nurseries or community/charity pre-schools rather than private day nurseries.

Thanks, I didn't know they existed! I've sent them an email.

We don't need to find completely free, but can't be paying £20/day plus £5 for lunch plus £5 for suncream for "free" childcare.

Local primary nurseries usually do 5 days a week either morning or afternoon, 3 hours per day. Some may be flexible over what days children go but the majority will want a full week's commitment. All free though. Ours ask for a voluntary contribution of 50p a week but that's not the same everywhere. Helps to prepare them for school as well and it's lovely to see them looking forward to seeing their friends everyday.

Hi - Local Authority Early Years and Funding Officer here. The national guidance on additonal charges is a bit vague to be honest:
Here's what it says on Charging
Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free, high quality, flexible childcare. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services. Local authorities should:
A1.25 Ensure that providers are aware that they can charge for meals and snacks as part of a free entitlement place and that they can also charge for consumables such as nappies or sun cream, and for services such as trips and specialist tuition. Parents can
therefore be expected to pay for these, although these charges must be voluntary for the parent. Where parents are unable or unwilling to pay for meals and consumables, providers who choose to offer the free entitlements are responsible for setting their own policy on how to respond, with options including allowing parents to supply their own meals or nappies, or waiving or reducing the cost of meals and snacks. Local authorities should ensure that providers are mindful of the impact of additional charges on the most disadvantaged parents.
I would contact the Funding Team at your LA for advice.

Sorry - forgot to say your LA Families' Information Service may run a brokerage service which will do some of the calls/legwork for you to help narrow down your options. Can be useful for time pressed parents or parents who have complex childcare requirements. Not all LAs still have one though.

look at your local primary school nursery free for 3yr olds for 15hrs a week

Echoing others who say look at primary schools. Maybe it varies across different areas but all the primaries near me (London) struggle to fill their spaces, and none charge for extras to subsidise their funding. They may not offer the hours you’re looking for though (IME many offer either a week of mornings or a week of afternoons - I have to say I think this is a great deal nicer for 3 year olds if possible and if I didn’t work it’s what I’d do. Although, again near me, for £50pw they can do the full 30 hours and I’d possibly be tempted by that, too).

Not everywhere does this top up fee stuff. My 3 year old goes to a maintained nursery school 8.30-3pm 5 days a week (term-time only). She gets 30 hours funded which is the full day Mon to Thurs plus Fri morning, and I pay an extra £20pw so she can stay for the afternoon on Fridays. That’s literally it. She takes a packed lunch and there are no chargeable extras.

Not sure this helps you shortcut your own search, but in general I’d start with the local authority provision (primary schools, nursery schools, children’s centres) both in terms of quality of education and in terms of the free hours actually being available free at the point of service.

I've been involved with 4 different schoolNurseries and none of them offer just a single day. It's just not in the child's best interests. It's like settling in every time they come. There's no real opportunity to make or maintain relationships with either other children or adults.

With regard to charging, as long as settings are working within the funding guidelines, it's up to each setting to decide their own rules.

I'm afraid that you're just going to have to phone round or email any settings you're interested in, to find out what they offer.

If your child is eligible for 15 hours funded childcare, then I would consider putting them in nursery for at least two sessions per week, on different days.

Generally childcare setting say 2 minimum
As once a week isn’t easy for the child to settle

Try a local pre school tho locally all ours are already booked for sept

Or a cm

Most nurseries won’t bother to take a take for just one day. It isn’t in the childs best interests

You would probably have more luck if you were looking for more than one day a week I would have thought - and it would be in your child's best interest too. If you are going to send them to nursery, then one day a week is too disjointed and if your reason is for them to make friends then they would need to be there more than once a week to form relationships with any of the other children. A nursery attached to a primary school could be a good option for you, but I'm not sure if they would take your child for one day a week - worth looking into though. Good luck!

My kids are much older than yours so I’d say where you’re going wrong is that you don’t have the desperation of someone who has to go to work to keep life going and really needs that place, nor do you fulfil the criteria of ‘needing’ a place for other reasons ) looked after, chaotic home life etc etc.
Nurseries get loads of places in September as kids go off to school but agree 1 day a week is a lot of work for them and hard on your kid, so your options are

Ask for more days
Phone them all and plead your case for a less popular day (? Friday)
Look for a nursery that does mornings only or afternoons only (though when my kids were this age you couldn’t take a place for 5 days and consistently only turn up for 1)

Are there nurseries with less glowing Ofsteds that you’re avoiding? Some of the best nurseries my kids went to got decidedly average ofsted reports but ofsted was fussy about things I didn’t care about and vice versa. One of the best for example had a sign up in the school playground (they shared an entrance driveway) asking parents not to fight each other!!!

I think a community or school run pre-school will be much better suited to your needs, your child could go a few mornings a week. Round here, the term nursery refers to the all day childcare provision, pre schools run within school hours and tend to be cheaper.

My 2 went 5 x mornings per week when they got their free funding at age 3. It was a local nursery at the primary school

I agree with PPs that 1 day a week is not enough. It would be better for your DC to go at least 2 days a week, whether they're full days, short days or half days.

Hope the council can help you find a place, otherwise I agree with PPs that nearby schools might have attached preschools. State-funded preschools are likely to have no/low charges.

Can I just say it is "funded" childcare not "free". With the pitiful amount the government pay providers (in some areas this can be as low as £3.80 an hour) I don't know how anyone expects them to stay in business!

1 day a week will not be in the child's best interests as others have said. In your situation I would look for a preschool and do 3 hours a day (morning or afternoon). This will get your child school ready.

I find it strange when MN insist one day per week isn't in a child's best interests, DS has always done one day, he loves nursery, settled very easily, and enjoys his other days with either us or his grandma (a retired private nursery manager) who does all sorts with him. None of the nurseries we approached were concerned about one day per week other than to say it might take a little while longer to settle, it didn't for DS. I actually think it helps because he sees nursery as a once a week activity, like swimming lessons or gymnastics and really looks forward to it.
I do agree with others in that you are better off looking for a local authority nursery. Ours is £75 a day so the funding wouldn't go anywhere near that, that's why they charge top ups for other things.

I find it strange when MN insist one day per week isn't in a child's best interests

I find it strange when someone dismisses the experience of many other posters just because their child is the exception that proves the rule :)

@CeibaTree my mother ran a private nursery for 25 years, my grandmother was a nursery nurse for 40, neither of them had heard of one day a week as an issue until I raised it having seen it on Mumsnet while I was on mat leave.

Children can benefit from 1 day a week and can settle its no different to a day a week at grans or aunties...but nurseries don't like it becouse it's more hassle as paperwork is the same and they like to push to maximise money.
If you can't get into a school nursery ( which would be better if its a school you want him at full time) I'd be looking at childminders too....they do exactly the same as nursery working to the EYFS are often as qualified as nursery managers and take funding.....but they are more flexible on hours and generally don't charge any of the voluntary top ups a nursery does. Settings are not allowed to insist on top up payments or make additional hours a condition to acceptance.....funded places are grossly under paid and all childcare makes a loss on it.