School nursery vs private day nursery

[SockQueen]

Sorry if this is long, I don't want to miss any relevant information!

I have two DSs, 5 and 2. DS1 has recently started Reception; prior to this they both attended the same private day nursery 3 days a week (when I am at work). We have always been extremely happy with this nursery - they run long days, run 51 weeks a year, great facilities, lovely staff, good food etc.

BUT. Now that DS1 is at school, it means we're taking them to two different places, which is a bit of a faff - more for DH than me, as he does the school/nursery run on my working days. And our current nursery is not cheap! The school does have a preschool-type nursery which DS2 could attend from next September (term after he is 3), which also looks lovely, so now we're trying to weigh up the options and would value your opinions!

Pros of switching to school nursery:

• Cheaper (would get 30 hours so would only have to pay for lunches. At his current nursery we still get the hours but split over the whole year and the longer days means it would cost more - though still vastly less than we're currently paying)
• Only one set of school runs, and it's walkable unless weather is awful.
• Would allow him to settle into the school environment and make some friends before starting Reception - he's a summer baby so this might be beneficial.

Cons of switching:

• Term time only. So would mean paying for two lots of holiday club/taking additional AL to look after both boys. We have some family help but only for ad hoc days, and grandparents manage fine with one child but might struggle with two!
• We'd lose out on one-to-one time with DS1 - it's quite nice to have a couple of hours with him when he finishes school before we collect DS2.
• I just feel really sad about pulling him out of nursery earlier than DS1 - they do lots of school prep in their last term and have a mini graduation ceremony before they leave, which was lovely (albeit very cheesy), and he'd miss all that. We've been so happy with them, I almost feel disloyal by thinking of removing DS2 early!

Finally - with the free hours, we could put him in 4 or even 5 days at minimal cost. While I love having some time with him on my off days, there's part of me that would really like to have a day where they're both at school/nursery and I can get on with house projects, work-related stuff (I'll have a big job application coming up around that time that I'll need to work on) and rest a bit. Would it be awful to put him in the school nursery for an extra day so I could have that time to myself?

Do you have holiday club that takes them under school age? We don't which is why DC2 is still in private nursery as we cannot cover all school holidays with annual leave.

@angelopal

Do you have holiday club that takes them under school age? We don't which is why DC2 is still in private nursery as we cannot cover all school holidays with annual leave.

Yeah, the holiday club takes children from the school nursery so I think we could use it if needed. Not sure how much it costs though.

Do you pay for wrap around care? Would you have to pay for that for both of them on the days you work?

@BendingSpoons

Do you pay for wrap around care? Would you have to pay for that for both of them on the days you work?

No, DH has very flexible hours so is able to finish early Weds-Fri to pick up from school, and makes up the time elsewhere. We use after school club occasionally if he has a meeting on those days, but we don't need full wraparound care.

I'd keep the joy of private nursery benefits for as long as possible.

Personally

I stayed with private nursery - I would hope we don't end up with any school closures or lockdown again but our private nursery was able to open back up much earlier than the schools (which I imagine would include the preschools?) and meant I could carry on working at home without trying to juggle childcare too.
I also just wanted to keep that continuity, I know lots of children manage absolutely fine but I didn't want to move from nursery, then from preschool to school.

Just go with your instinct and what suites your family ❤️

We're sticking with private nursery for the convenience of it being stretched over the year.
And as pp I didn't want him going to three settings within 3 years, (private, school nursery, reception)
He's happy where he is so don't want to play with that.

Where we are the nursery is very much part of the school, so it was less of a transition to Reception, so here it wouldn't feel like moving twice.

Here the school nurseries feel more school like I.e. wear uniform, class teacher and TAs compared to the private nurseries. Neither is better or worse, just preference.

I think you need to figure out the holiday care - how much will you need clubs, cost, ease of booking etc and then pick whatever makes life easiest. I understand the sadness about leaving but your 4yo won't be too worried about graduation etc. Good luck deciding.

It depends on the specific environments and your child, if it were me then the focus would be on what's best for DC2 given that everything else is fairly balanced. Our school nursery is exceptional, so it's much better than the nursery DS was at; meanwhile we are confident it means reception won't be much change for him and he'll have friends in the school.

I would change him over to the school preschool. No fees so the money you save during term time can be put towards holiday club. He'll start to become more familiar with the walk to school and saying goodbye to you at the gate (good for when he starts reception).

@MRex

It depends on the specific environments and your child, if it were me then the focus would be on what's best for DC2 given that everything else is fairly balanced. Our school nursery is exceptional, so it's much better than the nursery DS was at; meanwhile we are confident it means reception won't be much change for him and he'll have friends in the school.

It's hard to know - he is well settled in his current nursery but is mostly a fairly chilled out kid so I expect he'd also like the school one. It might make the transition to Reception a bit easier, but then DS1 didn't know anyone in his class in September and has settled in surprisingly well!

I was a bit worried that the staff ratio in the school nursery might be less favourable (they have a qualified teacher in the classroom so the ratio needed for over 3s is less than for a preschool at a nursery) but actually they still seem to staff it for about 1:8. DH is keen on the reduced costs and faff, so we're leaning towards the school one.

If you think it's all about equal, then the cheaper and easier option definitely makes sense. The point someone else made about holiday cover is important though, as lots only go from ages 4 or 5. Do you have a holidays plan?

If you can manage the school hours then definitely school nursery for me.
More convenience, lower cost and better staff qualifications would sway it.