Would you switch to preschool attached to school?

[PurplePetalPip]

DS is nearly 2 and has been at his nursery since he was 8 months. He's settled well and likes it there. We haven't had any concerns and it's well respected in the local community. It's not in our village but is in the town I work in about 10 minutes away.

When he is 4 he will be attending the local primary school in our village which is about 200m away - obviously this isn't confirmed yet but I can't see we won't get a place being so close.

There is a pre-school attached to the school which will accept him aged 3. It's got a 'good' ofsted rating and again is well respected and I'd be happy to send him there. Only thing is they only do term time so I'd have to sort cover in school holidays between me, DP and 2 sets of grandparents (doable and we will have to do this when he starts school anyway but it is an extra faff).

I'm in a dilemma about whether to sign him up for the pre-school or just keep him in his current nursery for his last year before he starts school... I don't want to uproot him when he is settled but on the other hand would it make the transition to school easier when he makes that move?

Anyone able to fill me in on the differences between preschools attached to schools and those that are nurseries? Anything else I may not have considered? Thank you!

I moved my dd from a private nursery to the nursery on the site of the primary school she will be attending. She's 3y 9 mo and we moved her at the beginning of June. She will start reception in Sept 24.

The new place is still a private nursery, so no school uniform or anything, they just share the school grounds. But all of her class mates will be going to the same school as her most likely. And they run transition sessions into the school as well, where the kids get to go for the morning or afternoon and meet the reception teacher etc. So for getting ready for school, I think it will really help her. I was really worried about moving her, and we thought about it for a long time before we made the decision.

Its all worked out pretty well though. She coped with the change brilliantly, we described it to her as moving from her nursery to the big school nursery to get ready for going to school. My ds is in reception year so she has seen him going to school and wants to do the same, so for her this was exciting and a 'big girl' thing.

It has also given us more time in the morning and evening, pick up and drop off is a 5 minute walk instead of a 20 minute drive. She and ds are going to the same place so I get to walk them both up in the morning and back in the evening. I wfh so if I need to get her because she's ill, I can be there in two mins. I don't have a car at the moment, but it matters a lot less now.

Our school nursery is open all year round, and they also run the holiday club in the school holidays for ds to go to. So it works really well for us. If it hadn't been, we probably wouldn't have made the move, as we couldn't cover the holidays without childcare. That was a big deciding factor for me.

@katmarie thank you so much for your reply. You've touched on a lot of my thoughts. In so many ways it will be so useful when it comes to transitioning to school as all his friends will be with him.

But then I think about how he already has little friends at nursery and about how much he loves the staff there, and I start to worry he won't cope with the move. Although I'm thinking about how he would be now at nearly 2 when he wouldn't understand why he is changing settings. Presumably at 3 he will have a much better concept of what school is etc!

And yes the school holidays is a bit of a pain! But we are very lucky in having grandparents willing to help out so I think we could manage it if the benefits were worth it.

What's the pick up times in pre-school nursery? If ~3pm like the school ones, can you manage or if not, will your DC will allowed attend afternoon clubs, if needed?

We preferred not to do a school nursery (private in school grounds is different. )

They often are run more as part of the school, so in way kids have to learn school behaviour quicker. Can be more formal walking into assembly sometimes/set breaks etc.

Also teacher ratios are completely different so although you get a "teacher" it's a teacher and a class, less adults in the room. We preferred the more child led atmosphere of having key workers and multiple senior staff (albeit not paid as well as a teacher )

A nursery teacher may have taught year 3 or year 4 the year before. Or even year 1 has a very different ethos to most nursery schools. Expectations are so different.

Its a bit like how preschool and reception both follow eyes but in practice it looks so different.

School nursery may be in uniform...

We absolutely loved our preschool and preferred the approach to school. So much is expected younger and younger in school that a bit longer not having to be so formal suited us.

Also the flexibility of hours. If you want tk drop off earlier/later/go on holiday. School nursery usually has set sessions
Whereas we could be flexible.with preschool.

But it will be very area dependant! Go visit and see but it sounds like a year where they are currently happy wouldn't harm. Reception is supposed to prepare for school/yr 1 so they don't have to be in earlier to prepare for that. (And England starts formal schooling so early anyway!)

Our private nursery took some kids term time only so they had space in the holidays. Dc did 2 days preschool 2 days nursery in term time and 4 days nursery in the holidays

I work 2 shorter days so the 3pm pickup wasn't an issue for me.

It worked really well for dd1 and she's still got friends from preschool. DD2 didn't really make any friends at preschool but at least I know we tried, if she had struggled at school socially I would have blamed myself for not sending her to the preschool! In reality it made no difference at all.

Kats set up sounds brilliant - school grounds but not school run, and all year round. But that's different to OPs.

Dc1 went to a private nursery near Dh work. Dc2 went to a local preschool. Dc3 didn't go anywhere. Dc4 and dc5 went to a SEN preschool in the next town about 7 miles away.

There were advantages and disadvantages of each option. Dc1 was fine starting primary not knowing anyone but I didn't like it so I made more of an effort to meet other mums at baby groups in the area near the school with my younger ones.

We had this dilemma yesterday and opted to keep DS in his private nursery. In reality, it wasn't much of a decision because we couldn't have coped with term time/school hours only which is what they offer. Of the reception intake of 45 in Sept, about 20 will be from the preschool so they will actually be in the minority. When I asked reception staff, they said that within a couple of weeks, nobody could remember who had been at preschool and who hadn't. I'm glad we made the decision to stick with our existing nursery.

Last year, not yesterday!

My youngest always went to a childminder rather than private nursery. When he was 4 started going to nursery 2 days per week attached to his current primary so he made friends at the new setting that went on to school with him. They make friends very quickly at that age, so in my view there was no rush and he settled in fine.

I would keep him where he is.

It isn't only the school holidays you will be covering (and don't forget that isn't just Summer 6 weeks, it is usually around 2 weeks at Christmas, 2 at Easter, 3 x half terms, and then Teacher training days, so it adds up), but what about the wrap around care, if you are out at work ?
I'd stick with what you've got until he gets to school age.

If it is a Nursery class at the school, and there is a teacher in charge, he will drop from a 1:8 ratio where he is, to a 1:13 ratio in any Nursery class led by a teacher. (Pre-schools on school sites sometimes are and sometimes aren't).

I didn’t move DD from her private nursery to the school nursery as I decided we’d rather do the transition at 4.5 than 3.5 and save ourselves a year of hassle sorting the holiday and wraparound care. Transition to reception was absolutely fine, over half the class hadn’t been to the school nursery and for those that had moved up together, the friendships don’t look to have persisted anyway. She’s in the top phonics group so not having been with the school earlier wasn’t an issue academically either. I’m glad we didn’t move her.

Generally among people I know for their first child they’ve stuck with the private nursery, for second or subsequent they’ve gone to school nursery at 3 because they already have arrangements in place for school runs and it makes their lives easier.

Also be sure you’d actually get into that primary school for reception otherwise you’ll be doing the move twice!

I took all 4 of my children out of a private nursery when they were turned 3 so they could attend the nursery attached to the school for a year before they started reception. I wanted them to be familiar with the environment and make friends they'd be going to school with. It worked well for us especially when my older ones were in school and the youngest was at the nursery at the same place, but I did only work part time and had childcare sorted for the other days I was at work. If I didn't have grandparents helping out on those days then it was unlikely I'd of been able to do that

DD1 stayed at the separate nursery... I didn't like the school one where we lived then. They had nursery and Reception free flow most of the time, fantastic facilities... but 100 kids was just too big and noisy for her. She would have loved the facilities in a small group- out door play area, indoor, woodwork, forest school area, messy play, crafts... The standalone place was a lit quieter but the facilities were no where near the same. It was also more convenient to have both DDs in the same place.

We had moved by DD2 and had no choice but school nursery. She loved having access to the library, the music room, the sports pitches etc. They were in the Nativity play, they joined in big stuff like World Book Day but they didn't do assembly or go on the main playground for example. She learnt phonics and early maths as she was ready, and the school SENCO monitored her to check for SEN like her sister (which the standalone nursery had completely missed and dismissed concerns over!)

Whats better is going to depend on individual child and the settings tbh, plus your needs.

Yes, this. We kept DC1 at nursery and then she started primary school. Her private nursery was in a different area (same distance away but in the other direction from our house) so none of the kids she knew from there were at primary, and it made no difference to her. She’s made loads of friends and the transition has been fine. We benefitted from the holiday cover!

But we plan to send DC2 to the school nursery because we’re already doing the school runs for DC1, plus DC2 knows the school and is desperate to start.

I didn’t have this choice as DDs school doesn’t have a nursery, but I would just like to add that not knowing anyone or the school etc when starting primary school will not matter one bit when settling in. Schools do great settling in sessions and lots of other kids won’t know anyone. My DD knew one other girl going to her school but it really didn’t make a difference.

I would personally say if they’re settled the transition may be easier when your child is one year older.

Personally we've chosen to keep our kids at private nursery, even though it's a 10 minute drive away and our school is about a 7 minute walk. We found the logistics of trying to find wraparound care weren't worth it, plus our kids have loved their nursery as do we. When our eldest then transitioned to the village school he settled in really quickly despite not having been to the preschool.

Keep him where he is. Once they’re in reception you cope ok with the term time only thing and shorter days because they can do breakfast club, after school club, holiday camps and if you have to safely amuse themselves or watch TV for an hour whilst you take a work call. Generally a 3YO in nursery can do none of that so unless you’re a SAHP or combine with a nanny/childminder I think you need to stick with day nursery. Also it sounds like he’s well settled and happy where he is so why force the change early.

You need to see what the provision is like for yourself - my son is in the nursery class where he will continue into reception in Sept. They all have to do 5 days, AM or PM. Other nurseries attached to schools locally let children do full days (well, finishing at 3ish) and/or the children don't have to go everyday. If yours is like that then there is the option of putting him in the school nursery for part of the week and then keeping him where he is now for the other half. Our school nursery partners with the local private nurseries who offer wrap around care, so most children again stay in a familiar setting as well as starting somewhere new or in our case, our son gets picked up by the childminder (who we've had for a few years) and goes there for the afternoon then we pick him up at 5.30 like we always have done, and she also has him in the school holidays. This year has worked out really well for us and we are much more confident about the transition into reception because he already knows the school, some of the children, the teachers etc and he's been wearing the uniform, taking part in key aspects of school life (world book day, assemblies, doing PE etc) for a year already so the only difference is that he will stay all day, have lunch and move into a different classroom in September. The childminder will continue to pick him up as she has done now too.

If I were in your position I'd be thinking further ahead - what is your childcare plan for reception onwards? Can you use this year as a transition year so that it won't all come to a stop at the same time when he starts reception? For example, if he will go to wrap around which is attached to a private nursery in your village then either get him going there full time now and/or combine it with the school nursery. Or likewise if your plan is to get a childminder then again, perhaps look into that now so it isn't too much of a shock as otherwise you're just deferring the "problem" by a year by keeping him at the current nursery.

I kept both mine in private nursery - they were settled, the longer hours meant no wraparound or holiday cover needed (the stress of this once at school is enough) and they follow the same early years curriculum as pre school. Both children were very well prepared for primary school. Unless you don't like their current nursery I'd keep them there.

I think it's best to prioritise which will be easiest for you - which will be keeping him where he is. Sorting school holidays is a phaff. And if grandparents can't help for some reason, then finding holiday childcare for a 3 year old will be very difficult. It's much easier once they are school age.

Does the pre-school run for a full day? That's unusual for a pre-school attached to a school and if they do offer extended hours you might find it involves him being with different adults/children.

I think there are some benefits in going to school knowing other children but they are really transitory. Plus if you moved him now, you'd just transfer the "having to make new friends" stage a year earlier - you wouldn't remove it.

I kept mine in private, I found it so much easier. They were able to be so much more flexible than a school nursery. My son was quite shy but he found Reception quite easy because it was shorter days for him (he was doing 8-4.30ish at nursery). I’m at teacher and find school nurseries much more structured which wouldn’t have suited my son.

Yeah I'd try to avoid the 2 settings a day (half day nursery/childminder after) if at all possible at 3. I do realise it's not always possible but you have a setting already so makes sense to avoid the 2 setting situation.

Also the "do pe etc" is exactly why I'd avoid a school nursery. Exploring outside/running around should be a natural part of the day rather than the structured "thu am we go to the school hall to listen to the teacher tell us to all do pe now."

Thanks everyone for the messages. I should clarify that the pre-school is attached to the school only in terms of being physically within the grounds. It is run independently and the children don't mix other than when the school aged children go to the breakfast club and after school club which is run by the pre-school.

Also we would only be using the one setting as we'd be making use of the breakfast and after school clubs to extend his hours to 8-5 which is what he does at nursery.

Regardless, the overwhelming consensus seems to be its best to stick where we are which is what I'd always planned. I guess I just like the idea of the village pre-school but practically it's more difficult.