Our 3.5-year-old son is currently attending a private nursery, which we believe is a good one. He has learned quite a lot there — including all the English he knows, since we don’t speak it at home. He goes from 9 am to 3 pm, Monday to Friday. I wouldn’t say he loves it — he (almost) never says he wants to go, and quite often says he doesn’t. That said, in the 1.5 years he’s been attending, we’ve always managed to convince him to go one way or another.
He also often says he’s bored there, although lately he’s been talking about three friends at the nursery. It’s a small setting — a maximum of 24 children and three teachers. He also likes his key worker (who is unfortunately leaving).
Now, we have the option to move him in September (he’ll be 3 years and 9 months) to a nursery attached to one of two good state primary schools nearby. Of course, the staff-to-child ratio there will be much higher. The advantages, however, are that both schools are slightly closer to us and, naturally, more affordable. That said, we can afford to keep him in the private nursery for another year if we choose to.
I realize this is a very general question, but I’d be grateful to hear any thoughts or experiences others might have on the matter.