Am I missing the benefits of nursery?

[Becca3451]

I always grew up with the notion ' nurseries were good for babies', but every time I go round one all I the babies or children jammed into a room, with generally only one gender and age of staff.

Even those with outstanding Ofsted and a good reputation.inget this feeling. I ended up putting my little one with a child minder but she has suggested a nursey year before reception. I was confident with him being older I'd see nursery in a Different way but I'm struggling. There are so many in a room! Is a pre school attached to a school any better? Although we would struggle with the holiday.

Am I missing something?

Nope, you're not missing something. There aren't any benefits to external childcare before the age of three, and even then there are only benefits if the provision is high quality. If you have a preschool attached to the school he will go to it's worth a look as they do generally move up as a cohort and get used to the environment. Does the childminder have children the same age as yours? If so I'd stick with them. If not I'd consider moving for preschool.

Maybe? That’s not been my experience of a nursery. The ones where I live are fantastic. We still see their old teachers and always run up for a hug. Still see their old friends. There are laws as to how many in a room. When they start school there are about 30 children in a class, so could be very overwhelming for them. Even in the last year at nursery the ratio of adults to children never exceeded 1:4. Nursery was one of the best decisions we made for our family, but might not work for everyone.

The bit you’re maybe not considering that the childminder is is that for some children there’s a benefit in getting used to larger group, lower ratio settings before encountering them starting school. A stepping stone if you like.

Whereas for other children, putting that experience off til later is better.

It’s not necessarily nursery or child minder black
or white. Half and half works for some. Child minder and some groups / classes works for some.

It's crazy how it is sold to us as a society.

The childminder does have children same age as us, but she has basically said she thinks he should go to a nursery last year before school ( I also think she gets less funding for 3 year olds, which understandably have a massive impact on her income). The other two children will go to the local pre school but unfortunately we don't have grandparents locally and I will struggle with non term holidays. I'm not convinced by which primary school I want him in either. Although I thought I would struggling with my child minders AL and I somehow have made that work!!

Im not sure about your thing about it being sold as positive. It’s mainly referred to as necessary.

Nurseries are all different. Weirdly a bigger one might be better for smaller groups as they have more funds to be able to staff more rooms.

Pre school is good the year before school if you can get the childminder to take them back in the holidays.

I believe the studies suggest children are best placed with primary care giver e.g. mum or dad until 3 years old. Then they benefit from high quality pre school provision e.g. nursery or the such. It's obviously not the reality for many, me included. I didn't feel great about my child in nursery until they were about 18 months which felt more of an appropriate age. I suggest you visit as many as poss. My preference is a not for profit nursery as they are more about the kids, less about the profit, in my experience. Childminders are great but vary hugely in quality. The thing that put me off was sickness / holidays.

A year in a classroom setting has value because it helps children adapt to the structure before reception. It doesn’t need to be all day every day. A part-time curriculum is fully adequate.

I saw no point in dc attending before the age of 3. We were able to do playgroups and parent-child classes before that age for social opportunities.

The practice year is just to get used to separating from parents and learning to listen to a teacher.

I think numbers play a part, ratios for his age group would be 1:8 in a main stream Nursey

There is no benefit to nursery for the majority of babies/toddlers (other than the financial security of their parents being able to work).

Part-time nursery or pre-school the year (or at least couple of terms) before they start reception is helpful for most children. It's good for them to get used to being in the school environment, being part of a larger group, learning the systems/rules of the classroom etc. Ideally this would only be for a few hours a day though, not full-time. Does your childminder suggest that you use nursery instead of her? Or that he attend a school nursery/part-time pre-school and she continues to do wraparound and holidays?

Entirely depends on the nursery. Not sure what you mean by one age. We've used the same nursery now for 5 years, the same practitioners DS1 had DS2 had. Most have been there 15+ years.

Find a nursery which has long standing team members it's a far better indicator then an Ofsted report as it shows it's a good place to work. Happy staff = happy children.

The max in my sons room is on a Wednesday with 20 children but 7 staff (3-5 year olds) so well over the ratios. Rest of the time there's between 10-16 usually.

How are you planning to manage school holidays when he starts school OP? I get that it’s hard but just debated if you’ve considered that yet

So they must be around 3? When they go to school in a year or so the ratios will be much bigger. We’ve never had an issue with that. They tend to manage more self play and play with their friends at that age, and be able to go to the toilet themselves (which they will have to do at school). Ours had such a great time with their friends they almost looked disappointed when we picked them up early!!

look for a preschool yes it’s different

With preschools
that are term time
lots only the childminder (who often takes them to and from preschool as the hours are short) will take them

I love our nursery!
It really feels like the third parent helping us raise the children
They take them for trips to the local library, the church (in a non religious manner), the park, woods, swimming. They have external people coming in to do different classes like Spanish, yoga and dancing. They even take them out on a public bus
They are always knowledge when we asked for advice on sleep or feeding
The staff range in age from 17 to maybe 55 and most have been there for years. The owners are always onsite and friendly
I couldn't praise it enough.
I should say it isn't our local one though, it's about a 30 minute round trip from door to door. I visited about 5 and this one was a wildcard because of the distance but I loved it when I visited.

Our son transferred straight from a week made up of days with me or childminder to reception with me before and after school some days and childminder others. He'd already had to use 3 childminders between 9 months and 3.5 due to my work days changing at fairly short notice several times. In the September when he was 3.5, he was settled with 1 day with childminder 1 (who he'd been at since 9 months), 2 days with childminder 2 (who he'd been with since 2) and 1 day with 2 days with Mummy. The nursery at the close school which he ended up going to, could only offer half days and neither childminder did that school or wanted a lunchtime pick up. So he'd have had to go to nursery either for ALL mummy days and we'd have had to find another childminder or nursery who was prepared to do a lunchtime pick-up. It wasn't worth it, and he was perfectly find transitioning to school at 4 in Reception. Still (12 in year 8) is best friends with his seat mate from the first day in reception!

Mine began preschool age 4 (because of where his birthday falls so he’s one of the eldest in the class) and my next will be starting at 3 1/2. I’m really glad I waited because I worked in a nursery when my eldest was 2 and so many of the children cried all day for their parents and it was a lovely nursery.

As a reception teacher who also worked in nurseries. I can absolutely tell which children went to nursery the year before they come to me!

Mine were at home until term after third birthday, then attended the school run Nursery attached to their now primary for 3 hours each morning, which was plenty. They were taught by a qualified teacher, a very consistent and highly experienced team overall, with uniform, behaviour, reading etc all in line with the whole school. If this hadn’t been available, we wouldn’t have bothered until school- plenty to do at home, in the garden and out and about in our local community.

Do what feels right for you & yours ☺️

Out of curiosity, what, in you opinion would be classed as “high quality” provision?

Engaged staff and an above minimum staff to child ratio.

Sounds like you’ve not visited good nurseries. DT’s went full time from six months old. Ratio of 1:2 for babies. Lots of garden space and lovely staff - we checked their qualifications and that the turnover was low. DT’s loved seeing their key workers each morning.

I don't really think nursery benefits babies (not saying it is harmful) but there are benefits for 3 & 4 year olds and most preschool age children do enjoy it.

Also your childminder probably can't afford to provide a free place for a 3 year old!

Holiday clubs, which are generally not open to 3 year olds. We even struggled to find some for the term when DS was still 4, many only operate for children 5+ in our area.