Stages of education

[ZebraZeebra]

I know this is incredibly stupid but please be patient with me What are the stages of education leading up to infant school?

DS is 15 months and I'm a SAHM. He probably won't start a nursery until we can use the 15 free hours. But when I hear people talk about nursery and pre school and school, I realise I've no idea when you're supposed to start this or what ages these things are for. Just one of the many things I don't know about, ha.

So of anyone doesn't mind, could you spell it out for me? Also - with the free nursery hours - do ou already need to be paying for some hours in order to get them?

Thanks in advance!

So pre-school is basically 3+ to school age. Sometimes these groups are actually called pre-schools but often they are called nurseries. Usually dedicated pre-school nurseries only operate term time, so have the same holiday patterns as local state schools. Often they are affiliated to a specific primary/infant school and can act as a feeder where children attending the nursery are given a higher ranking for admission criteria for the school.

The term nursery can mean either pre-school (as above), or in many cases "day care nurseries" cover children from very young (some from just 6 weeks, most often from 3-6 months) right up to school age. These day care nurseries (just to confuse you) will often name their 3+ age range their "pre-school room". Usually this type of nursery runs all year round with only weekends and bank holidays off.

With regards the free 15 hours, this kicks in for the term following a child's 3rd birthday. The nursery your child attends has to claim the money back from the local council. I think the rules on how many sessions you are expected to attend differ per nursery, although I don't think have to pay for more above and beyond the free sessions unless the specific nursery has a minimum session policy. With day care nurseries which are not term based, the local authority will still only pay for 15hrs in term time only, and the maximum hourly rate is capped and often much lower than actual day care nurseries cost, so you wouldn't actually get 15hrs. My DD used to attend such a day care nursery and they took the money received over all 3 terms in the year, and then worked out how much of a discount this translated to in terms of our monthly direct debit.

You didn't specifically ask about school starting age so I assume you know, but just in case not then children start school in the September that precedes their fifth birthday. So my DD is 5 in August this year and started school last September. If she had been born just 1 month later in September then she would not be starting school until this September.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for sharing such a nice information about stages of education.