Temporary childcare for preschooler

[AlexaLondon]

Hi there,

We are moving to Bromley in November. My 3 year old DD has been in a nursery for two years in our local area (East London). We will need to find childcare for 9 months until she starts school next September. She has always found transitions hard e.g. moving from one room to the next at nursery, and has some close friends in her group that I think she is going to really miss (my friend's children from maternity leave).
We had hoped to buy in time to apply for a school place but realise now we are going to have to rent first because I don't think we will find anything in time. We will continue to house hunt once we move to Bromley.
My question is, has anyone else ever been in this position (I hope it's not just us!). Did you resettle your child into a new nursery for 9 months or did you use a nanny? So much will change for her and I want to make it as easy as possible. On reflection, we should have started looking for houses last year but it took us a long time to choose an area.

Any advice welcomed!

Thank you

As long as you talk about moving house and prepare her, lots of books on moving house etc, I don’t think it will be much of a problem. I think at this age she won’t miss her friends half as much as you think she will. I wouldn’t mention missing things or people but tell her once you’ve found where you’re going to live, show her pictures of it and talk about the positives.

In our area you can apply for primary school places from September. When are you moving OP?

Thanks for the reassurance. We are moving in November but only because I realised the application date was January 15th 2019 and we would need to have a council taxt bill as proof of residence. Having never bought we didn't realise how long the completion would take.

Do you mean we could apply for a place for a school place starting in September 2019 in September 2018?

Yes that’s right, the application process starts in September and the closing date is usually in January

DD has joined her nursery in January and will be leaving it next week to join the nursery of her school in September. So it's less than 8 months in her current one which was her 3rd one since she started nursery at 18 months in another country. Of course the very beginning is always challenging - kids don't like sharp transitions and it was breaking my heart when she was saying she wanted back to her teachers and friends. It then changed. They are too little to remember people and facts that no longer exist in their lives for too long.

I'd say nursery would be better as there's more chance of making friends with others going to the same school. You can always do play dates once you know which school it is.