Do I move nurseries for pre-school?

[Bol87]

My daughter has been attending her nursery since she was a year old (Shes now 3). It’s a fantastic, outstanding nursery in a rural setting. However, it’s next door to where both myself & my partner work and not near where we live. We live about a 45 minute drive away.

It’s always been great having her close to work as no late fees & her days are not too long as we can drop off five minutes before we start work & pick up five minutes after we finish! Then a pandemic hit & we are now working from home for the foreseeable 😫 so currently doing the equivalent of 6 commutes a week (1.5 hour round trip twice a day) for DD to attend nursery 3x a week!
It’s also always crossed my mind that she’ll not go to school with any children from her nursery..

DD is a fairly confident child but shy at first in new environments. She’s formed strong bonds with the adults at her nursery but no children. She plays alongside her peers but has never formed a proper friendship with anyone as yet.

So now I’m horribly torn. Do I move her for pre-school in September?! There are two outstanding nurseries near our house that link into the school she’ll attend. The only reason we didn’t choose them initially is because we only need one day in nursery a week when she first started & they had a 2 day minimum policy. I’m guessing we’ll have no opportunity to look round at the moment though & I’ve no idea if nurseries are even taking on new children.. but imagining it were normal times, what decision would you make? 🤯

I can't answer your question, but just a note on friendships from a Reception teacher perspective - at the age I wouldn't expect them to have specific friends. Playing alongside other children is exactly where she should be. My class will be 50% from school nursery and 50% from a selection of private providers - the children will all mix with each other very quickly.

Will she definitely attend that school though? That's not normally how it works now, regardless of which nursery the child attends

Howling are u going to be wfh? If it's until sept or longer, cut the commute now and try to get her in to somewhere local. If ur going into the office from July, stick it out for a couple more weeks.

I would say For the same reasons u enjoyed a nursery close to ur work, u now need to look for a place close to home

We did with my middle child. My eldest started school knowing no one and I think it made it harder.
The preschool my son went to had a handful of children going to his school. In guessing this bus likely in your situation. Also, agree that no friends at three is not unusual.

My DD is due to start school in September. None of the kids from her nursery are going to the same school and I feel for her as there is another branch of the nursery next to her new school, I really wish I had thought earlier and moved her to that setting as she would not be going in to school knowing nobody at all. She's so shy, especially with having been with just me for 3 months I'm worried how she will cope.

I don't think the friendship thing matters. My older one only had one friend who went to her school from nursery (all the others went to the other primary school) and it didn't make a bit of difference. She made lovely new friendships and still sees all her old friends from nursery maybe once a year. They're 7 now. If anything, I think it was a positive that she got to meet new people.

I couldn't imagine doing a 45 minute drive each way for nursery though, and I would choose a local preschool. It's just a lot of quality family time lost in the car, particularly if you don't plan to work in the office as you might have in the past (lots of places will likely shift to more time at home). Personally, I have a long commute (more than 45 minutes) and I wouldn't want to do it with my dc. I use it as downtime between work and home.