Is this always how nursery places have worked?

[KinderWild]

Baby due mid April 21. I've reached out to local full time (51 week) nurserys about a place for April 22.
The responses have largely said that they work on a September start date. That I can go on a wait list but won't be guaranteed an April start.

I don't remember this being an issue with my first but then he is an October baby so we would have done a September start.

I can of course just register and see how things go but the responses leave me thinking I am supposed to try and make a September start work, so my options would be delay nursery start til sept 22 (doesn't work for work) or pay from sept 21 (doesnt woke financially).

I was wondering if this is how nurserys have always worked? And if they work this way where you are? Thanks!

No but it sounds like they are full and come September they have more space because their older children start school, freeing up space for the younger children to go into the free school room and so on.

I would imagine very few childcare providers will have a full time space with less than 4 weeks notice.

If they’re full and don’t anticipate children leaving before September then they’re just being realistic.
A place could come up any time though with people moving house, losing jobs, going on may leave. You might need to be flexible though.

If a nursery has lots of spaces available then you should be able to start any time.

I am happy to sign up now but thought with enough notice we'd find a place. I've tired 4 nurseries. I just hadn't factored in having to delay a return to work for 6 months or pay for an extra 6 months (£7k). We don't have family to help so it really would be a decision between paying to hold a place or delaying work.

Didn't realise how convenient an October baby had been!

thatwent for a split second I read it that way too !

I had to join waiting lists after my 20wk scan to get a place for the start date I wanted. Two nurseries were no way. Two said they would have places.
For people signing up after me I imagine the answer would be that they couldn’t get a place till the oldest children went to school and every group moved up a room.

My May 2020 baby is starting nursery 4 days a week in a couple of weeks. Put his name down in Jan 2020 and paid a deposit to confirm his place in Oct 2020.

I suppose it depends on how they move children between rooms - the most obvious time for moving is Aug/Sept when the oldest start school. At our nursery there are three rooms and they only move onto the next when they are ready rather than a fixed time but I imagine the logistics are hard and it takes good resource planning!

Oh sorry I get it now - you’re giving them a year and 4 weeks notice. That’s unusual for a baby room.

It's not typical in my experience. As in they usually start as soon as there is a place - mine both started in November/December. But it sounds like maybe what they are saying is they are currently full to capacity and expect to still be full to capacity for next spring, and won't have a place until the school leavers leave in September. In practice, that isn't always the case because children leave all the time due to moving house, a parent going off on parental leave, job loss, etc. so they may have a space before next September. I guess it depends on if they choose to allocate them or not. Personally, I'm not so sure I'd want to choose a nursery that was from the start quite inflexible unless this is the norm for nurseries in your area.

Thanks. So far it seems to be a common theme. Along with - please pay a non refundable registration fee of £100.

@Thatwentbadly yes looking at the due date and start date it's just over 13 months notice. I thought I was being fairly on it and then was thinking I'd left it too late but not sure if starting earlier would actually have helped if they work to a Sept-Aug cycle.

Our nursery works on a September intake (albeit they have a couple who join mid-year). They generally like to keep a peer group together and they move up the classes as a group so September is their 'main' intake. DS started in Sept although I didn't go back to work until January

Bloody hell where do you guys live?! I only had to give a few weeks notice before plonking DS in the baby room...

South east London. I'm sure we didn't even investigate nurseries until Baby 1 was 4 months!

That’s bonkers! The kids hasn’t even been born and therefore no nursery places for when op will need to go back to work 😲
Around here kids start school nursery the term after they turn 3 so there’s more movement of places.

I'd consider a childminder - we've had lovely experiences and they tend to be a bit cheaper as well.

The nursery mine attended opened an extra room between January and July as the demand is higher then.
Have you tried childminder?

I think it depends on the year and area. With one of our local nurseries, we would have needed to go on the waiting list before conceiving to get a place. Another one was fine with 12 months’ notice.

I had a nursery place lined up with my daughter (booked when she was 2 months old!) when it was a month before she was due to start i went in and their had been a change in management over the course of the year- i didn’t feel it was right place anymore.
Panic set in and I found another nursery I liked and thankfully another family had decided not to return to work, so my child took that place!
It could be the same her someone may not return to work or leave the area so keep in contact maybe?

I was going to say the only place I know that you’d need to give so much notice would be London. We didn’t have to here and my winter and summer born children have both started whenever we needed them to.

September is obviously when their pre-school room empties out for the school age children and they move everyone up creating space in the baby room. Sounds normal for London.

Do they know how old (or indeed unborn) your baby is? The only nurseries round here that operate on September intakes are the pre-school ones for 3&4 year olds. All of the other regular nurseries just start the kids whenever the parents want them to/whenever there's space.

@Todaytomorrowyesterday that's a good point. I wonder if we hedge our bets and reserve places at more than one nursery (which seems totally bonkers now I've written that down and again more money). But now I've said that, I wonder if others are holding more than one place.

@uhtredsonofuhtred1 good to check, and I had to go and check my email as couldn't remember. Unfortunately yes they do.

Not like that where we are; 6 weeks notice was given for 2 days a week and I’ve just increased to 3 with 2 weeks’ notice. Nothing to do with school intakes.

Yes this is a thing in SE London (and probably other bits of London, we're not that special!). I remember going to visit on particularly highly regarded nursery in Brockley when I was literally in labour with DD and being told that they weren't sure they had a space for her 15 months down the line .

I did look into childminders a few times over the years for DS1 and found some lovely ones. The main thing that put me off was the size of the premises to number of children. Not in a snotty way, DS1 is very physical and likes to run and climb and so I worried about him going stir crazy in a small area. Second baby is DS2 and may of course be different but may not. Hard to tell right now!