Nursery applications help (Scotland)

[Isthatmcormac]

FTM here and completely clueless as to how this all works 😬

DS will be 3 in Nov 2023. When should I be applying for his funded hours place? Are all areas different?
Info on the council website (we’re Ayrshire) still seems to talk about children turning 3 this year but I spoke to some mums briefly today at a toddler group who seemed to think I had left it very late to get an application in? 😳😬
I believe he will get his funded hours from the term after he turns 3 so it will be a Jan 2024 start? Does that sound right?

From what I remember you have til end of January to hand the form to your first choice. Then wait til April/May for the letter with a wee bit you send back saying you are accepting the place.

You can name 3 places also if he's 3 in November his place will start the day after his 3rd birthday

So they've just turned 2?
Are you north or south Ayrshire?

Some areas in Ayrshire seem to say to apply in February

We were Jan 2021 for an April 2022 start but every LA area is different I think. Does he already attend a nursery? Just ask them if so, ours answered all my (stupid) questions.

And yes it's the term after they turn 3. So DD was 3 in Feb and free hours started after Easter hols.

Some areas start straight after the 3rd birthday rather than the term after e.g. South Ayrshire says the 1st Monday after 3rd birthday if their birthday is between September and February

@bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza I thought it was 5 choices 🙈🤣 I really am clueless!

@dementedpixie Yes, he’s 2 this month. North Ayrshire. The info I had seen for this years intake seemed to be a February application - it was just these other mums that threw me off today 🙈

@Hugasauras they should just make these things the same everywhere 😅 He doesn’t attend nursery currently. He will be starting when he gets the funded hours. We’re incredibly lucky that DH and I can juggle most childcare between our jobs and family help with the little we can’t cover.

I applied literally as soon as DD turned 2 (Edinburgh). However, her nursery look at applications for order of date of birth, so it didn’t matter me getting it in so early.

Council nurseries normally take applications from their 2nd birthday. My child didn’t get a council space the term after their birthday, we had to wait 6 months until the august for spaces to become available. Private nurseries you apply any time but have massive waiting lists.