How many days at preschool at 4?

[xxxJess123xxx]

Hi all my son does 3 days at the moment at preschool (9-2.30) and was contemplating adding a 4th as he is due to start school September

He doesn’t particularly like going in (cries) but the ladies say it doesn’t take him long to settle, play and have a good day

Do you think it could benefit him going an extra day in prep for September or keep it at 3 while I have him not at school!

How many days do your 4 years do?

He turned 4 in Jan so only just 4

Thanks x

The most popular amount of time is 15 hours.
Some do that in 5 lots of 3 hours, some in 3 lots of 5 hours and others have different combinations.

But it is entirely up to you, your child, your finances, your working hours (need for childcare), your own enthusiasm for doing other activities with them.

This is presumably in a limited hours pre-school though, serving mostly parents working limited hours. The most popular number of hours in private day nurseries is surely 30 hours. I think every child I know bar my own does at least 3 full days (so 8-5 or similar) every week, and most have done from a year old.

No, That's across all the PVIs (in my LA, at least. I don't have figures for Nationally.)
Lots of dc do 15 hours in PVIs that are open 55 hours a week.

However, the way OP has phrased her posts, suggest to me that she isn't looking for childcare around working hours.

My DD went to the nursery attached to her primary school and did Mon- fri 9-3. School terms only.

Our area (Scotland) has 30 free hours for all children over 3, so by 4 the majority of them do go full time. It meant there was no transition into p1, they just went full time hours from the beginning, which was great for us.

DS only did 16hrs a week, we were eligible for 30 hrs but he spent alot of time with his great grandparents when i was working shifts, at the allotments, days out, teaching him alot of things so i didnt see if benefitial when he was learning as much, if not more from them.

DD goes 30 hrs plus an extra hour in the morning 4 days a week. She enjoys it and unfortunately my grandparents are a little older now and find her too challenging, plus i work FT mon- fri 9/5 now in place of shifts so its the only choice we have.

Shes very different to him though and needs the social interaction much more than he did at her age.

Yes UsingChange, im not using preschool as childcare. I work evenings luckily x

Wow, I'm really surprised. Shows how much our own circumstances shape our thinking. I'm genuinely quite gobsmacked more people don't need to use the hours to work.

Well my 2 yo goes 5 days a week and will continue to do so until she start reception.

We do this because we work full time but fortunately she thrives on it.

My DCs went to preschool in the US at age 4. They went four half days a week, 9:15 - 12. The following year was kindergarten, which was five half days a week, same hours.

Out of curiosity, what do children do for the rest of the day? Is there wrap-around care service if needed?

We are in Scotland so slightly different age wise. My daughter was 3.5 when she starts ante pre school, she did 3 full days, 845-330. She loved it. After the Easter holidays we increased her to full time which was 4 full days and a half day 845-1145. This is all funded by Scottish govt.

She is in her pre school year now and still doing full time. She'll be 5 in April and go to school in August.

@Bleese
Are you not aware that not every child has both parents working 9 - 5, Monday to Friday ?
There are lots of people that don't work at all. Then so many different combinations of work patterns that parents can have. Plus some also use child minders, Grandparents or other family members. Potentially a Nanny, au pair, Mothers help, or babysitter, or childcare swap. Some will be a combination of these.

Yes I'm very aware of that but the 30 hours cover so little in reality I'm just surprised more people don't use them. You always read on MN about people being desperate for the 30 hours to start or spacing their children out to afford nursery. I used nearly my full allowance by using 20 hours a week (2 trapped hours that I couldn't use - it's 22 hours funding if you do it year round) and so that only covered 2 days of work a week. As I said, it's just my experience - nearly all my friends work in professional jobs which include at least 2 weekdays like mine, even if they do some shift work. I don't know anyone whose parents/in laws do more than a day or two a week. I wasn't being snarky, just commenting.

I work in a preschool and our 4yos are doing all sorts of hours. One does 2 days 9-3. Another does every day 9-3. I think it's beneficial for them to do more than 2 days because they may miss out on something which is happening on other days. It's also much more beneficial to friendships. I've seen kids struggle a bit if they are in less than other kids, who inevitably get much closer.

However, if he's not happy that's a problem. How long has he been going that he's still crying? Did he start in September? If he started later, it may be difficult for him to fit into friendship groups. I would be tempted to keep him home, but to ask the preschool how you can prepare him eg. Counting, number recognition, phonics, name writing. All this will also be covered in reception but it helps them have a little head start if they know some of those things already.

My daughter went to a preschool 5 days 8:30-15:30 at the school she was going to go to, at 3yo. We both work FT. She loved it and has continued to love school.

DS I also turned 4 in January and goes 5 full days to the pre-school attached to his prep school.

Merry no he has been going for nearly 2 years now and has only now just started being upset going in.
As he is getting older, he is getting more clingy which is obviously concerning come September

Thanks for all your replies

Maybe he's not getting enough from it. Are there many in his age do they always do new things or is it just a repeated cycle. Have friends moved up?

He has plenty of friends as always mentions them.
they have received outstanding award through ofsted for the past 3 inspections and they are a great playschool x

It's very strange for him to become clingy after 2 years. If I were his key worker, I would be looking to understand that and communicate with you. I'm surprised they are outstanding if this is not being dealt with. Has he had any big changes eg. Bereavement, divorce, new sibling? This kinda if behavior doesn't come out of nowhere and it's not developmental in a 4yo who has been going to a setting for 2 years. I would be concerned with a setting that wasn't dealing with this.

I have spoke to the key worker a couple of times about him getting worse with drop off and she has said it has been since his best friend at school has been off ill more regular

he had become veryyyyy close to one particular boy and now he is very rarely there

they have encouraged him to find new friendship groups but he maybe hasn’t found a close friend like he had before? I’m not sure

nothing changed at home at all

xx