Explain the nursery system to me please!

[tudorqueenie]

Hello everyone,

My husband and I have a little girl who is just about to turn 2. We have been advised to start looking at nurseries for her to start in April 2024.
My issue is that we have zero experience with nurseries and so we just can’t wrap our brains around how it all works. By this I mean the session times, how fees are calculated, what time I can drop her off and pick her up etc.
I need to add that we are based in Scotland and we would use the 30 government funded hours.
Please could you give a brief explanation of the nursery system and anything else that seems to be common knowledge that we are just likely not aware of?!
1.) I am aware that nursery session times are likely 8-12.30 & 1-6pm. What if I want my daughter to do 9-3pm? Is that a thing? Can that be a thing?
2.) If we use the government funded hours in a private nursery that accepts this, we would need to spread it over 50 weeks which would mean now having 22.8 hours instead. That’s fine - but how many days is that then? Can we pay a few extra hours to top it up?
3.) if our child goes to a government funded nursery (primary school based nursery), which is 39 weeks term time, what on earth happens during the summer? How do people do it?

thank you so so so much in advance, honestly any help is massively appreciated!! I know this might sound daft but it’s a genuine question and we would love to understand.
thank you!!

Can't give you all the answers I'm afraid! But also in Scotland. For my DS's nursery:

1. You have to book morning or afternoon sessions. So if you wanted 9-3 you'd have to pay the full day and just collect early.

1. Yes, you just pay top up hours to whatever the difference is on top of the funded hours.

1. Ours is a private nursery so open through the summer, but anecdotally otherwise I think people rely on staggered annual leave, grandparents, summer camps etc.

It's a minefield, I agree!

Thank you so much!

I'm in England, but -

My nursery does mornings, afternoons, full days and school days (8.30-3.30). I believe private nurseries mostly are fine with late drop offs and early collections ad hoc, because these make it easier for them. Some nurseries require drops and collections at the same time as the other kids to not disturb activities.

Some accept the funded 30 hours over the full year (52 weeks for us), which equates to 2 'free' full days (8am-6pm) each week. At our nursery, anyone accessing 15/30 hours pays a £18 a week surcharge for materials.

I don't think people who need actual childcare use school nurseries usually as even with stacking annual leave and flexi time, it doesn't add up.

Ask what extras you'll have to pay for. Some charge for food, nappies, craft materials, etc.

Your choices are pay full day at private nursery all year round or send her to a preschool, which tend to do 9-3 type hours term time only. You may find a childminder who will do holidays only to fit with that. Or most preschools and some nurseries allow morning or afternoon only and you could use childminder for rest (but need one that will drop off or pick up from that setting) which also would make any holiday cover more likely.

As government funding isn’t usually enough for their costs, many want you to pay for extra hours on top of funded sessions. Or to pay extra for eg food or craft materials.

They all work differently tbh.

We use a private nursery (can still use the free hours and top it up to however many days you need it for), and days are 8-6 all year round (except between Christmas and New Year). You can drop late/collect early but the price is the same.

We have been advised to start looking at nurseries for her to start in April 2024.

by who? You don’t have to.
if you don’t need childcare for work purposes then you could just wait until she’s old enough to join a school nursery (if there is such a thing in Scotland) or even, school.

We used a private nursery. It was open 07.00-18.00 all working days throughout the year. You could drop-off and pick-up any time during the hours you had booked. So we paid for 07.00-17.30 3 days a week but actually dropped off anytime between 07.00 and 08.00 and collected anytime between 16.00 and 17.30 depending on schedule.

Ours considered a day to be 8 hours and amy time over that was paid on an hourly rate. So we were using 30 hours a week but as it was averaged over 52 weeks our bill once the 30 hours kicked in was about £400 a month.

But everywhere is different if you choose private. There are no set rules. I've heard of ones where you could only pick-up and drop-off at set times which wouldn't have suited us at all.

You'd probably be best to ask for this thread to get moved to scotsnet as the set up is quite different in Scotland so answers from the rest of the UK can be quite wrong.

And local authority will do things a bit differently but here's how it works in my part of Scotland.

If you want to use a private nursery you need to check that it's accredited for the free hours. There's a real variety of choice including a growing range of outdoor provision.

These nurseries will be able reduce your bill in the term following your child turning 3.

Local authority provision (usually based in schools) needs to be applied for via the school and they publish the dates in advance. That's probably why you've been told April 2023.

These nurseries will have different provision and not all do the same. Some will have full time hours. Some will deliver 30 hours over 5 days. Some over 3 days. Some will have the opportunity to pay for wraparound care and some won't.

Lots of people like to pick the nursery attached to your catchment primary school.

For my first child I used the school nursery and paid a childminder to cover the wraparound and school holidays.

For my second child I used a private nursery as it was just more convenient.

Session hours depend on the private nursery. Ones local to us are 07:00/08:00-18:00. Half day sessions finish or start at 12:00. Pick up and drop off whenever you like (but check what time breakfast finishes so you know if you need to give breakfast at home).

We use nursery 52 weeks of the year but still take the 30 hours as term time as it then covers three days a week - even though the nursery day is up to 11 hours. We budget to pay full fees in holidays.

Ask if they do a flexible contract which means you don't have to commit to set days every week and end up paying for Mondays when the nursery is closed for a bank holiday, etc.

If you want to use a school nursery, check the school and local private nurseries for wraparound care provisions. Ours get picked up from school by private nursery.

Holidays we manage by using the private nursery at the moment. Once in school (Reception onwards) we'll use a mix of private nursery / summer clubs / annual leave / unpaid parental leave / grandparents to manage school holidays.

April 2024 will be the date she has told apply for school nursery in order to be enrolled for the term after the child turns 3 or to access free hours via a private nursery.

Of course she doesn't need to but if she wants to access these services that will be the application deadline in her local authority

Thank you so much everyone. This is very helpful. Grandparents aren’t an option, it is just me and my husband here - all our family lives in another country. Annual leave is fine but it would only work for a few weeks only during the summer. I suppose opting for the private one would be in general the better option for this purpose.
The allocated nursery within our catchment school isn’t built yet by the way - they have only just started building it.
To answer the question about who said this to us - it was our health visitor. If we want to go for the private one, places get filled up incredibly fast years in advance.
Thanks so much about the tip regarding the thread, I will have a look at that too!
thanks so much for all your thoughts x

Our old nursery did morning, afternoon split day (9-3) or full day as options. Full day was 7.30-6.30. she had to be there before 9 for breakfast

Our current does morning, afternoon or full day but you can pay for an extra hour to be tagged on to a half day. A full day is 7.30-6. the afternoon session we did once was 12-4. She has to be there before 8.30 for breakfast but this isn't a hard stop we often are 5 minutes late and still get it.

We had a nursery in between that pay by the hour

30 free hours - my daughter does 4 full days which works out at 10h a day so on a term time week we pay the normal daily rate on a Monday and the reduced rate on the other 3 days. On non term time weeks we pay the normal daily amount every day. They used to do pro rata but have stopped doing this. Or nursery does full time and term time options. If you do term time you are responsible for providing child care during the school holidays

Something that we have in England but I don't know if is a thing in Scotland is tax relief on childcare. We get up to £500 from the government every quarter if we pay for nursery through a government gateway account. They add 20% to any money you add the account.

My kids are teens now, they did pre school rather than day nursery (I was a SAHM at the time).

At that time it was 15 hours so they went 9-12 five days a week, term time only. We didn't pay anything.

I guess with 30 hours you could do 9-3 term time only.

I actually thing two is far too young for 30 hours of pre school, though, I wouldn't do it just because someone has told you you must (which is what your OP seems to indicate).

If you are worried about how your annual leave will cover nursery, I’m presuming you both currently work now? Where does your daughter go for childcare now? Can’t you just carry on doing that until she starts school?

Oh no no, sorry for being confusing - she is 2 just now but she would be going to nursery from April 2025 when she is 3.

We just juggle it between ourselves with my husband. She doesn’t go to nursery. He has two days off during the week so I work then plus another day flexibly, and then he works on the other days.

Also in Scotland. Depending on where you are, you're right to start looking now - you should have enough time to find a nursery you like with the hours you need, which gets harder if you're looking too close to your start date.

At my DC's nursery, so long as you've paid for a session, your child can start or finish any time within that. So, if DC has a medical appointment at 8:30, it's fine for them to arrive at nursery later than usual. If you want a 9-3 day at nursery, then you'd need to pay for the full day, but there's nothing stopping you dropping off and picking up whenever you choose to (unless your child or their class has gone out on an activity).

You can use the subsidised hours towards fees and pay for as much on top as you need. You can discuss with the nursery you like, to work out how to use the hours most effectively.

We chose a nursery that's open almost all year round as we wouldn't find it sustainable to cover the school holidays. When the nursery is closed, we just use annual leave to cover that time.

I'm in Scotland. Not all nurseries offer funded places, I'd say yes that you'd need to book a place in advance. Also, check your local authority,but ours kicks in the team after they turn 3. So DS1 turned 3 11 days after the deadline, so it didn't kick in till the next term, like 3 months later.

Ds1 went to nursery 2 days a week till thd funded hours kicked in, then he went 3, 2.5 days of which was fully funded, we paid the extra 0.5 using the government tax free childcare system It's great, you pay £80 in and the government tops it up to £100, then you pay the nursery through that account.

We chose to send DS1 to the feeder nursery fir the local primary school for the whole year before he started. So he went 9-3 all school days. School holidays were a pain, had to take AL, and its worth remembering that most holiday clubs are set up to take primary school kids, so those weren't an option till after he started at school.

Holidays are easier now we have the option of holiday clubs, a local one changes £12 a day which I find reasonable, but we mostly manage with annual leave and swapping shifts.

There are no fixed answers . The fee can be confusing

Go look at a few. Check their times and opening hours

Decide what's best for your family

Ask them what the month invoice will amount to