Did anyone move their autumn-born DC from nursery to pre-school for the final year before reception?

[AnonSoc]

Thinking ahead somewhat (I have a November born DS, who is currently 2.5).

He really enjoys playing with older kids at his nursery (4 year olds, who will be leaving in September) and it has made me worried that he is going to be very bored in his final year of nursery, when most children will be younger than him.

I am wondering if it would be better to move him to the pre-school attached to our local primary (which only takes 3 and 4 year olds), for the year before he starts school.

Did anyone else do this, or is it not worth the hassle of having to deal with school holidays a year before I need to?

Same as you I have a November born and I didn't even think about moving him. Mostly because of work but also we weren't sure which school he was going to.

If you are very sure of getting into the school so he would be meeting lots of future classmates and they would then make up a large proportion of the reception class then it might be worth it.

My DD was 4 last October and has been in the preschool room at her nursery since the start of the academic year. All the children in her room will be going to school in September. I think this is a pretty common set up. There is an early years curriculum that is followed in all settings so activities will be appropriate for his age group and stage of development. My DD hasn't been bored, quite the opposite. Two of her 'best' friends have summer birthdays so the social side has been fine. Personally I think you would be mad to start dealing with finding childcare in school holidays unless you have to (I am not looking forward to it!)

The school is 400 metres away from our house and all the admissions data for previous years indicates that the final child offered a place is always much further away.

His current nursery is quite small, so they have a baby room and a 2-4s room. There isn't a separate preschool room.

Yes we did - definitely worth it DD would have gone demented with another year in Butterflies and it was a great intro to the routine of the school day. DS was already in school so we were already dealing with holidays.

I didn't move my September born first DC. It didn't occur to me, as logistics would have been a nightmare with DC2 at nursery still, plus holidays to manage somehow.

I was on mat leave with DC3 when no. 1 started school and I did move summer born DC2 to the nursery then. Mostly for one school run, but also so DC2 could settle in a bit before starting school as a just turned 4 year old. With older sibling there I knew DC2 would definitely be going to that Reception so seemed worth it.

Regardless of birthday I would personally lean towards a pre school for the year before school. Our nursery has a separate pre school building and garden, so DD1 went there, and DD2 will as well. But because it was a pre school attached to a nursery, they did have the option to either be just term time or full time. The holidays would have been a hassle to cover and that would potentially sway me the other way.

I'm contemplating the same for my October 2.5 yr old. Problem for us is it's school hours only with no wraparound etc for the preschool class so I think it's likely she will stay at private nursery until reception. I don't have holidays to worry about (teacher) though. Plus I wondered if it would be two lots of transition in quick succession, and out nursery does a lot of external stuff with the preschool group.

I'm still torn though, eldest went to the school preschool and then into reception at the same place so essentially just moved a bit down the corridor!

Agree with @FusionChefGeoff, I moved dd from a private nursery to a school nursery, she too would have gone stir crazy another year at nursery, being one of the oldest, etc, and she absolutely loved it.
Got used to 'school' routines etc and meant she was raring to go when it got to reception, absolutely no issues settling in etc, whereas the other children (and tbh there were only a handful left at the private nursery) really struggled.

I'm in Ireland so obviously a different system but surely regardless of where he is they follow an age appropriate programme for the children so they shouldn't be bored.

Apologies I just saw that there isn't a separate pre school section. In that case I'd definitely move him

The issue is that it's a small nursery where 2-4s are all in the same room. There are only 25 kids in that room, so by the time he is 4 he will be the oldest and there will only be a couple of children his age.

Regardless of whether the curriculum meets his needs, I think being with mainly younger kids for a whole year will lead to him being extremely bored.

If he was in a bigger nursery with a separate preschool room, then I probably wouldn't be contemplating the switch.

Yep, one November born and one September born. It worked really well for us. A lot of holiday clubs here take from 4.5 so the summer holidays weren't a huge problem

I moved my daughter from a childminder to preschool with the thought it would make the transition to school easier. Our childminder still does wrap around care on her pre school days and some weeks of the school holidays which does help.

Yes we did for our December born. It really worked to his benefit.

We’re moving November-born DD from nursery to preschool in September.

Her nursery has a preschool room on the same site as a primary school (and she’s already been in that room for almost a year, since just before she turned 3). However it’s not the school she’ll be attending (it’s a couple of villages over from us, about a 10-15 min drive). DS is already at school in the nearest village to us, so she is moving to the preschool opposite. It will give her the opportunity to meet some of her reception cohort ahead of time and makes drop off/pick ups easier as they’ll be in the same place.

Going from private nursery to preschool means she’ll no longer be getting a hot lunch, and we don’t have the option to top up her funded hours with paid sessions. Plus we’ll have two to juggle in the holidays rather than one. However, the private nursery hasn’t really impressed me recently (poor staffing meaning they’ve had to close on a handful of days, some policies that seem overzealous, a number of senior staff leaving…) so it has just stopped being worth all the extra driving.

It’s definitely not an easy choice to make is what I think this little rant was trying to illustrate 😂

Yes we did for our eldest who thrived. Decided against it for my youngest who it just wouldn't suit. We could tell wasn't ready for a school based setting at that age. Sounds like you know your own child well and think they will benefit? Go with your gut.

I did.
Well, moved mine to a Stand alone Nursery School, but I didn't have the holidays to think about as I was teaching at the time.

It saved me money in that I just needed a Childminder for wraparound care rather than full time hours I would have been paying for at Nursery.

It also suited them and did seem a better transition for school for them.

That isn't the case in all Nurseries, but it seems it is for you, in your case.

I didn't with my November born because she had a new baby sibling who was due a few months later and I felt it was too much change plus the afternoon school club didn't offer wrap around care for nursery then. I did move my March born and really noticed a difference in his social and school readiness skills. I had loved the private ursery and they had a preschool room but there were only about 6 kids most days and they didn't have as many facilities/activities that the school nursery/preschool offered. If you can move them to the school provision then I'd definitely take it. My March baby was much more ready to start Reception than my November born and had a group of friends rather than being the new kid.

Nope. I've kept my September born exactly where she was. She's the eldest in her nursery, and is very happy.

If you're fine with the hours and holidays, then go for it. But I saw no reason to trouble myself with that ahead of when I have to. Where I am, most holiday clubs stipulate that while they do take from 4, they have to be in reception to do so. Nursery have been working on school readiness for a while as well. We will be working on the morning routine over the summer once we've bought her uniform.

Yes I did this with both my winter baby and my late summer baby, who started school nursery at just turned 3! I thought it was the done thing tbh; didn’t realise a lot of ppl didn’t do this.

Both kids have absolutely thrived, they weee much better prepared for reception and had established friendships. It cost me a lot more money as they needed to be in full time so they did school nursery on the AM and private nursery on the PM, keeping them in private and utilising the funding for that would have been way more cost effective, but I made the right choice

Most school based preschools in our area only offer school day hours. Will that work for you? So 9-3.

@Zonder , there is an after school club attached to both the primary and pre school, which takes 3-year olds, so we'd have wraparound if we switched.

Tbh I'd switch. Pre school has done wonders for my DC who will be starting reception in September. He is much better prepared than his two older brothers and I have no worries about the transition for him. Our pre school is attached to the main school he's going to and they are very much a part of the school. The teachers, school layout etc are all familiar to him. They even wear uniform (albeit a comfier version). Learning-wise he's also further ahead than my other two were when they just attended nursery pre school particularly with counting, writing and letter/number recognition. The staff swap between nursery and reception each year so they have a thorough understanding of what the kids will be doing in reception and prep them accordingly. Not saying standalone nurseries with pre schools doesn't do this but in your situation, with an older child, I'd definitely recommend the move.

Thanks everyone, I think this is definitely swaying me towards moving him.