Move to school nursery or leave it until starting primary school?

[RhubarbCrumble12345]

Hi, looking for advice from anyone who has done either of these options.
Currently looking at a new house half an hour from where we currently live. DC is 4 and currently in private nursery three days a week using the government funded hours so no cost for us as I'm a teacher and go term time anyway.
I am debating moving DC to his potential new school nursery from the January term so that he knows people before starting primary school or should I leave him in his current private nursery? Would it be traumatic to take him out at this point, he does love his friends. Argh I can't decide...

Thanks for any advice.

is there potential to do part of each? We did one day with our CM, 2 days at preschool

@LeopardPrintIsNeutral Oh I hadn't even thought of that! Is that easy enough to arrange? That does seem like an easier way.

Are you guaranteed a spot at that school, based on admissions criteria? Most of the time, attending the nursery doesn’t give you any advantage so I’d check that he definitely would get into that school first.

If there’s any risk at all that you won’t get in (ie it’s usually oversubscribed and you don’t live very, very close) then I wouldn’t risk uprooting him for that.

We live 5 minutes away from the village school and three people on our street didn’t get in (tiny school). They’d sent their kids to the preschool with the same logic as you, so were doubly gutted.

We didn't move our dc1 to the school nursery and I think she would have benefited if we had - about half the class came from the school nursery and they had a bit more confidence and closer friendships from the start. OTOH she stayed in a day nursery which was open almost all year round, so we didn't have to worry about childcare over the summer, and they had longer hours. We will move dc2 into the school nursery but it makes more sense with 2 dcs, to get both dcs into the same school as early as possible.

We did this and it was great. Kids at that age are generally quite resilient to change and the seamless move to reception was amazing. If you know you’ll definitely get a place at the school/definitely move then you could buy a 30 min commute for preschool seems like a lot and a pain to get to if your child is sick during the day or has a mid morning activity parents go to etc. if you’d already moved, and it wasn’t a mission- I’d do it but considering the distance I probably wouldn’t.

About 50% of the children in my DCs reception class went to the school nursery (including my DC). I think that it was an easier transition for these children because they already had some friends but also were familiar with the processes, uniform, building etc. I did notice that the first few 5th birthday parties did mostly involve those children who had been at the school nursery as they were already friends.
Having said that - as we near the end of reception, looking at the children now you wouldn't know who was at the nursery and who wasn't. Children do make friends and settle in fast and no one is left out. Because it was 50:50ish those who were new to the school weren't in he minority and they all mixed fairly quickly. I think perhaps if much more than 50% of the reception intake are at the nursery it might change the dynamics.

If it was me, I would send him to the school nursery if there's a space. We ran into a child from his childminder (from before school nursery) a few months ago and DC barely remembered him. You mentioned that your son has friends at his current settling but, unless you put a lot of effort into maintaining those friendships, they will fade pretty fast, and the lasting friendships will be those made at school since he will be with those children for years

I would leave him where he is unless travel is an issue. I moved my youngest in February before starting school, had no choice as moved 2 hours away, and it was fine. But he would have been happier and more settled in his old nursery. Also even though he went to the village preschool those last 6 months, only 1 child actually ended up in the village primary with him. It’s a sought after preschool so children come from quite far to go there. Most of his friends when he started reception weren’t in preschool at all. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't think it's possible to split the free hours across 2 providers.

If he's 100% guaranteed a place at that school then I'd probably move him, subject to the below.

Schools are not allowed to give any admissions preference to children in their attached nursery so if there is any possibility that he might be assigned to a different school I would keep him where he is to avoid 2 setting changes close together.

My caution aboit moving him if he's definitely going to that school is that you might have less flexibility for settling into reception which can be a nightmare for parents who are teachers because you are expected to be at work full time and the Reception class is often a part-time timetable for the first few weeks. One way to deal with that is by keeping a nursery place until the school is running reception classes full time, and the school nursery is unlike to facilitate that. but if you have another solution eg will be allowed parental leave or have grandparents on-call, then that's not a worry.