Would you give your child a holiday from nursery before reception?

[wishIwasonholiday10]

Would you give your child a holiday from nursery before reception and how long
for? It’s a private nursery so no summer holiday like she would have at a school nursery. I am on maternity leave so not an issue with work but I really appreciate the 3 days DD1 is at nursery as I struggle with both together (DD2 has had feeding problems and reflux making the first months tricky) and like to give DD2 some of the time 1:1 time DD1 had. I don’t drive so we are only likely to be doing local things like playgrounds, library, playing in the garden, pottering at home etc. if anyone has been in the same situation what did you do? We may also do a family trip at some point but it’s unlikely to be for very long due to lack of funds.

If she enjoys nursery I'd keep sending her unless you have something planned.

I didnt, but I needed the childcare to go to work!

Totally your call! If you can afford it, and both of you (all 3 of you) benifit, stay with it.

If you fancy a couple of weeks all together, do it.

Just check with the nursery if she’s in the preschool room because my granddaughter’s nursery finished a week before the school term began. She was full time so not subject to school holidays. They explained that it was for them to get ready for the next group. I don’t know whether it’s just something that’s particular to that nursery or something that other places do. Worth checking so you don’t get caught out

I’d keep things as normal as possible. It probably isn’t as much of a holiday as you think just being home with mum and your baby sibling, especially when you already do that 4 days a week.

What a would do is go on an actual little term time holiday early in summer before schools break up to make the most of the last time you’ll be able to do that.

But no, both of mine stayed in nursery as normal until school started.

With both of mine we had a week holiday or 5 days.
Save the weeks nursery fees.

I'm Scotland so the funding might be different, council nursery funding could only run from August to July, so first couple of weeks in August were full fees, no reduction, with school starting around the 15th.

With dc1 I did but because there was a week between when dc had to stop going to nursery and starting school (so we went on our summer holiday that week).
With dt I didn't because of the logistics of 3dc in holiday care. I finished them at the end of term in july and they went to summer holiday club with older sibling so they could get used to it over 6 weeks (rather than just a week in October half term).
I think do what ever you thinks best for all of you. Also factor in the fact that school might be a staggered start, nursery will probably have a last day dc1 can attend till but school may have techer training days or other reasons why term starts later.

I did give ds a month ‘off’ but just to save on fees! I’m a teacher so don’t need to send over the holidays but I really miss the couple of days a week I used to get to myself. Now I send dd in the holidays for two days so I can have some time with just ds.

I took a week off before DD started school and planned some fun activities. Also gave us a chance to prep for school. We did a few bits together like label her clothes, pick a school bag. So school was at the forefront of her mind.

I know a few who just went straight from nursery to school. But not many.

Nope. Dd had 2 weeks between nursery and start of school as staggered start and she was summer born.

She was school ready at end of August but had regressed by 10th sept.

I took a two week break at the end of August so DS had time between nursery ending and school starting. Felt it gave him a break and us time to do stuff. I know some who finish nursery one day and start school the next which much be tough.

My ds was nursery 2 days a week and had 1 day with my mum and one day with his dad. I don't work a Wednesday. He finished nursery on the Thursday, day with dad on Friday and started school on the Monday.

Thanks all for your thoughts. Maybe just a small break of a week then. I don’t think nursery closes as some of the kids in the preschool room are not starting school this year. Not sure about staggered starts for school yet.

Interesting what you say about school readiness @mogtheexcellent . My child is also summer born and I do think the nursery routine is good for getting her ready for school.

We would love to do a final term time holiday but it’s bad timing this year as I’m waiting to hear about a possible redundancy in June and it would be irresponsible to book a holiday before I know about that.

I would be checking staggered starts, some schools seem to do it over a huge number of weeks.

DS’s only did half days for the first three days as started on a Wednesday and then full time from the following Monday

DS1 was in till the last Friday in August, had two days off and started school straight after. I'd just gone back to work after mat leave and had two weeks of staggered starts and no access to wrap-around care to deal with so ran out of leave. He was fine. They're just playing all day, it's not a hardship!

With DS he had one week as his nursery shut then ( I’m not sure why but it was a small nursery so maybe it helped with staff holidays).
With DD it was a bit funny anyway as she finished in 2020, but ended up with 3 weeks off as we were going on holiday ( just in the UK) and didn’t want to pay for the week we were away for the sake of 1-2 weeks.