DC (3y/o) is currently at a lovely small nursery 2 days a week. She will be going to primary school next September. Before the summer holidays I debated moving her to the local preschool but the cons seem to outweigh the pros so I left it.
We really love the nursery, she's really comfortable with the staff there and they know her really well as she's been going since 1 years old. Unfortunately, since the year above her started school there are not many 3-year-olds left in the nursery and on one of her days she's the oldest in there by quite a way. I can see she's still having a good time there but she has said sometimes that she doesn't want to go as she finds it boring and even the staff have picked up on her being frustrated.
The nursery manager suggested we switch days so that she comes in with the other 3-year-olds, but even then there's only two more so I'm considering whether it would be more beneficial to move her to a different setting.
I'm looking at two settings: one is a larger daycare with lots of children her age, the other is the local preschool within the primary school - that's a much bigger setting and the youngest ones there are already two and a half, most are 3. Both have a short waiting list for joining in January and the staff members I spoke to seem to think there was a pretty good chance she would get a space. I haven't visited them yet but I've researched and I know people with children at both. Day-to-day activities don't seem to be massively different. Preschool obviously is in that school setting. So if she goes to that school for reception, it might be a nice step in the right direction. The daycare is a bit more outdoorsy (it has a forest school atrach d but they don't use it every day) I think might be more interesting to her but overall, for me, it's the group dynamic that's more important. ( This might sound cocky but I don't think there's anything they do at nursery that we couldn't do at home apart from have lots of other children around lol)
Sorry if this is confusing. I'm pretty stressed with the whole thing at the moment on top of looking at primary schools. I also might be catastrophizing a little I've as I've been unwell the best part of the last month so my head's a bit of a mess but I really want to get this right for my daughter. I keep getting flashbacks to leaving her at nursery when she was one and how hard it was.
I suppose my main questions for the mums here would be:
Would the stress of moving nurseries in general, be worth it for the benefits she might gain in a new setting?
Is this a good step to take or is it unnecessary really as reception bridges the gap between nursery and school? ( I've heard wildly different opinions on this!)
I'm looking round them on the next couple of weeks. Are there any special questions you would ask on terms of getting ready for school.