Big difference between Preschool and nursery - normal?

[jumpyjan]

DD has been going to nursery 3 days a week since she was 1 whilst I am at work.

As she will be starting school in Sept 11 we though perhaps she should go to preschool on one of those days instead. Because of work she does a whole day with the breakfast/ afterschool clubs too.

She has been 3 times and whilst it is clear that she loves it I have some reservations.

The girls at the nursery are lovely and very softly spoken whilst at the preschool they are a bit more abrupt. When I pick her up I get no feedback on what she has been doing whereas nursery give loads of feedback. They might say things that the whole group has done if I prod them a bit but they don't say anything specific about her day.

Also she does not seem to know what anyone is called which worries me a bit. She is confident and a good mixer so I am not worried about that but for her not to know what any of the adults are called concerns me.

Also I get the impression that they are left to go to the loo on their own a lot and there are older boys around during the after school club so not sure that is right.

We are thinking of phoning them tomorrow to have a chat.

Has anyone else had similar experiences - do they just get treated as older children at preschool?

I've had a similar experience to you as well. I think the pre-school treats the children more as "almost school" children so expects them to have a greater degree of independence, whereas a day nursery is more likely to treat them as "a bit bigger than toddlers". That said, I found that day nurseries DO move to treating them as more grown up over the year (and telling you much less about what they've been doing), it's just not the huge jump that you've experienced! Also the day nursery may have higher staff/child ratio.

I also think the day nursery setup is more cohesive in terms of being organised round the children being there all day whereas the breakfast/pre-school/after school is almost like your child doing 3 different (or even 5 if the pre-school differentiates between morning/lunch/afternoon) sessions - there may well be different staff for each one.

My DD has just started Reception and is apparently still unaware of the names of 2 members of staff in her class (and I've told her the names frequently so it's not that she's not been told) and that is after 4 weeks of going!! So I wouldn't worry about her not remembering names after 3 days.

Thanks Redsky - interesting to hear of your experiences which do sound similar.

I think the ratio's are different at the preschool which is probably part of it. Thats interesting what you say about your DD not remembering teachers names - perhaps that is more normal than I thought. I was just a bit worried that she hadn't been properly settled in and introduced etc.

Its a tricky one as I do think I need to have a chat with them but don't want it to sound like a complaint as even when she starts school we would need to use them for the after hours club so want to keep a good relationship.

I guess at the nursery they are very fond of her as they have known her for such a long time and at the preschool she is just another child in the crowd.