Nursery funding - can you split placements?

[StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou]

DS attends a school nursery for 5 mornings a week.

I want him take him out for two sessions so he can attend a different nursery.

Is this doable?

Do I have to get it all in place by half term or can I do it at any time?

I've done it (but from the start of the funding so not sure about the timing Q) though I remember that it would have been more tricky (not possible?) if one was an LEA funded nursery. Luckily ours is not, even though it is on the school site/uses school facilities etc, it is actually run 'privately' (not for profit) not by the LEA.

Yeah, one is a school LEA funded one.

Hmmm. Tricky. I understood that funding was like tax credits and claimed back, rather than given in advance?

Anyone know if that is true?

From this year the new 15 hour entitlement has kicked in, along with a new funding system.

Payment is based on the actual number of children on roll on a set day in the term (census day).

I'm the business manager of a committee run setting and in our LA the funding is given termly.

You are entitled to use the 15 hours however you want. BUT it is up to the setting as to whether or not they will let you take up a 'part time' place.

In school nurseries you are unlikely to get a 2 or 3 day place as traditionally they've been run like 'proper' school and the place is for all 5 days or not at all.

In a PVI (Private, Voluntary or Independent)setting you are more likely to be able to select you sessions and split your hours over two settings.

If you are able to split the hours your DC will need to be enrolled in the setting in time for census day.

You can now split hours between LEA Nursery Units and other settings (since Sept 2010) but (in our county anymore) you can only do so via the parental contract signed for each calendar funding block (ie the old three terms of Autumn Spring and Summer.

The funding is paid to the settings directly depending on the children enrolled on a given day (called Head Count Day) a couple of weeks into each (full) term. There is an advance payment the nurseries can get by doing a "best guess" the term before and this is taken into account when the setting claims for its children at the actual time. It just helps us with cash flow.

The funding is paid directly from the County Council to each setting.

In the past if children on our register have changed settings mid term we have arranged to ay the other setting the money received by us but there is no obligation to do so.

Hope this helps.

sorry TB - cross post!

Oh thank you. That is really helpful.

I'll call admissions and ask when their census days are. I'll also ask them how many on the waiting list for the nursery ds is in (I suspect none) so that won't be able to be used against the arrangement.

This very much depends on your LA.

Lots of LA's allow funding to be split between Maintained (school) and Non-Maintained Sector settings but plently (including mine!) will not.

It's all to do with how the children are funded ie. two different pots of money.

Ring your Early Years team and they should be able to tell you more

So your school nursery will 'allow' you to do this? I've spoken to a couple recently that insist on all 15 hours with them.