Pre-School Funded Sessions

[ELewis1977]

Was looking for some advice from other parents/pre-school teachers for my partner.

I commute to work each day so am not avialalbe to help with school-runs.

My son attends a pre-school for 5 x 3 hours sessions those which are funded.

We recently moved home and could not get him a space in the local pre-school so are on the waiting list but my daughter now attends the local school whilst my Son still goes to his pre-school which is a bus journey away.

My partner does not drive so this now means my Son is now late for his morning sesssion and she also needs to pick him up early to ensure she can get to school for my daughter.

As of today the pre-school have said that they believe funding would be removed if auditted because he is not attending the full 3 hour sessions and that with no pre-notice I might be expected to pay all backdated sesssions.

We are left with a difficult choice we have no option to do both drop-off and our daughter cannot be late for school so what option do we have other than to remove my son from pre-school until a space comes up locally.

Is it really the case that circumstance such as this would not be taken into consideration if funding was removed?

Does a child really have to attend a full session for the funding to be claimed?

At present our only options seesm to be to remove my son from pre-school until a local space becomes available.

Any advice or thoughts appreciated

Ewen

Thanks very much for the response that helps massively.

Hi. Unfortunately many nurseries are having to turn away qualifying 'free' entitlement aged children (by saying they are full) due to the sad fact that the government seriously underfund nurseries and have banned them from charging top ups to cover the cost of a session. All nurseries in the south east and London would lose approximately one third of the fee to cover the cost so it is cheaper for them to not take on a free entitlent child! Sorry to tell you this but the government have been saying it is free when in fact it is the nurseries who are subsidising this policy. Many are closing down as they have been make bankrupt by the inability to charge top ups to cover their costs. Some nurseries are withdawing from the scheme altogether. See the free childcare campaign and related news articles for more information and as recently highlighted on BBC news. Parents need to be made aware of this damaging policy. Many good and outstanding nurseries are being forced to run on basic funds which do not equal quality. Sorry to tell you this news. Check out the campaign.

Very true milly44, I completely agree. It's almost as if they are actually trying to drive standards down!

Thanks jade80. Yes completely. How can a private outstanding full daycare setting based in London be expected to operate on the same hourly funding as a maintained nursery school in the north of country without the ability to charge top ups to cover their costs! Ridiculous isn't it!! As you say, doesn't quite equal quality, does it?

Hi my son is 2years old and my husband works we are on a lowe income and all my friends with 2yaer olds are allready going to preschool and my son is left with no one to play with but thay are all on benfits and i feel that my son is going to be behind when he starts school next september as he does not go to a preschool as we cannot aford it he is very lively and is so bord of staying at home allday what can we do?Thanks Moonysmum

Moonysmum. Try applying for a pre school attached to a school. You can get 15 hours free each week. Don't apply to a private pre school as they are not funded enough by the government and would charge extras. Try your local authority who can give you a list of all the maintained pre schools in your area. Most will be over subscribed so apply now to avoid disappointment. Good luck and try not to worry.

Sorry moonysmum. Just noticed you said your ds only 2 and funding for two year olds not in place yet. Speak to local authority still as there are some pilot schemes for 2 year olds and free 15 hours in some parts of the country. Good luck and sorry didn't notice age to start with.

Thanks milly44 i have a 6month old to so he may have better look going to a preschool thanks and ill look in to it Thanks again moonysmum