Preschool Provider - Local Community or Nursery

[VandaMissJoaquim]

Hi,
My 4 yrs old daughter attends the nursery for 5 days and naturally also had her preschool education provided by the nursery. My friend's daughter had 3 hours preschool session at her local community school everyday 5 days a week. By comparing notes, the preschool sessions provided by the local community school seem to be more engaging than the sessions provided by the nursery. For example during the various festivals, my friend said her daughter's preschool would organise activities/play, dress up and have decorations for the festival and parents are often asked to be involved. On the other hand, my daughter's preschool provider (i.e. the nursery) seem to be 'quiet', at least we have never been invited to see a play. :( I now wonder if I should find another preschool provider for my daughter. Has anyone got any experience or advice to share, please?

IME preschool is a bit more like 'school' in general outlook, although very much about learning through play.

Whereas nursery tends to be more for childcare so I would expect parents may well be at work and not able to attend stuff.

If you child is attending a 3 hour session you barely get chance to drop them off, go home to do some house/drink tea/buy crap on Amazon/watch This Morning before it is time to collect them again

I would go state preschool every time. They are better resources, staff are better qualified and seem to be enthusiastic and committed.

But - how do you think your DD would react to the move?

My children attend a community prechool and it is fab, they love it. But it wouldn't work as 'childcare' as such, as they close for school holidays and have short opening hours.

Do you need her to attend for childcare reasons or is it more for education/socialising or a break like for us

I share the childcare with DH as we both do shiftwork so it works well for us and the children though.