Nursery - do I keep my DS where he is or move him?

[KittKat81]

Hi, new to all this posting so forgive if I make mistakes on here - just thought I'd ask for some advice from other mums maybe in a similar situation to me.

I'm a single mum, nearly 30 and after having my first child I decided to return to full time education. My ds is currently in a private nursery attatched to the college I'm at but my course is due to finish in June. I'm very lucky to have managed to get his nursery place fully funded this year (I'm in my 2nd year of course) but he's since turned 4 in March and he isn't allowed to start Primary 1 until next August in 2012 due to his birthday being a few days outside the closing date for this years enrollment!

I live at the edge of a council estate and the catchment school in my area isn't very good plus I've had run-in's with some of the parents and children there already so I really don't want him to end up going there. Not trying to be snobby or anything I just want my ds to have a good education and be happy and sociable, which he is already and if you'd heard the language and seen how some of the children behave there you'd understand, theres children the same age as him wandering about the streets at 6-7pm at night with older ones and sometimes alone when they should be at home getting dinner and getting ready for bed.

My dilema is I know he's going to be entitled to some free sessions (2 & 1/2 per week?) at nursery once my course finishes but should I try and keep him at the private nursery he's settled in at until he's 5 and just apply for an out of catchment primary school in 2012?

or

should I try & move him after my course finishes in June to a out of catchment primary school with an attatched nursery in the hope that if he gets in there, he might be considered for the primary 1 intake next August?

I dont think going to the attached nursery will go towards entry to the Primary school so if he is happy where he is I would leave him there. You can then do your placing request for the primary school you want him to go to. (we currently get 5 x 2.5hrs free nursery per week for ds)

Firstly, my dd1's birthday is also the 4th March, depending on his development you could appeal to have him taken this year. Also, I know from experience being at the attached nursery does not in any way go towards the primary intake (unless you have other circumstances) that you would be able to use in appeal. This happened with dd1 who I didn't put to school early but waited until her due date. Like you my catchment school was terrible and though she had been at the school nursery this went in n.o way to her getting into the school. I did however appeal with this and other family circumstances and sucessfully won her a place. The other thing you could bare in mind is that I was advised that nursery's attached to a school went further with educational games/learning than private nurseries. Hope this helps.

Any chance you can move closer to a primary which you would like your dc to go to?

Where we are, it is actually easier to get into out of catchment school nursery place than a school place. Several of my friend's children have gone to school nurseries which they HOPED their child would get into for proper school. For one they got into that school, the others did not - but at least had a great time at a good school nursery.

Why not try and get him into the nursery of the school you plan on putting as your first choice? It won't actually help you get a place there, but if he does happen to get a place there, then it will help him that he's moving up with other kids/ friends he already knows.

Depending on where you are it might not be that difficult to get your DS into an out of catchment school - you should be able to get figures from your local council on the proportion of placing requests that are successful.