Nursery vs childminder for 3 year old

[MargeS]

My daughter (3.2 yo) is currently at a marvellous childminders for 3 days a week and at a local nursery 1 day a week (the childminder has stopped working Fris so had to find her somewhere else, not our choice). She loves the childminders, there are 3 co-childminders and loads of children and they go somewhere every day. The nursery on the other hand is run along the lines of reception with meals at the same time as school and broadly the same timings for activities. As she only goes one day a week it has taken her a while to settle at nursery and she prefers the childminder. But I am not sure whether to keep things as they are or to change her full-time to the nursery in preparation for reception next Sept.

Sorry for the long life story! Hope to get some tips.

If she's happy and enjoys her time I would be inclined to keep her at the childminders. I wouldn't change just for the sake of preparing DD for reception - she'll have years of this more rigid environment ahead of her. Leave her out of it for as long as possible I say.

Thanks standingroom, I think you're right. She's a happy, confident, sociable child and I think she'll be fine when she does finally go to school. There are so many decisions to make with childcare that it's hard not to agonise over what the right thing to do is.

Our kids had loads of differnet nurseries, nannies, childminder arrangements as we moved a lot and the childminder was by far the best, she really liked my kids, and was like another mum to them.

Nurseries are often pretty good but my ds2 didn't like the fact that there were loads of kids there, the workers were forever changing and he much preferred a homely environment.

So if I were you I'd keep your dd with the CM.