your opinion please - do we need to go to nursery again?

[Elenus]

Dear mums, need your opinion please

I have 3,6 year old twins – DD and DS

kids were in nursery full time for a year, between 1,3 and 2,3, but I had to take them and hire a nanny – my son was constantly ill and it resulted in 3 hospital admissions, one in ICU room with pneumonia. They stay with nanny full time for a year now and everybody is quite happy. She is very active – doing letters, numbers, gym, playgroups – can’t complain

They are due to start pre-school in September 2014, and we are thinking – do they really need to go the a nursery again prior to going to a “BIG” school, so school won’t come as a big shock? I’m very anxious and do not want them to go anywhere near nursery, unfortunately we’d been very unlucky with our nursery. Although, my son is on constant medications to reduce the chances to get pneumonia again, my heart stops when I think about hospitals.

The real problem is – DS is a very quiet type, he is not comfortable around other kids – until he gets to know them. When in playgroup – he is constantly checking if nanny is around.
I hope you can see where my dilemma is:)

I know you can’t say what is best for our family, but will be appreciate any opinion on the matter

They don't have to go if you don't want them to. If you think school will be too much of a shock at age 4/5, then why would you put them through it any earlier at nursery?

There is quite a difference between full time nursery and a couple of preschool sessions every week. From what you say your children could benefit from some activities with other kids. I would check out a few preschools to find one I was happy with and just get them to attend a couple of morning or afternoon sessions per week. Some preschools also run sessions where a carer can attend as well, maybe that would be a good way to start? If you or the children don't like it you can always stop.

I think that if at that age and if its just the 15 hours a week it would be good for them - its a good prep for school and children tend to be healthier at 3 than 2

We have quite a few nannies that bring their charges to us for a few sessions each week (small preschool 2-4 years olds only) None of them do the full 15 hours though, mainly just 2/3 sessions per week, with the aim to meet and socialise with other local children.

Is it worth speaking to your GP to ask their opinion from a medical point of you. Your child is likely to pick up bugs and germs when they start at school in Reception even if you don't send them to pre-school so you might want to start thinking about it.

I agree with some previous posters that 2 or 3 sessions a week might be a nice, gentle introduction and transition to Reception.

Looking at their ages, do you mean that they are going to start Reception in September 2014? Will they be 4 before the end of August this year?

thanks for all the answers, girls, made some things clearer in my head

yes, they due to start reception on sept 2014, not pre-school, sorry :)would ideally like to postpone the whole school thing until at least 5 y.o (in our home country school starts at 7-8!), but in this case we will need to go private, which we can't afford currently
Docs have mixed opinions, "wait and see" is the main one, which is not really helpful. They say socializing is very important, but DS has DD as a playmate and they have another set of twins to play with regularly

thanks again

I think that they would benefit from going somewhere before school.
Otherwise starting school is going to be traumatic, which could mean that they take longer to settle and affect their learning.
Why not put them in to a pre-school for the funded hours?
They could do 3 hours a day, which will be a good introduction and a practice for starting big school.