Another nursery/preschool thread....

[loopyloopster]

Sorry yes it's another one of those....I'm looking for stories from people who didn't send their child to school nurseries/preschools and either jumped straight into reception (having had their children at home with them or part-time at private nursery) - did it work? Good/bad things etc would you have done it differently?

Thanks!

The vast majority of dc don't attend school nurseries - of course it works.

Dd didn't attend school nursery....she went to a private one. Has slotted straight in at reception....loves it.

Most children at our school attended private nurseries as pre schools don't have wraparound care nor are they open school holidays. So really only suit sahm or people with very flexible childc

We went to a private nursery, only by chance really, the pre school we were going to use got a really shocking ofsted report and lots of things came out about bad practise there. They had lots of new staff because of that and we decided to send our Dts to another nursery and found a private one that took the funded goverment hours.
They were lovely, it was smaller than the preschools around us, so quite intimate and personal, all the staff really seemed to care about the dc, they did lots of fun projects about mini beasts etc. the Dts really enjoyed their time there, they had lots of fun, learned loads and made friends. Which is kind of what you want really.

They also did work with them towards getting them ready for school, things I wouldn't have thought about like carrying their plate of food to the table and scraping it in the bin afterwards, I was really surprised when they got up from the dinner table and took their plates through
The only downside is not knowing that many other children who go to reception with them, we were quite lucky in that respect because we had made some friends from play groups that we kept in touch with.

Oh and Dts are doing just fine in reception, I wouldn't have done anything differently.

We did the private nursery thing with DC1 and it was only an issue socially - the children coming from the preschool all seemed to know each other. DC1 managed fine with everything else.

With DC2 I'm doing the preschool route (DC1 in the school means drop-offs are easier, also works out cheaper) and I'm not all that impressed with the preschool TBH (I suppose you get what you pay for) but the other parents all seem happy enough. Maybe because they don't know different?

School nurseries are very different normally from private. Mine both went to private then school. Over 2/3 of reception are from nursery - so yes they all have close mates etc it has taken the new ones a bit longer to settle ( tears etc)

Thanks Everyone - now I think about it obviously lots go to private nurseries then straight to school and settle well - I just happen to be the only one of my friends going down this route (they're all SAHM or have partners/families doing all the childcare) so felt like I was doing something really weird!

Think I will probs just stick with DDs current nursery - not sure I can cope with the stress of a different drop off for DD2, wrap around care and school holiday cover just yet!

Yes stick with current arrangements, you will get 15 free hours during term time per week anyway

School nurseries are not that different from private
They both follow the same curriculum, the EYFS and be doing the same activities with the same learning outcomes

They just tend to be a bit more school like and less cuddly

Think there is a vast difference between Private and school Nurseries. Idea they are less 'cuddly' is completely misleading. The good ones prepare children for Reception with much higher-qualified staff. I was really impressed with how my child became more independent and confident, but it was the close relationship she made with her Key Worker that most impressed me.
Can't believe I am reading that all Nurseries are lumped together.

My DD went to private nursery because we both work and the school nursery didn't suit our hours. To be fair it was more of a pre-school type nursery. It only took children from 2 not babies (she was with a childminder before that).

She is a quiet, shy child and I worried a lot about her fitting in at reception. About 2/3 of the reception kids had gone to the school nursery. As it turned out it made no difference at all. Many of the kids crying the loudest at drop off had actually been to the school nursery! Within a term all the friendship groups had mixed around and there was no 'us and them' at all. It worked out fine.

Now I've changed my work hours and DS is going to the school nursery. (It suits me better to pick them both up at the same time). I can see directly that they are doing exactly the same stuff as DD did at the private nursery. Mostly play a bit of singing, craft stuff, stories etc

We also live in a place where I seem to be in the minority as a working parent but I'm ok with that as I actually like my job and this is the way I want things to be. Definitely don't feel you need to make your life harder so they can go to school nursery. I reckon this is one you really don't need to feel guilty about.

pre schools don't have wraparound care nor are they open school holidays.

Just wanted to say that this isn't always true (although often said as truth on mn!) - the pre-school at ds's school offers wraparound care and is open for all of the holidays.

we stuck with private nursery (the same we'd been using since 15 month old) part-time in the year we could have done preschool instead.
obviously the fact that preschool didn't offer wraparound care to 5:30 or anything at all in the holidays was a big factor, but also the fact that attendance at the preschool doesn't affect your chances of getting a place in reception for that school and I didn't want the potential disruption of having to change settings again only a year later if we didn't get a place at our first choice school

that was a good call, as we ended up at our second choice school (which we've been very happy with) so that was the right decision.

The school nurseries where I am offer wrap around care
They do offer exactly the same as the private nurseries
I know because I've worked in several local private nurseries and have visited allbthw local school nurseries as part of my job
The private nurseries mostly hadqualified tteachers or eyp/eyts working in them
The school nurseries sometimes had teachers that were not specialists in early years
Teaching early years is totally different to teaching older children. You need a hood understanding of child development to meet young children's needs fully
I run a private day nursery and although we only take them from 2 we are not a second choice to the school nurseries.
I do resent the adaption that school nurseries are better just because they areca school nursery
I'm an early years professional, now called early years teacher, and we work really ha d to prepare our children for school

I think it depends on your area, if you know people locally and what is the norm.
DD1 was at private nursery from 3 months to starting P1 (reception).
I moved here at 8 months pregnant, knew no-one locally and worked FT.
In this area 99% of the children do the toddler groups, playgroup, school nursery, school. Even children with working parents use a childminder and so the children still go to the groups and they have fundraisers/events where working parents can get to meet the non-working parents. My DD1 was the only child that hadn't. It was hard.
All the children and parents knew each other and had done for years. It took DD1 a good year or so to settle - she often had no-one to play with at breaks. I struggled as well I had no support network - no-one to phone and say 'I'm stuck in traffic can you grab DD1 for me'. I remember taking her to a class party and all the parents were chatting together and I felt completely left out. It took me a good few years to not feel like the outsider. And I made a real effort. I gradually stopped working about 6 months after she started school - at first I was working from home and although I didn't intend to I put DD1 into a childminder after school for 3 days per week as a child from her class went there too. I made a point of saying hello to parents I vaguely recognised at school drop off/pick up. When they asked for parents to help make Christmas play costumes I volunteered.
With DD2 I was a SAHM and I did every group and got involved. She has found it much easier and so have I - I know every child and their parents in her class - I have a fantastic support network. The one child who started from private nursery in P1 in DD2s year the parent had taken them to the toddlers group whilst on her maternity leave and made an effort to stay in touch, invite children to her DCs birthday parties etc.

The school nurseries near us all offer wrap round 8-6 and holiday clubs