Private nursery/ school nursery 30 free hours.. Help!

[Firesidetreats1]

So I know I’m ahead of time but my little boy currently goes to private nursery 1 day a week. He won’t be entitled to the 30 free hours until September next year (2022). My local school nursery has a waiting list which we put his name down for when he was born. We weren’t sure we would have to send him to a private nursery however circumstances changed and family members could no longer help. Anyway I’ve been researching and I just wondered if anyone had any clarification...

Can you use the 30 free hours at 2 providers for example the school nursery offers 2 full days which works out to 12 hours and then could we continue to do the rest of the hours at our current private nursery?

Also if the information I read is correct it did also say this..

“However, it is important to bear in mind the impact of multiple providers on a child’s learning, development and wellbeing”

Does anyone know why that would be, it’s made me question using the 2.

You can use both providers. The bit about impact is just thinking about whether it is really beneficial to split time between providers but in your case if the school only provides 2 days it makes sense that people would have to use another provider to bridge the gap.

Why do you want to use two, attendance at a school nursery will not guarantee a reception place there in state sector. I believe you can split hours over settings though.

Children need to feel secure and safe in order to learn (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) having two sets of workers, two physical settings, two sets of rules etc is hard on the children.

Edit* typo that was supposed to say 15 hours not 12*

You can split the hours but I would agree with other posters that it could be very difficult for a lot of children to adjust to/attend two different settings

@Firesidetreats1 I originally wanted this so dc could have 2 long days at private nursery (I could work full days) then 2 or 3 at school nursery (I work less hours and she gets used to the school/ other friends/ teachers etc).

When talking with the school nursery they wouldn't allow it to be split so it was attend there 5 days or none basically.

Currently we are still with private for the sole reason of the full day is covered as are school holidays when I'm working.

One thing I'd say to anyone reading this who looks forward to the day 30 free hours arrives is find out what your nurserys policy is. All seem to charge from £3 a day (school nursery) to £17 (private) for the food! Some class periods of time in the day as 'unfunded' so charge parents for that hour... my brothers dd was having 1 day a week at nursery. She's entitled to 30 free hours, to put their dd in for. 2 days and use the 30 hours free, actually means they'll be spending more even though dd is entitled to 30 hours and she'd only be there for 20

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the replies everyone. Obviously I have a while yet before I decide what to do but my thoughts were he would be settled in the private nursery we currently send him to but the school nursery would give him a feel what for school will be like.

@purplebiscuits how does your dc find going to both? Are they okay at private nursery if they haven’t been in a while?

The school nursery offer 2 days or 5 morning or afternoon session.. my thinking was it would be easier to have full days at each nursery and easier to be able to have a family pick up at the end of the day rather than having to find someone to pick up/ drop off mid day. He could stay in the private nursery but like I said I feel like school nursery would be beneficial. Although if the preferred (full days) are full (there’s limited spaces for this option) then it would be most likely we would keep him at private nursery.

Children can successfully move between 2 settings so long as communication between them and you is good. There may be a variation of rules, learning experiences and preparation for school. Short term problems could be they get frustrated and confused long term gains is they quickly learn different situations require different behaviour.

If it helps my DD must be around the same age as your son and she has been going to two different settings since she was 1 - she's come on splendidly and her development hasn't been hindered whatsoever.