To move from nursery - preschool - then different school?

[Peanutbutterislife]

Hello! Hoping for some advice.
DS1 at nursery (he started at 10 months and now nearly 3). We’ve got a place at the local pre-school and it’s much better than the preschool in his nursery so we’re going to move him. BUT he’ll be going to another primary school altogether (not the one attached to his preschool) because basically if he doesn’t go there at 4 he won’t get in at 11….

worried it’s a lot of change, two Septembers in a row? Or is this age quite resilient?

thank you :)

Too many variables to answer your question. Depends on the child - some would be fine others won't. Depends on the settings - how well do they manage change and transitions? I'm also assuming that you know you will get a place at your preferred school given you're making all these plans - and how well do they deal with pupils from a variety of settings? Is there a pre school attached to that school which they could go to? Where do all the other kids go before? Some of this might make a difference to your child, some children thrive better knowing people already at school. For others it doesn't make a difference.

Loads of people do this where I live. Day nursery as babies. School nursery for 3-4. Then another school for reception because that’s the school they really wanted and it doesn’t have a nursery. A year is forever at that age, so it won’t seem to them like they’re moving a lot, going up to reception is always going to be a transition anyway and with school nurseries they’re off all summer anyway so there’s always going to be a degree of resettling in September.

We’re doing it slightly differently but DS still will have been to 4 nurseries before he gets to reception- there was the one he went to as a baby but we weren’t happy with it so he moved to a preschool at 2, they closed so he started this Sept at a school nursery in their 2-3s class, then he’ll go to the preschool class of his future school in Sept before moving onto reception there (they don’t take them younger so it was the soonest he could join). Touch wood for September but so far he‘s always settled really easily and I’m not worried.

@BugsyDrakeTableScape thanks so much for your reply. Yes you’re right so many variables! Basically the preschool we’ve chosen is a 10 min walk, whereas the school is a 35 min drive. So we just thought save doing that for an extra year. But really good points and I will definitely consider them all.

@InTheRainOnATrain thank you so much! That’s really comforting to know how you handled it and that it’s all been fine for your little one I’m glad to hear that. Very true about a year being a long time that was one of the points I considered when applying to the preschool, and I’m just hoping if we communicate throughout the year that he’ll be going to a different big school he’ll just accept that. He is quite a strong little chap so I’m just hoping he’ll make friends wherever he goes (fully expecting a tough few weeks but that’s normal). All these decisions for parents!!!