Are pre-schools attached to schools a better option than those which aren’t?

[Peebleneeb]

Hi,

Really hoping for some advice or guidance from mums who have older children and have been through the nursery/preschool/school transition!

I’m a first time mum with a 3 year old little girl due to start primary school in Sept 2026. She has been going to a private nursery 3 days a week (on a farm with 15 kids max and 4 staff) since she was 11 months old. She loves it there (despite still crying at drop off she is always happy at pick up)! She is a very shy character when she doesn’t know people and struggles with separation anxiety. She was also born very premature which means she may need extra support at school age (no problems or SEN support needed at the moment though). The issue is that I made a classic first time mum mistake and didn’t realise I ought to look for a nursery that caters for preschool age too- but didn’t know that was a thing. So her current nursery have said she needs to start pre-school (elsewhere as they only take up to age 3) from September.

We have been looking for a while and whittled down our local preschools to two options- one is a pre-school within a primary school (let’s call this option 1); and the other is another private nursery (option 2)- that takes preschool age children. They are both brilliant and small close tight knit feel with outdoors activities/garden too which we feel is important as we live in a rural area.

The differences are where I’m struggling… Our daughter definitely seemed more comfortable when we visited option 1 as she sat down and painted. But option 1 is term time only (option of holiday club but at another preschool nearby). Option 1 however does mean she would have less change within the next two years as she would move to preschool and then up to reception in the same school grounds - if she is given a place- which according to the schools admission policy is more likely as children that attend the preschool are given a level of priority. The teacher told me 9/10 students get a place at the primary school but honestly who really knows.

Then option 2 is the same “brand” of nursery she’s at now- so maybe more similar in schedule. But it’s a totally new setting and they haven’t got a school attached so no potential there in lessening the amount of change/transition. But option 2 offers year round cover (excluding 1 week at Christmas and bank hols)- which is fab.

We are really torn- especially as option 1 has only so far guaranteed that she has a place 2 out of the 3 days we asked for (but she is 1st on waiting list for the 3rd day- so that could come up at any point and we could make do with grandparent cover til then or do one day at option 2 but then that feels messy!) Option 2 has already guaranteed all 3 days. No difference cost wise either.

How the heck do mums and dads make these decisions? It feels such a big choice and I don’t want to pick wrong.

What would you do? Help!

Thank you

You’ve named your daughter so should ask for that to be altered.

It would be option2 for me assuming you both work. Juggling the level of school holidays this early is a pain in the rear. I’m amazed option1 doesn’t cover at least some of the holidays.

Mine is at a school preschool as I want him to get to know the kids he'll be moving up with. This was more important to me than the routine, although that's helpful too. Does the school preschool do full days? As ours is only three hours in the morning and then they have very limited provision in the attached nursery (75 kids in school preschool, 25 of all ages in nursery). If you can sort the holiday care I'd go for the school, but if not then your decision is made for you.

Thanks I have edited it to remove her name. My bad! No option 1 only offers cover via the other preschool - which would be tricky. However I only work part time and we have got 4 sets of grandparents (divorced families that remarried) who all live nearby so lucky in that aspect if we needed cover.

Make sure you double check the primary admission rules. In our area schools cannot give priority to the preschool pupils as it can discriminate against parents who work full time.
Most kids do go to the same school through sibling priority or distance as parents chose their closest details.

School nursery IF you can sort the holiday care and if you can be as certain as you can be that she’ll get a place at the school, otherwise it’s inconvenience for no benefit. Nursery kids getting priority admission sounds unusual for a state school so I would double and triple check that- it’s more often the case that they don’t get priority but a lot qualify anyway through distance or sibling link.

Thanks for commenting!
I did check and it’s levelled priority so

1. children in care get 1st priority
2. children with SEN get 2nd
3. children with staff at the school 3rd
4. children with siblings at school 4th
5. children in catchment area 5th
6. children who attend preschool 6th
7. all other children

so not a huge priority but one up from where we’d be given it is just outside our catchment area (and we don’t like the schools in our catchment area whereas this one stood out as fab when we visited- so potentially worth trying for priority?!) Ahh so tricky!

We did 2 days at private nursery, 2 days at preschool term time.

Our private 51 weeks a year nursery also took term time only kids which meant in the holidays they were able to take my two for 4 days a week.

The intention was that going to preschool would mean they started school with some friends - worked for dd1, failed miserably for dd2. So I wouldn't worry too much, friendships are fairly fluid at that age.

Thanks for the reply! So it’s not really about the making friends, rather minimising change as much as possible as she struggles with change. Not sure if we could make the holiday term time work but I figure we will have no choice this time next year coming up to reception haha!

I would check the admissions for Reception. It's all very well the nursery teacher saying 9/10 children get a place but if that is because 9/10 children live in the catchment, that is a different thing.

If you could make term time only work, minimising change sounds great. However it is a LONG summer, particularly if the school do a staggered Sept start, so you would need to be fairly certain grandparents are willing to help.

Just from personal experience if you can make option 1 work I would try it. I work in private childcare and my son goes to the school preschool where luckily he will be attending the school in September.
the level of learning i have found is different and more school structured this did surprise me as all childcare setting follow the same basic curriculum and guidelines, just seems to be learning so much more. He has also met so many children he will be going up with and also learning the routine such as school dinners etc. he does have some suspected additional needs and the progress I have seen in him has amazed me. My experience might be unique to the settings I have experienced but I’m very happy I made the choice I did. Good luck xxx

Ah, as you're not catchment I'd check how many people who applied got in last year - if they are oversubscribed I'd definitely go for the private nursery and save the hassle and hope you get in for next year.

I had one child in private nursery, put my second in the school nursery. Although it's a pain to cover the hours and the term time holidays I much preferred our school nursery. My child got to know some of the teachers, where everything was, and it helped them settle and with their learning. If you are keen to get your child into school and it's one up from all other children in the priority criteria definitely worth considering!

I didn’t know you could do this! How do you know if they were oversubscribed? Thanks for commenting ☺️

Go onto your local council webpage. There will be a section on primary admission. Usually there is a downloadable booklet that explains the process. In our area this includes a list of all schools plus details for the last 3 years or number applying, distance of furthest child on offer day, appeals and successful appeals. Don't forget that as everyone can apply to several schools they will all be oversubscribed.
If it's not there then you can usually email the admissions team and ask for this information. However they are currently doing primary and secondary reallocation for September entry so you will get a more rapid response if you leave it a few weeks before calling