CONFUSED

[minimekmb]

Hi there new to this.

My little one has always been at home with me but i now think she may benefit from a nusery setting.

I like a local private one and at 3.5 years i thought she would get her free nursery sessions so could go for a day with us just paying upfront and then getting the money back.

Now though speaking to them again it seems that we would still have to pay about £16 for the day.

I do not work but OH does.

how does the entitlement work?

not sure of exact amounts but you get 5 x 2 1/2 hour sessions and in my borough the monetry amount is £8 something per session. so my dd goes to pre school from 9.30-12.30,it costs £10.50 per session the gov pays their bit and i pay the other £2.

i dont think you can do it on an as and when basis, i think its for set days that they do regularly

IF she goes for 1 (whole) day you can probably claim for 2 lots of 2.5 hour sessions. But a private nursery would still charge you for the "extra bits" of the day. It would be free if you sent her just to 2.5 hour sessions at a local pre-school.

The other thing to consider with a private nursery is if it runs all year round - as the early years grant only covers term time i.e. about 38 weeks a year. If the private nursery is open through school holidays you will be expected to pay extra during the holidays.

Thanks i will have another look

The entitlement is for an amount of hours per term (the amount of hours can change from term to term as I understand) but as verywise says it won't cover extras or holidays. DD goes to a private nursery for 3 mornings a week (including a cooked lunch) all year round so we pay approx £50 pm to 'top-up' the early years grant. However, I have friends who send their children for more hours at a term-time only nursery where they take a packed lunch and they don't pay anything at all.

If there is more than one nursery you like the look of, it's worth asking each one how much it would cost as they do seem to vary widely in how they interpret the grant and how far it goes.

It is likely to cover only 1 or 2 sessions of 2 1/2 hours (some areas are 3 hours now) per day (it varies from one to another how they meet the LEA criteria to qualify) , up to a total of 5 sessions per week "free" termtime only. The value of the grant is deducted from the total for the time she is there so you'd then have to pay the difference plus any extras like lunch -presumably the £16. The child has to be enrolled on a regular basis by a particular point in the term for the nursery/preschool to submit a claim on your behalf. Some charge you in advance and rebate you when it comes through, others deduct it upfront off the term's bill or average it out over a year so you pay a reduced monthly/weekly amount.

There only seems to be private day nurseries in our area.

so not term time only.

They may be called Preschools, playgroups or Nursery schools rather than Nurseries which tend to be daycare rather than sessional, try searching here

done this but no local places