4yo DT's offered Foundation places at local school......

[Neeerly3]

But since they are at nursery full time, due to me working, I turned them down. I would have had to drop them at 'school' and then fetch at lunchtime to drop them back at nursery for the rest of the day.....have I done the right thing?

I am now worried that this will influence their place for real school due to start in September and that all the kids will know each other as will have been in the same class since January. I am due to start Mat leave at the end of Jan, so really, if I'd thought about it, it could have saved me money if I had switched them to school while I was on mat leave. However I would have been back at work in the June, so would have have to start nursery again to cover the hours that Foundation don't cover.

Any thoughts from folk in a similar situation?

Turning down a place at preschool should not affect your chances of them getting onto the school reception class.

I wonder though whether the preschool do not have any system for afternoon care. Locally our preschools either do an afternoon session or have a playgroup pick up the children for lunch and an afternoon session whixh the parents pay for.

I'm a bit confused if they are 4 yrs old as they should get a preschool place at 3 yrs old - are you in the UK?

Can you not stay on mat leave until July or even Sept when they start full time school I wonder?

I am in the UK yes - they started to get their 'funded' places the term after they were 3, but these schools didn't send out their offers of a foundation place til late last year to start in this Jan. Which now has me wondering if Foundation is different to Preschool?

I can't stay on mat leave any longer as we can't afford for me to go onto Statutory pay, so will be returning after my half pay stops. Timing of baby three was bad I admit!

oh and yes, they do an AM or a PM session which I would have chosen, but they didn't have space for me to then pay for the other half of the day - plus they didn't run for as long as I wanted (after 5), sessions were 9.30 - 1pm or 1pm - 3.30pm, so could have gone 9.30 - 3.30 at best (which I know they will have to do come september anyway - but wanted to put that off for as long as I could....)

Well then Foundation is the new name for reception so you better take those places back! Are these places for starting in Sept then...am confused.

I was meaning about your mat leave though that if you used your vouchers and got part time free care for the DTs then could you not afford to stay home until the end of the school year in July? Just a thought.

I work freelance and am at a time for juggling too until DD2 starts preschool in Sept.

the places started this Jan or so the letter said, so I turned them down in November of last year. I still went through the application process for their school places in September and will hear about that in March. So as far as I could tell, they were offering me what my boys already get at their private nursery, 2.5 hours each per day pree childcare, term time only.

What got me doubting my decision was another mum of a nearly 4yo has been offered similar place starting in April (so the term after he is 4) and because of her working hours she is accepting - I know it 'shouldn't' affect my application to BIG school in september, but now wondering if the kids that have accepted will form friendships and gain confidence from being at school that bit longer?

Re: the mat leave, if I stayed off work for longer than my half pay lasts, so into statutory (£115 or something a week) we could not afford mortgage, let alone childcare! Hence the descision 4 years ago to go back to work after DT's born in the first place.

It's a pain to go back to work so early but i see from your profile that you are not a 'baby' person!! I thought I wasn't but now mine are nearly 5 and 3 I think maybe I was. I know what you mean about stat pay. I only got Mat Allowance at just over £100 a week for 26 weeks.

On our preschool form it says in big letters that a place in preschool (nursery) does not guarantee a place in reception (foundation stage). In fact last year 6 nursery kids did not get a school place (boom year it seems) and so had to go to schools closer to their homes. On the flip side there were 4 new kids in reception and all have settled well despite being a source of wonder to the rest of the class! If your DTs are used to private nursery then they'll settle well I'm sure.

This year is a low birth rate year around here and the preschool still has places so maybe that's why they offered them to you again. That bodes well for reception....

BTW you are using your vouchers at the nursery I hope.

Your application to big school will be dealt with my the LEA I suspect and will follow gov guidelines. If you live near the school you should get in but i suppose it depends how oversubscribed they are. They cannot use attendance at preschool as a condition. Once the DTs are in your second child should get in on the sibling rule even in a busy year .

HTH!

thanks laundry, that does make sense! Yes I get the 'free' places at nursery, each term i fill in a form stating how many sessions I want per twin and I get £90 off my bill each week in term time. My timing for DC3 couldn't have been worse as he/she will be starting at nursery in June full time, so will be paying for 3 FULL places for July/August as that is the summer holidays! Hopefully will get a financial 'break' come september when DT's start school and just need after school care.

Poor you, mind you if interest rates keep falling maybe it will work out cheaper to stay home until Sept and pay no childcare if you can cover the mortgage!

"Foundation" covers both nursery and reception.

Check the school's admission policy. It shouldn't make any difference whether your dts attend the on-site nursery or not, but there are occasion exceptions to this, for example if there is a charitable trust involved in the school.

My dd attends a nursery in the next village, but will go to school at our local school (ie. at a different one from the nursery). Makes no difference to our application for school.

laundry - if only! we were that small group of people that had to move our mortgage as the fixed rate had ended in the middle of last year......I got a new fixed rate of 6.1% for 3 sodding years, 2 months before it dropped by 1.5% then dropped another half a percent, etc etc......have been greeting each drop with a 3yo old type meltdown temper tantrum!

Bummer - my cousin is in the same boat.

Hi Neerly3 - don't woory your dts will be fine and will make lots of friends at school - I think the friends at preschool helps us as parents rather than your children.

When dd1 went to school on the first day she ,met a girl who hadn't been at preschool and they have been best friends ever since.

My dd2 has just started in Reception and she didn't go to the local preschool as I was working so she was at Nursery. I was really anxious about her starting as for some odd reason she was born in a low birth weight year and there are only 16 children in her class - 14 of which went to the preschool.

However, she has settled in really well and has 2 really good friends.

You have to do what is best for your sanity - and if the dts are setlled at nursery I would leave them there.

Sundew, isn't it funny how birth rates must differ geographically? My DD1 is in a reception class that is full as there were loads of babies that year but sounds like a quiet one round you!