Holiday at start of pre-school?

[mamaolivia]

Just wondering what you guy think to this. As a family we have not been on an overseas holiday as yet due to my husband not having permanant work and so we have been unable to plan a holiday in advance. He has now got a permanant job and we are looking at taking a holiday in early September. It cannot be before then as we have a baby due at the end of June. Also, weather in France will still be OK and price are cheaper. However, this will coincide with my 3 yo starting pre-school. She has been at a private nursery since she was 18 months and will be back home with me as of the end of May as I will be on maternity leave. Do you think it will matter if she starts a week late? I am not worried about the educational side of things, more the settling in/ getting off to a bad start with the pre-school at the very beginning. This is likely to be the only chance that we can take a family holiday without being tied to school holidays, so do you think i should go ahead and book, or re-think?

I don't think it matters. There may actually be an advantage to starting a little later when some of the other children are more settled. Lots of pre-schools purposely do a staggered entry. I would go for it - you are going to be tied to school holidays for many years to come!

I wouldn't worry about missing a week of preschool as long as you've warned them in advance. They might think you no longer want the place and offer it to another child. Also there is a deadline for filling in the nursery places funding form (think you get longer than a week, but not too sure) so you might need to get it filled in before you go.

was no problem with our boys preschool. I just had to sign the absence form when he DID start. 9 days after term started. I gave the reason for absence as " staying with Grandparents" no questions asked.

at our pre-school they stagger the new starters anyway, can you imagine 15 new 3yo starting on the same day IMO it really won't matter. Give them a call and they may well tell you they stagger the starts and will put your dc as one of the later starters.

We did this when our oldest started pre-school. It made no difference whatsoever. Children at that age are so fickle with friendships (my youngest at yr. 1 is still a bit like that!). Make the most of it while you can - they will soon be at school and it is slightly trickier. We took holidays during term time until oldest went into full-time reception and noone cared.