All preschools for dd full. What do I do?

[fizzbuzz]

Dd is 3 in July. She is entitled to 5 sessions of 3 hours, from September

Preschool where she will go to school is full. Local nursery is full

There are others some distance away (I think, haven't checked if they are full or not). Anyway would not be able to get dd there and back anyway

Dd has been with childminder since 10 mo, and is very attached. Cm obviously cannot pick up from places some distance away. She picks up from local school where the pre-school is full...

Every Child Matters thingy from Surestart, states that the emotional well being of child is paramount. I do not think dd's well being will be enhanced by her being taken away from cm, shoved in a group where she knows no one, and where they won't be going onto infant school with her.

Have had several snotty phone calls with council getting nowhere. Am increasingly angry at councils lack of ability to meet demand.
Anyone know legal requirements for this, or next step?
Please help!

Um...why not just keep things the way they are? They don't have to go to preschool. None of mine have.

why not pop her name down on the waiting list - a place might come up sooner than you think.

Are there any private nurseries around you where you could use the entitlement?

Her name has been down on the list since March last year.........

Private nursery full as well

just keep her at her childminders. your childminder could actually register to offer pre school education. have you or her looked into this as an option? or are you wanting the nursery setting?

Two afternoons or mornings at an inexpensive private nursery would require a top up of about £10 a week based on my research. The funding amounts to £505 a term ATM. It will be a bit more for you if you get 15 hours .

Or you could encourage your childminder to become a 'network' childminder and be able to receive the 15 hours funding herself.

X posted re private nursery.

I'm not particularly bothered about a nursery, but I did want pre-school.

She just seems very sociable and ready for something new. CM is wonderful.

are there any pre schools linked to community centres or churches near you? where abouts are you?

You say "Every Child Matters thingy from Surestart, states that the emotional well being of child is paramount. I do not think dd's well being will be enhanced by her being taken away from cm, shoved in a group where she knows no one, and where they won't be going onto infant school with her."

And "Have had several snotty phone calls with council getting nowhere. Am increasingly angry at councils lack of ability to meet demand."

I'm not sure what you're meaning here? Are you wanting the council to order the pre-schools to expand their numbers to accomodate your daughter? I'm no expert, but I'm sure it's not as simple as that.

I understand your frustration, of course you want your child to access her free sessions, I'm just now sure what the full schools can actually do about your preferring them and them not having the room. Have you checked the admission policies on the pre-schools?

Have you contacted your local FIS (Family Information Service) for a list of providers in your area?

One thing that I wouldn't worry about is whether your child knows anyone. My dd1 changed school after her Reception year and knew no-one. She was a quiet and shy child but she managed fine. Dd2 went to a different pre-school and then started Reception, she didn't know anyone at first in either setting and was fine

Round here, virtually nobody gets 5 sessions because all the preschools are so full.

Most (well, ime, a great many) preschools are independent and operated by a management committee. They get the nursery education grant funding from the local authority on a per capita basis, but the local authority has no say in how many places they allocate.

To a certain degree, neither do the preschools themselves. As part of the registration process with OFSTED, they determine how many children are allowed to be in a setting in any given session. For example, we can only take 20 at once. It's up to us whether we give 20 children 5 sessions each or 100 children 1 session each, but we can't squeeze any more in than this.

However, I would echo katz about places coming up sooner than you thought. I've spent half the morning today phoning families on our waiting list to offer places that haven't been taken up.

Even if there's nothing for September, there very well could be a place after half term, or after Christmas.

In the city I live in, I know that there is a significant shortfall between the birthrate/demographics and the number of pre-school places available. Just in one area of the city, we're talking 50% more children than places.

There are some pilot schemes in operation to increase pre-school sessions (some pre-schools are going to am and pm sessions, where previously they would have closed at lunchtime, for example), but this is going to be a growing problem.

I agree it frustrating but tbh if she is with a childminder im sure she wont miss out

DD is at preschool, she was 3 on mon and started at Easter so i am currently paying for her to go twice a week, i put her mane down when she was 18 months old and chased it at sept and jan previously as i knew it would be hard to get a place, i knew i would have to do a term at to sessions paying cash to get her a place in sept for four sessuons (i dont want 5)

There is a high demand for places but the preschool is run by a volunteer commitee who have a hard time filling places

The issue with preschool is that everyone wants to send their kids to a good one but less people want to help run one and so there are not as many as there could be if more people were willing to be on the committees