No nursery space til Sept 2010 - what about individual development?

[jumpjockey]

None of the local nurseries has any spaces until September 2010. This suggests that they expect to have new spaces when the top group of kids goes to primary school - fair enough.

But then they all go on about moving children through the rooms according to their own developmental needs. How can this be the case if the top room is full up until September? I'm assuming the implication is that the oldest kids leave, those in Toddler 2/ daisies/ teddies (or whatever they call the next one down) move up en masse, and so on down to the baby room. And then they have spaces in the baby room for all kids whatever age they may be, in September rather than when they're ready to go to nursery (or when parent needs to go back to work) How on earth does this fit with the insistence that your child won't be moved up too soon, or left in a room where they're not being stimulated enough?

Are there any nursery teachers about who could explain how this works?

Sorry for that sounding horribly antagonistic, am just buggered for childcare as none of the local childminders has any space either. Am also a bit annoyed that the suggestion is that there will not be any vacancies at any point during the year - eg people moving away or anything else like that. Mostly p'd off because we've been on some of these waiting lists since I was 6 months pregnant and dd will be one in December.

[Mummywannabe]

jump jockey - we often say full till sept because thats when we plan up to, not because all the babies go up in one go. So there may well be children moving up throughout the year but their spaces are already filled. The majority of our chidren are born Sept-Dec, perhaps something to do with new year/new baby etc etc.

Hope that makes sense.

[muppetgirl]

sorry! Am very pregnant so

I still stand by my last sentence though

[jumpjockey]

muppet girl - there aren't as far as I can tell any non-private nurseries that take babies younger than 2. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places but they all charge a fortune, there isn't any state provision for younger ones. There's nursery school places but that's from 2.5 upwards and only part time (as in short days).

[muppetgirl]

I am assuming this is a private nursery?

I think they will always take the first to register, the first to give them definites and the first to pay the deposit...

I have ds 2 at a nursery quite far away as the ones near us aren't very nice. I have already enquired about ds 3 starting in jan '10 (I go back to study in feb '10) filled in the forms, agreed the days and paid the deposit as I know they are extremly busy and full most of the time and ds 3 isn't due till the 12th of July!!

Also I needed the same 2 days that ds 2 has otherwise I'd be back and forth all week.

If it is a private nursery then I think you need to remember they will be child focused but primarily money focused.

[jumpjockey]

nappyaddict - nope, no spaces for this school year which is why they're all saying next Sept. It's the remarkable coincidence that all the babies will move up to the next room at once that makes me - what if there are one or two who need to move up in (say) March - do they have to wait and not get the stimulation they need?

[nappyaddict]

jumpjockey so even if you did want her to start this september there aren't any spaces?

[jumpjockey]

humph! have just asked one place if it's worth waiting on thelist and they admitted probably not apart from the [people 1 or 2 spots from 1 on the list.

Turns out they had 22 sibling applications which takes up all but 2 of the spaces in their baby room...

[jumpjockey]

nappyaddict - they all say they're completely full this autumn for the baby rooms - so even paying for a place until Dec wouldn't make any difference. The line is "due to the exceptionally high demand" which sounds a bit like "we are experiencing an unusually high volume of calls, please hold" to me... That's the thing that annoys me about them seemingly filling places regardless of babies' ages or developmental stages - it's as if those of us whose babies aren't ready for nursery in September are basically out of the picture altogether.

pp - There are a few that start really early, but they're mostly the ones further out of town which would mean her having to be there for that bit longer.

I guess part of me is just really unhappy about the idea of my PFB being in large group childcare for longer than my working day. I mean, I find it exhausting enough doing 9-5.30 and I'm a grown-up!

I've started looking into childminders now, though of course then you have the opposite situation that asking this early is a waste of time in that things change at shorter notice, so we'll have to leave it till a couple of months before we need care and then hope someone has the days we need...

can you tell I'm finding this all much harder than we were led to believe?!

[purepurple]

jj, what a con, they don't sound very family friendly at all.
I am surprised some nurseries open at 9 o'clock. Ours opens at 8, and I worked in one that opened at 7.30 and know of others that open at 7.

And spaces do come up, people change their days or take them out altogether. In our baby unit we have odd days available, not full time and no wednesday till christmas at the moment. But that will change, no doubt.

Maybe try ringing them every week and reminding them that you still exist.

[nappyaddict]

I would try more nurseries and say you will still cover the fees from september to december to ensure your DD gets the place you want in december. I can't see why they wouldn't agree to it tbh. They get 3 months money without having to actually look after a child. It's what you call easy money!!

Have they even offered you a place this september to see if you would like to start DD earlier or just said as you want her to start in december the earliest she can start is actually september 2010?

[jumpjockey]

pp - at the moment I'm finding it hard enough to get work to allow me to go part time (they won't let me have the 2 days a week I want as apparently it would be very hard to fill 3 days not in a row???) so if I was to say I'd like reduced hours, that would go down like a sack of poo. I work in a public facing environment (library) so finding someone who could cover the ends of a working day would never, ever get approved. They have ostensibly very family friendly policies, but it seems when it comes to the crunch that they're sticking to the 'we will consider but cannot guarantee to meet your requirements' line...

[purepurple]

jumpjockey, I don't want to be rude but have you considered changing your hours then?
Sometimes, things don't carry on as they did before baby. You have the right to request more flexible working. Is it even an option?

[jumpjockey]

purepurple - at the outset we said we'd like dd to start in December or Jan (according to what they had available) as that's when she'll be a year. The pattern round here seems to be that the places get filled at the start of the new school year, whatever age the kid is. I'm not up for putting her in childcare earlier than we want to just to secure a place - even though we did say to the places we really like that we'd pay for a couple of months to keep the spot, that hasn't made any difference.

I have looked for different nurseries and the problem with Cambridge is there are a heck of a lot of babies born last autumn/winter and a lot of mums wanting to go back to work this autumn/winter. There simply isn't enough childcare available that is compatible with going back to a full working day. There are venues in the villages where I could get her to nursery for a 9 start but then I'd be half an hour+ late for my job and have to leave half an hour+ early to pick up.

[nappyaddict]

I would have thought all the places for this september would have been allocated now which is why they're telling you september 2010. I would double check they know what room you want.

[purepurple]

September 2010?
I find that very hard to beleive.
You say you have been on the waiting list for months, have you given them a definite date when you want the place?
If not, they will just bump other people up the list, to fill the places.
As for just doung full time, that is just barmy
Sounds like they give all the places to full timers and part timers lose out.
Look for different nurseries.

[jumpjockey]

We're in Cambridge. Admittedly we haven't checked all the nurseries but all the ones that wouldn't mean a half hour detour at the start and end of the day. I'm going back to work part time and this is also causing problems as several say you can only do full time (!). Have called the council childcare adviser who has come up with a much longer list of childminders than on their website so that's a start.

[PeppermintPatty]

Yes my DD tends to move up a room in September - even though her birthday is in June so she should be moved then. Her nursery is very popular though and there is apparently a long waiting list to get in.

Are you sure ALL the nurseries are full until Sept 2010? That doesn't should right to me. What about Sept this year, surely a load of kids will be moving up then and there will be spaces, especially as you've been on the list so long.

And people do leave or change their hours during the year - so spaces will come up at random times too. It sounds like you're being fobbed off but I don't know why. Hope you find somewhere soon.

[1dilemma]

Generally yes for all my children their 'developmental need' to move up a room has magically coincided with the start of a new school year
so has the majority of places!

[dilemma456]

Message withdrawn

[jumpjockey]

bigchris - we filled in all the forms and explained that dd would be 1 when she started, and took her on the visits so they really shouldn't have got confused!

[bigchris]

Sounds like you weren't put on the waiting list tbh or they think you want the preschool room