Pre-school place offered after half term

[Paulinespens]

My DC turned 3 at the end of January and I was given the impression by the pre-school she had her name down for that having missed the January intake, she would start in September.
I had a call last week in which they told me they had a place for her after half-term.
This will be for 5 afternoons a week.
I want to send her but am worried this will be too much for her to cope with.
I imagined initally she'd go for a couple of mornings or afternoons a week.
The children have to go 5 days a week either mornings or afternoons at this school.
Also, will she get funding or will we have to pay until September?
I a in a bit of a fluster about this as it's all happening quicker than I thought.
This is my first child hence the flapping!
She still seems just a baby to me.

You should get funding after Easter - it starts the term after they turn 5. 5 half-days is a lot in my opinion, especially for a child new to it all. I think I'd be looking for somewhere where you could start with a couple of sessions, then move up to more, maybe from September, for the year before she starts school. For what it's worth my dd2 is in the same school year but an August birthday, so 6 months or so younger than yours. She does 2 mornings at pre-school which seems about right for her at the moment. She'll go up to 15 hours in Sept but will probably do 2 long days and a short day to make up the hours.

Sorry - term after they turn 3

Also worth saying that if you can't / don't want to self-fund until Easter, they are meant to still hold the place open for you.

Preschools aren't meant to place any financial conditions on you accessing your funded provision. Insisting that you take the place after half term and self-fund it until Easter would count as a financial condition.

Thanks for the replies. They haven't mentioned any funding at all.
Is it not free from the first term there's a place after they turn 3?
There is no Easter intake at this school, only a Jan and Sept one.

I work in a stand-alone preschool, not a school, so I wouldn't want to swear to how funding works in schools.

However, children are usually eligible for funding from the term following their 3rd birthday. So if your daughter was 3 in January, she would be eligible for a funded place after the Easter holiday.

In our preschool, we usually offer children a place as soon as they turn 3 (even if it's half way through a term) and the parents pay for it themselves until the child is eligible for funding. (Or not, depending on their circumstances, see my earlier post!)

Yes funding from after Easter for a January birthday. If they are happy for you to start after half term seems no reason that they will be less happy for an Easter start?

You don't "have" to send her for all 5 sessions either - though the pre-school may well encourage you do to so as they obviously get more funding and may be reluctant to let you go for less than 5 sessions if you would be "blocking" another child that could do 5.

Don't let them rush you and don't do five sessions if you don't want to. I only ever got to four with dd!

Your funded sessions (Easter onwards) are free at the point of entry (you can't be made to pay a top up, for food etc.) and you can take as many or as few as you like.

I wonder why they came round today (the head of the pre-school and a nursery nurse) to do a home visit, meet my DC and to give me the forms to fill in but never mentioned how much it was going to cost.
My DC starts on 22 Feb.
I know these figures seem to vary greatly. We live London (borough of Greenwich)and I am now wondering how much it will cost.
DC is really excited about starting so I don't want to disappoint her, although I do not think it likely she'll be going 5 days a week to start with...although I understand that if she attends this preschool we'll have to pay for all 5 sessions.
Is it going to be (approx) £30 a week?
Thanks.

Lots of threads on here about preschool fees across the country - to give you an idea, we charge £6.75 for a 2.5hr session, and we're in a not-especially affluent area outside the M25.

So 5 sessions a week of that comes to £33.75 per week, and there's about 6 weeks in the next half of term.

You need to ask them, as costs can vary hugely.

I've asked them and the good news is she is getting the free Government allocated hours. They have her birth certificate aso I am assuming they accept children into funded places as soon as there's a slot after their 3rd birthday, whenever that happens to be.
It has a good reputation but I will be expected to send her every day.
This is the bit I'm struggling with. From being at home all day with me to being out of the house 5 days a week for 3 hours.
Oh well...we'll give it a try and if it's too much we'll reconsider. The thing is, this preschool is a feeder to a lovely primary school which is attached.

Hi Paulinespens, I understand you're anxious and it can all be a bit nerve wracking but just thought I'd let you know how it works here, Scotland. Children are eligible from the term after their 3rd birthday to 12.5 hrs a week which is usually 5 sessions a week. It is expected that they will attend 5 morning or afternoon sessions a week and would be frowned upon if they regularly did less than that. Our HT had to speak to the parents of one child last year who only came 2 days a week and went to a private nursery the other 3 days as she was effectively 'blocking' a place. Parents up here accept and expect they will get 5 sessions a week and with a gradual settling in process the children are usually quite happy. My DD2 has just gone from being with me/gran every day to nursery 5 mornings and loves it.

My daughter started pre-school this week and so far so good. She has been very excited and happy to go and seems very settled.
I have now decided to send her every day (assuming she's not ill) and see how it goes.
I can understand the issue of blocking a full-time place and am very grateful now to have the 5 afternoons for DD.P