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Preschool education

Get advice from other Mumsnetters to find the best nursery for your child on our Preschool forum.

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Original poster

If your child is at a pre-school where they have to attend every day...

44 replies

minko · 26/05/2010 13:31

how often do you have a day off? I don't like the idea of being tied to pre-school every single day from 9 - 11.30, but that's the way the one attached to my daughter's new school runs. I'd like to have a day off every now and again to go swimming or meet friends or whatever...

Is this going to be really frowned on??

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

hallamoo · 26/05/2010 17:38

In some independently run pre schools, if your child does not attend for all of the sessions that you are claiming funding for, then the setting may not be able to claim the funding for your child for that day. If it's a regular occurrence it could mean the difference between some pre schools breaking even or making a loss. Their budgets are usually quite tight which is why most of them are keen on you taking all of your sessions.

CarGirl - that is not my experience. Each term the LEA do a 'head count' on a specific day and funding is paid based on the 'head count', they also do spot checks on registers and if they notice a pattern, e.g. a child always takes wednesdays off, then they won't fund for that session.

The odd day here and there shouldn't make too much difference though.

lovechoc · 14/06/2010 21:01

I can't wait for DS to be in nursery 5 afternoons a week - I feel it will benefit him loads and we will have the weekends as full days together.

Also have you seen the amount of holidays they get in one full academic year?! There's loads of days off, infact I think they're hardly at nursery with the amount of time they get off.

Feelingsensitive · 15/06/2010 13:27

My DD goes to a school nursery. If I want to take her out I just call in sick and then tell the staff with a what we really did. That way the school has it registered as a sickie and the teachers hear from me before DD tell them. Nursery education is not compulsory but at the same time the school has to encourage regular attendance otherwise it makes it more difficult for them to lesson plan and so on.

Ripeberry · 15/06/2010 13:31

Does the child need to attend or are they just after your money? Sounds like the later as they only want full time kids.
If you want a day off, don't send DC in, but you will still have to pay.

Bramshott · 15/06/2010 13:41

It tends to be state-run ones (either in a school, or sure-start centre) which insist on 5 days doesn't it? That would put me off using one TBH, although legally I doubt there's anything they can do if you say "DD won't be in tomorrow".

muggglewump · 15/06/2010 13:47

Ripeberry, you don't pay at all, they only offer the free hours that every child is entitled to, but you are expected to use the full five days.
There is legally nothing they can do if you take your child out for the odd day, and mine didn't mind at all but it's not fair to only send them three days as it makes it harder for them to work to what they have planned, and you are possibly then taking the place from someone who would like the five days.

Other settings can offer the exact hours you want.

rocketupbum · 23/06/2010 21:44

My DS is just coming to end of preschool year, which has been full time school hours pretty much. They are expected to attend every day but we have had a couple of hols in term time and I have occasionally kept him off just to hang out (about 10 times in total thru yr). In my view, he doesnt have to attend and once in reception then I will not be able to do it! He has coped ok with days off and then back, never really complained either way.

IngaLand · 23/06/2010 21:46

My DS's nursery (when he attended) were quite flexible, really. As long as you called in and gave them a reason - whehehr it be 'he's ill' or 'he's tired and grumpy and I'd rather keep him at home today', they were totally fine. It was a state school nursery, and the staff were totally sympathetic to the fact that sometimes pre-schoolers need a day at home.

Education is not compulsory until a child turns five.

Portofino · 23/06/2010 21:51

Surely the idea is that is pre"school" and not childcare, therefore getting used to the routine of 5 days is part of the point?

littleducks · 23/06/2010 21:52

I take mine out occassionally, sometimes i just say she was too tired or that we had something special planned *trip to nat hist museum)

I have taken alot of wed afternoons off but am careful that i send her enough that the preschool wouldnt loose out on the funding

seeker · 23/06/2010 21:52

They can't insist - it's not compulsory. Just take him in when it suits you. What are they going to do, take you to court over it?

plonker · 23/06/2010 23:57

They may not take you to court but they can certainly pull funding from a child who is regularly absent ...

seeker · 24/06/2010 11:01

Are you sure? I don't think that the legislation says that a child has to attend every day - maybe it's different in Scotland?

plonker · 24/06/2010 20:36

Yes I'm sure.

There's no legislation saying that a child has to attend every day, but if you sign the Parental Contract and the Headcount saying that your child is going to be attending X amount of hours per week and then regularly only attends Y amount of hours then they can pull funding.

In the case of our authority, sporadic non-attendance would be picked up at audit and monitored with a view to reducing if the attendance didn't improve. Continued regular non-attendance would result in a reduction in the amount of funding paid to the setting for the child. I'm assuming that if the setting is insisting that a child attends every day they wouldn't be happy with reduced funding ...

Obviously this doesn't apply for the odd day here and there or when the child is sick.

I'm referring to Non-Maintained Sector settings here btw. I'm not sure how it works in the Maintained sector.

McSteamy · 24/06/2010 20:38

We tried to fight this every day or nothing attendance at DS's pre school. A couple of us went to speak to the teacher in charge and this was her argument - if a child regularly doesn't attend 5 sessions a week they can have their funding pulled as it is fraudulent.

plonker · 24/06/2010 20:39

Ahh I've just re-read the OP.

OP are you referring to a state nursery? If so please ignore my waffling

BeehiveBaby · 24/06/2010 20:41

No problem at all to keep children off at DD1's pre-school, either ad-hoc or by arrangemen, even in reception.

Stray · 24/06/2010 20:52

My DD is at pre-school 4 sessions a wk...and we have just drop wed afternoons too because its in a different room with different teachers and she hates it. She can't have a fri session because there is no space. Every term I fill in a form stating how many sessions I have. I don't have to have all 5. I will have them all come sept because they can the offer me the times I want! I don't know if this is just because it's a church run pre-school but I don't remember having to have all 5 sessions for DS at a school run PS!

seeker · 25/06/2010 07:18

I hate this "getting them ready for school" argument! So - do you send them to nursery to "get them ready" for pre-school? What do you do to "Get them ready" for nursery? Why do we want to institutionalize them so early?

Reception year is for getting them ready for school - that's why it's called "reception" not Year 1.

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