starting prep school at 3 1/2, but still naps

[LordGiveMeStrength]

My DD is due to start prep school in September and as we are both working parents she will be there from 8am - 4pm every day. I'm just a bit worried as she still takes a 1-2 hour nap after lunch each day. Should i try and wean her off the naps now or should I just worry and see how things go in 7 months?

Wait and see
She might have dropped them by September

And some schools still include them within the day? Might be worth asking?

As I understood from our pre-prep if they were following EYFS to get you the grant they needed to make provision for napping. The some of the littlest at our early years have mats and blankets and nap in the pre-prep library after lunch.

My dd had a nap after lunch. They called it quiet time so the girls didn't have to sleep but if they dropped off it was fine

All schools (whether state or private) will have tired reception children in the afternoon, either because they're still used to a nap, or they're just shattered.

It's hard to nap in a room with 29 others; it might be easier in a smaller class, especially if they do have quiet time. If the nap is still going strong by, say, the last few weeks of the term before entry, try asking the school what they do to ease the transition.

My DD still napped when she moved into the pre-school room at her nursery. They offered a quite corner and you could see the odd child actually sleeping. But DD stopped her nap and just did one on her days at home.

She carried on doing a weekend nap at on Sundays until Christmas when she was 4.5.

I would see how she does around Summer time. But be prepared for a tired child and maybe earlier bedtime for a while.

My DS started school at nearly 5 ... napped until the day before he started reception, went to bed at 4'30 (and slept 'til 6'30 next morning) until end of Y1. Still a dozy sort at 17 ... think he misses out on a lot of life because he's asleep but he's happy enough and has offers from good unis ...

See how things go. They will certainly have more than one tired child doing 8-4pm so they will have quiet time/chill out time. Also, you may find she will nap at the weekend at home and may also be quite grotty after school- don't take it personally!!!!

Amazingly when I picked her up from nursery last night (she was there from 7.45-5.30, her teacher said she hadn't napped. Apparently she's tweaked onto the fact that if she doens't nap she can play for longer and go on the room computer to play the nemo game. She was shattered by the time we got home, but settled right to bed, and about 30 minutes earlier than usual.

I also checked with the school and they do have a quiet time for those who stay later. Think we will just have to follow her cues and if she needs a nap one day let it happen, and if she doesn't then we know to look to put her to sleep a bit earlier.

My DD never naps at nursery now (she's 3.3), this is after always napping there from age 2 to about 3 and a bit. They don't like to miss anything! We manage to get her to nap at the weekend either one or both days most weekends. When DS started Reception this year he was in bed at 6.15 some nights!

Is she starting Reception a year early or do you mean the nursery part of pre-prep? If the nursery then they should allow some provision for a nap. If Reception then no nap although the afternoons seem to be more playing than anything else.

my 3 yr old was having a 2hr nap every afternoon, then started prep school nursery last september. It is only mornings and I make him walk/scoot there weather permitting so he was really tired so still having a nap but he dropped them around Christmas at 3 1/2yrs.